Haydn | Page 8

Capellmeister at St Stephen's
Cathedral, Vienna, and on his death, in 1738, the son succeeded to the
post. He had not been long established in the office when he started on
a tour of search for choristers. Arriving at Hainburg, he heard from the
local pastor of Haydn's "weak but pleasing voice," and immediately had
the young singer before him.
A Musical Examination
The story of the examination is rather amusing. Reutter gave the little

fellow a canon to sing at first sight. The boy went though the thing
triumphantly, and the delighted Reutter cried "Bravo!" as he flung a
handful of cherries into Haydn's cap. But there was one point on which
Reutter was not quite satisfied. "How is it, my little man," he said, "that
you cannot shake?" "How can you expect me to shake," replied the
enfant terrible, "when Herr Frankh himself cannot shake?" The great
man was immensely tickled by the ready retort, and, drawing the child
towards him, he taught him how to make the vibrations in his throat
required to produce the ornament. The boy picked up the trick at once.
It was the final decision of his fate. Reutter saw that here was a recruit
worth having, and he lost no time in getting the parents' sanction to
carry him off to Vienna. In the father's case this was easily managed,
but the mother only yielded when it was pointed out that her son's
singing in the cathedral choir did not necessarily mean the frustration
of her hopes of seeing him made a priest.
Goes to Vienna
Thus, some time in the year 1740, Reutter marched away from
Hainburg with the little Joseph, and Hainburg knew the little Joseph no
more. Vienna was now to be his home for ten long years of dreary
pupilage and genteel starvation. In those days, and for long after, St
Stephen's Cathedral was described as "the first church in the empire,"
and it is still, with its magnificent spire, the most important edifice in
Vienna. Erected in 1258 and 1276 on the site of a church dating from
1144, it was not finally completed until 1446. It is in the form of a
Latin cross, and is 355 feet long. The roof is covered with coloured
tiles, and the rich groined vaulting is borne by eighteen massive pillars,
adorned with more than a hundred statuettes. Since 1852 the building
has been thoroughly restored, but in all essentials it remains as it was
when Haydn sang in it as a choir-boy.
The Choir School of St Stephen's
Many interesting details have been printed regarding the Choir School
of St Stephen's and its routine in Haydn's time. They have been well
summarized by one of his biographers. [See Miss Townsend's Haydn, p.
9.] The Cantorei was of very ancient foundation. Mention is made of it

as early as 1441, and its constitution may be gathered from directions
given regarding it about the period 1558-1571. It was newly constituted
in 1663, and many alterations were made then and afterwards, but in
Haydn's day it was still practically what it had been for nearly a century
before. The school consisted of a cantor (made Capellmeister in 1663),
a sub-cantor, two ushers and six scholars. They all resided together, and
had meals in common; and although ample allowance had originally
been made for the board, lodging and clothing of the scholars, the
increased cost of living resulted in the boys of Haydn's time being
poorly fed and scantily clad. They were instructed in "religion and
Latin, together with the ordinary subjects of school education, and in
music, the violin, clavier, and singing." The younger scholars were
taken in hand by those more advanced. The routine would seem to us
now to be somewhat severe. There were two full choral services daily
in the cathedral. Special Te Deums were constantly sung, and the boys
had to take part in the numerous solemn processions of religious
brotherhoods through the city, as well as in the services for royal
birthdays and other such occasions. During Holy Week the labours of
the choir were continuous. Children's processions were very frequent,
and Haydn's delight in after years at the performance of the charity
children in St Paul's may have been partly owing to the reminiscences
of early days which it awakened.
A House of Suffering
But these details are aside from our main theme. The chapel-house of
St Stephen's was now the home of our little Joseph. It ought to have
been a happy home of instruction, but it was, alas! a house of suffering.
Reutter did not devote even ordinary care to his pupil, and from casual
lessons in musical theory he drifted into complete neglect. Haydn
afterwards declared that he had never had more than two lessons