Joseph Haydn and Ignaz Pleyel: The Teacher and His Student

Abstract

The article is devoted to the history of the mutual relations of two eminent Austrian composers — Joseph Haydn and his student Ignaz Pleyel. And although presently Pleyel is much less known than his instructor, his contemporaries perceived him as one of the most significant composers of his time. Moreover, he achieved his fame as an outstanding musical activist, the founder of the music publishing house Chez Pleyel, as well as a piano manufacturing company, which exists up to the present day. Examining the various stages of Haydn’s and Pleyel’s artistic biographies, the author exerts special attention to the moments of their conflux after the period of study. One such interconnection may be considered by the indications in the editions of Pleyel’s compositions on his pedagogical relations with Haydn. These margin notes served as a means of expression of acknowledgement to the teacher, as well as advertisement, which was conducive to the growth of interest towards the master’s pupil. The occasion for the composers’ interaction was also served by a legal argument around Haydn’s Trio opus 40 (Hob. XV: 3–5) which began in 1785 and extended for a few years. The article shows how the evaluations of this situation by research have changed up to the present time. An important landmark in the composers’ mutual relations was expressed in their engagements in London in 1792. Through the efforts of the impresarios who invited them, Johann Peter Salomon and Wilhelm Kramer, both Haydn and Pleyel turned out to be drawn into an artistic competition against their wills. The picture of their famous contest is recreated with a reliance on the utterances of the witnesses of their events (primarily, Haydn, as well as the reporters of the London press), as well as relevant musicological research works. In the conclusion to the article the author aims to show that the composers were able to preserve excellent relations with each other, despite everything, and showed support for each other.

Keywords: Joseph Haydn, Ignaz Pleyel, dedication of the composition, Trio opus 40, court action, concert life in London, Johann Peter Salomon, Wilhelm Kramer