or rather abuse, made of it. No. 8 of the Paradies sonatas is
particularly attractive, and the second movement forms a not
unpleasant reminiscence of Handel's so-called "Harmonious Blacksmith"
variations.




CHAPTER V

HAYDN AND MOZART


I.--Haydn

This composer, to whom is given the name of "father of the symphony
and the quartet," was born at Rohrau, a small Austrian village on the
Leitha, in the night between 31st March and 1st April 1732. At a very
early age the boy's sweet voice attracted the notice of G. Reuter,
capellmeister of St. Stephen's, Vienna, and for many years he sang in
the cathedral choir. In 1749 he was dismissed, the alleged cause being
a practical joke played by him on one of his fellow-choristers. He
was, as Sir G. Grove relates in his article "Haydn" in the _Dictionary
of Music and Musicians_, thrown upon the world "with an empty purse, a
keen appetite, and no friends." Haydn took up his abode in an attic in
the old Michaelerhaus. But it chanced that Metastasio lived in the
same building, and the famous poet took an interest in the penniless
composer, and, among other things, taught him Italian. Metastasio was
extremely fond of music, and we know from his letters that the flowing
compositions of his countrymen delighted him more than the learned