"young" lady at the time of
her marriage.

It is, however, unnecessary to dwell upon the matter of age. The
interesting point is that Haydn fell under the spell of the charming
widow. There is no account of their first meeting; but it was probably
of a purely professional nature. Towards the end of June 1791 the lady
writes: "Mrs Schroeter presents her compliments to Mr Haydn, and informs
him she is just returned to town, and will be very happy to see him
whenever it is convenient to him to give her a lesson." A woman of sixty
should hardly have been requiring lessons, especially after having been
the wife of a professor who succeeded the "English Bach" as music-master
to the Queen. But lessons sometimes cover a good deal of love-making,
and that was clearly the case with Haydn and Mrs Schroeter.

Love Letters

There is indeed some reason to doubt if the lessons were continued. At
any rate, by February 1792, the affair had ripened so far as to allow
the lady to address the composer as "my dear," and disclose her tender
solicitude for his health. On the 7th of the following month she writes
that she was "extremely sorry" to part with him so suddenly the previous
night. "Our conversation was particularly interesting, and I had a
thousand affectionate things to say to you. My heart was and is full
of tenderness for you, but no language can express half the love and
affection I feel for you. You are dearer to me every day of my life."

This was pretty warm, considering that Haydn was still in the bonds
of wedlock. We cannot tell how far he reciprocated the feeling, his
letters, if he wrote any, not having been preserved; but it may be
safely inferred that a lady who was to be "happy to see you both in the
morning and the evening" did not do all the love-making. On the 4th of
April the composer gets a present of soap, and is the "ever dear Haydn"
of the "invariable and truly affectionate" Mistress Schroeter. He had
been working too hard about this particular date (he notes that he was
"bled in London" on the 17th of March), and on the 12th the "loveress,"
to use Marjorie Fleming's term, is "truly anxious" about her "dear
love," for whom her regard is "stronger every day." An extract from the
letter of April 19 may be quoted as it stands:

I was extremely sorry to hear this morning that you were indisposed. I
am told you were five hours at your studies yesterday. Indeed, my dear
love, I am afraid it will hurt you. Why s