. When he arrived there he found that a monument, with
a marble bust of himself, had been erected to his honour in a park near
his birthplace. This interesting memorial consists of a square pillar
surmounting three stone steps, with an inscription on each side. The
visit was productive of mingled feelings to Haydn. He took his friends
to see the old thatch-roofed cottage, and, pointing to the familiar
stove, still in its place, modestly remarked that there his career as a
musician began--a reminiscence of the now far-away time when he sat by
his father's side and sawed away on his improvised fiddle.

Esterhaz once more

There is little to say about Haydn's labours as Capellmeister of the
Esterhazy household at this time. Apparently he was only at Eisenstadt
for the summer and autumn. Down to 1802, however, he always had a mass
ready for Princess Esterhazy's name-day in September. These compositions
are Nos. 2, 1, 3, 16, 4 and 6 of the Novello edition. No. 2, Pohl tells
us, was composed in 1796, and called the "Paukenmesse," from the fact
of the drums being used in the Agnus. No. 3 was written in 1797. It
is known in England as the Imperial Mass, but in Germany as "Die
Nelsonmesse," on account of its having been performed during Nelson's
visit to Eisenstadt in 1800. On that occasion Nelson asked Haydn for his
pen, and gave him his own gold watch in exchange.

The Austrian Hymn

It was shortly after his return to Vienna--in January 1797, to be
precise--that he composed his favourite air, "God preserve the Emperor,"
better known as the Austrian Hymn. The story of this celebrated
composition is worth telling with some minuteness. Its inception was
due to Count von Saurau, Imperial High Chancellor and Minister of the
Interior. Writing in 1820, the count said:

I often regretted that we had not, like the English, a national air
calculated to display to all the world the loyal devotion of our people
to the kind and upright ruler of our Fatherland, and to awaken
within the hearts of all good Austrians that noble national pride
so indispensable to the energetic fulfillment of all the beneficial
measures of the sovereign. This seemed to me more urgent at a period
when the French Revolution was raging most furiously, and when the
Jacobins cherished the idle hope of finding among the worthy Viennese
partisans and participators in their criminal designs. [The scandalous
Jacobin persecutions and executions in Austria and Hungary