ways prolific." However the
saying may be interpreted, there does not seem to have been about him
anything of what has been called the irregular dishabille of composers,
"the natural result of the habit of genius of watching for an
inspiration, and encouraging it to take possession of the whole being
when it comes."

Habits of Composition

His practice was to sketch out his ideas roughly in the morning, and
elaborate them in the afternoon, taking pains to preserve unity in
idea and form. "That is where so many young composers fail," he said
in reference to the latter point. "They string together a number of
fragments; they break off almost as soon as they have begun, and so at
the end the listener carries off no definite impression." The importance
of melody he specially emphasized. "It is the air which is the charm of
music," he remarked, "and it is that which is most difficult to produce.
The invention of a fine melody is the work of genius." In another place
he says: "In vocal composition, the art of producing beautiful melody
may now almost be considered as lost; and when a composer is so
fortunate as to throw forth a passage that is really melodious, he is
sure, if he be not sensible of its excellence, to overwhelm and destroy
it by the fullness and superfluity of his instrumental parts." [Compare
Mozart's words as addressed to Michael Kelly: "Melody is the essence of
music. I should liken one who invents melodies to a noble racehorse, and
a mere contrapuntist to a hired post-hack."]

He is stated to have always composed with the aid of the pianoforte or
harpsichord; and indeed we find him writing to Artaria in 1788 to say
that he has been obliged to buy a new instrument "that I might compose
your clavier sonatas particularly well." This habit of working out ideas
with the assistance of the piano has been condemned by most theorists
as being likely to lead to fragmentariness. With Haydn at any rate the
result was entirely satisfactory, for, as Sir Hubert Parry points out,
the neatness and compactness of his works is perfect. It is very likely,
as Sir Hubert says, that most modern composers have used the pianoforte
a good deal--not so much to help them to find out their ideas, as to
test the details and intensify their musical sensibility by the excitant
sounds, the actual sensual impression of which is, of course, an
essential element in all music. The composer can always hear such things
in his mind, but obviou