f revision.

Metastasio

It was presumably by mere chance that in that same rickety Michaelerhaus
there lived at this date not only the future composer of "The Creation,"
but the Scribe of the eighteenth century, the poet and opera librettist,
Metastasio. Born in 1698, the son of humble parents, this distinguished
writer had, like Haydn, suffered from "the eternal want of pence." A
precocious boy, he had improvised verses and recited them on the street,
and fame came to him only after long and weary years of waiting. In 1729
he was appointed Court poet to the theatre at Vienna, for which he wrote
several of his best pieces, and when he made Haydn's acquaintance his
reputation was high throughout the whole of Europe. Naturally, he
did not live so near the clouds as Haydn--his rooms were on the third
story--but he heard somehow of the friendless, penniless youth in the
attic, and immediately resolved to do what he could to further his
interests. This, as events proved, was by no means inconsiderable.

A Noble Pupil

Metastasio had been entrusted with the education of Marianne von
Martinez, the daughter of a Spanish gentleman who was Master of
the Ceremonies to the Apostolic Nuncio. The young lady required a
musicmaster, and the poet engaged Haydn to teach her the harpsichord, in
return for which service he was to receive free board. Fraulein Martinez
became something of a musical celebrity. When she was only seventeen she
had a mass performed at St Michael's Church, Vienna. She was a favourite
of the Empress Maria Theresa, and is extolled by Burney--who speaks of
her "marvelous accuracy" in the writing of English--as a singer and a
player, almost as highly as Gluck's niece. Her name finds a place in the
biographies of Mozart, who, at her musical receptions, used to take part
with her in duets of her own composition. Several of her manuscripts are
still in the possession of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. Something
of her musical distinction ought certainly to be attributed to Haydn,
who gave her daily lessons for three years, during which time he was
comfortably housed with the family.

Porpora

It was through Metastasio, too, that he was introduced to Niccolo
Porpora, the famous singing-master who taught the great Farinelli,
and whose name is sufficiently familiar from its connection with an
undertaking set on foot by Handel's enemies in London. Porpora seems
at this time to have ruled Vienna as a sort of music