nsider it, but it was sufficient to free him from financial worry had
it not been for the extravagance and bad management of his wife. The
prince gave him about 78 pounds, in addition to which he had certain
allowances in kind, and, as we have already said, free quarters for
himself and his wife when she thought fit to stay with him. Probably,
too, he was now making something substantial by his compositions.
Griesinger declares that he had saved about 200 pounds before 1790, the
year when he started for London. If that be true, he must have been very
economical. His wife, we must remember, was making constant calls upon
him for money, and in addition he had to meet the pressing demands of
various poor relations. His correspondence certainly does not tend to
show that he was saving, and we know that when he set out for London he
had not only to draw upon the generosity of his prince for the costs of
the journey, but had to sell his house to provide for his wife until his
return.

Opera at Esterhaz

It is time, however, to speak of some of Haydn's compositions during
this period. At Esterhaz he "wrote nearly all his operas, most of his
arias and songs, the music for the marionette theatre--of which he was
particularly fond--and the greater part of his orchestral and chamber
works." The dramatic works bulk rather largely during the earlier
part of the period. In 1769, for example, when the whole musical
establishment of Esterhaz visited Vienna, a performance of his opera,
"Lo Speciale," was given at the house of Freiherr von Sommerau, and
was repeated in the form of a concert. Other works of the kind were
performed at intervals, particularly on festival occasions, but as
most of them have perished, and all of them are essentially pieces
d'occasion, it is unnecessary even to recall their names. In 1771 Haydn
wrote a "Stabat Mater" and a "Salve Regina," and in 1773 followed the
Symphony in C which bears the name of the Empress Maria Theresa, having
been written for the empress's visit to Esterhaz in September of that
year. In the course of the visit Haydn was naturally introduced to Her
Majesty, when, as we have stated, he took occasion to remind her of the
"good hiding" she had ordered him to have at Schonbrunn during the old
chorister days at St Stephen's. "Well, you see, my dear Haydn," was the
reply, "the hiding has borne good fruit."

First Oratorio

In 1775 came his first oratorio, "Il Ritorno di Tobia." This is an