On 12/5/06, Johannes Gebauer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I haven't got my books right here, but in the case of Haydn we know he even fought for compensation of copyright infringement, particularly on the second set of Tost quartets (op.64). I cannot remember what the final outcome was, but certainly in the case of Haydn, had anyone been able to print his quartets he would simply not have written them. What a loss that would have been.
While composers were often the victims of copyright infringements (I'm not sure such laws even existed back then as we understand the term today), some composers were hardly saints in this matter. Haydn was quite skilled (and rather shady I believe) at playing off patrons that commissioned music that was solely for their exclusive use; and then Haydn would obtain lucrative publishing rights for that same music. This habit got Haydn into hot water more than once. Papa Haydn would put P-Diddy to shame ;) When you read H.C. Robbins-Landon's multi volume biography, you get a sense Haydn was obsessed by a fear of poverty. Of course, Haydn could be quite petty about money. Even after his first London tour, which earned him lucrative amounts of money, Haydn writes a letter to Elector Archbishop of Bonn (Beethoven's patron) requesting a stipend would be paid to Beethoven, because Haydn lent him money; and wanted the loan repaid. Joseph Kraus, a very talented composer (about the same age as Mozart), visited Haydn at Esterhazy and wrote in a letter that while he found Haydn very congenial and friendly, but rather eccentric when it came to matters of money. He recounts that Haydn was shocked that Kraus did not have a fistful of manuscripts to sell to publishers, Kraus retorted coolly that he wasn't a traveling salesman. Haydn for his part, was much more generous, calling Kraus a genius. H. C. Robbins-Landon makes a big point of this, because Haydn only used the word genius twice: and the other instance was Mozart. Robbins-Landon also makes the rather savvy observation that Haydn never used the word in reference to himself, nor to Beethoven. But there are more than a few instances in Haydn's dealings with publishers that in my opinion, make me think he was almost fraudulent. Beethoven too could be quite skilled in playing off commissioned music with publishing rights. And I believe the 9th symphony was meant to be performed for the first time in London by the London Philharmonic Society, which had commissioned the piece in the first place. Instead the music was first heard in Vienna, which caused a bit of a row. But despite all of these shady dealings in the 18th and early 19th centuries, we are the winners, since we have this beautiful music to enjoy today! Kim Patrick Clow _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
