MUSC236 Final Essay Question 6

The career possibilities of a musician during the second half of the eighteenth
century became even broader than ever before. Up until this time, they greatest
source of employment was offered mainly by the aristocracy and the churches.
With the political and economic changes occurring up until the French
Revolution1, musicians were more frequently being supported by patrons of the
upper-class society. These patrons were not exclusively part of the aristocracy,
but had somewhat more flexibility on their terms of the allowance for travelling
of the contracted musician. An emergence of the middle class meant that
musicians potentially had larger audiences to promote their content to. By taking
a look at the lives of Boccherini, Mozart and Haydn, one shall take note of their
positions in courts, churches and as freelancers, in order to see how they
became the instigators of early, modern public concert culture.

For many musicians, working in the courts was generally the most stable position
one could have in their career. This is quite prominent around the middle of the
18thcentury, when courts were not under as much financial pressure. Attitudes
towards musicians consisted of a servant-master relationship, as we shall see
with Haydn. Boccherini, on the other hand was free to live as he wanted while
King Friederick Wilhelm admired his works from a far. Dorothea Link in her essay
Mozarts Appointment to the Viennese Court, implies that courts such as that of
the Hapsburg court, usually consisted of orchestral instrumentalists for private
orchestras or theatre orchestras, and woodwind players for the Kammermusik
ensemble (which in 1787 Mozart had briefly been employed by the Viennese
court to compose music for). The Kapellmeister, who was in charge of all these
musicians was also assigned with composing new material of a wide variety of
genres to be presented to the royal members 2. Carlton, in his article Changes in
Status and Roleplay: Music at the End of the Eighteenth Century, summarizes
what Hadyns responsibilities were while he served at the Bohemian court from
1766 to 1790:
It is surely useful to summarize concisely the main elements of the
musicians status as Kapellmeister [1] composer and arranger of music on
specific occasion, [2] performer of music as conductor or instrumentalist,
[3] librarian for the orderly retention of all scores, both secular and sacred,
[4] custodian of all instruments, [4] personnel manager for the discipline
of recruiting all persons in the musical establishment, [5] periodic
commissions for work outside the court as a courtesy extended by a noble
employer, [6] a perceived stable sequence of positions to be held over a
lifetime, ie. a career.3

1 David Andress, The French Revolution: A Complete History? History Today, 66/2 (2016), 22-23.

2 Richard Carlton, Changes in the Status of Roleplay: The Musician at the End of the Eighteenth Century
International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 37/1 (2006), 7-8.
It is also important to note that, not all musicians would have had the
opportunity to work for a wide variety of ensembles. When Haydn worked in
court, he worked in Vienna, Einstadt and Esterhza with a court Kapelle of 24
members4, and by extension was also provided accommodation at the court
palaces like the other loyal servants5. The latter was quite uncommon for its time
compared with Mozart and Boccherini. With Boccherini, his experience in the
courts were brief. From 1786 until the Kings death in 1798, Boccherini served
King Friederick Wilhelm II of Prussia. The King was very engaged with his music,
and happened to be a skilled cellist. Unlike Haydn, Boccherinis tasks were
meagre. It is assumed that Boccherini remained in Spain while his works were
sent to the King6.
On the other hand, young Mozart had been lucky enough to have taken up a
position in both a church and a court. The first instance was with the Archbishop
of Saltzberg, whom Mozart had despised for several reasons, and remained
conscious of his relatively low assigned status in any noble establishment 7. In
the second instance, Dorothea Link states in her essay Mozarts appointment to
the Viennese Court, Mozart had been appointed the position of Kammer Musicus
by King Joseph II in December 1787. The table which she provides from the
Hopfkapelles accounting books (see example 1) does not state Mozarts exact
position, leading Link to assume his role as a composer 8. Being paid only 800
gulden, Mozart complained that was too much for what I do; too little for what I
could do9. He was second in rank to the Kapellmeister of the time, who was
none other than Antonio Salieri.

3 There are essentially 7 elements to Haydns role. Repitition of point number four is assumed to be a proof-
reading error. Richard Carlton, Changes in Status and Roleplay: The Musician at the End of the Eighteenth
Century International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, 37/1 (2006), 11.

4 Boer van Berter. Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts: Historical Dictionary of Music of the
Classical Period, (Blueridge Summit, U.S.A: Scarcrow Press), 2012, 230.

5 Richard Carlton, Changes in Status and Roleplay: The Musician at the End of the Eighteenth Century
International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, 37/1 (2006), 8.

6 Jamie Tortella, Luigi Boccherini: Dictionary of Persons, Places, and Terms, (Madrid: Acosiciacin Luigi
Boccherini) 2010, 17.

7 Richard Carlton, Changes in Status and Roleplay: The Musician at the End of the Eighteenth Century
International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, 37/1 (2006), 12.

8 Dorothea Link, Mozarts Appointment to the Viennse Court, Words About Mozart: Essays in Honour of
Stanley Sadie, Dorothea Link; Judith Nagley, Rochester, New York: Boydell Press, 2005, 164-165.

9 Dorothea Link, Mozarts Appointment to the Viennse Court, Words About Mozart: Essays in Honour of
Stanley Sadie, Dorothea Link; Judith Nagley, Rochester, New York: Boydell Press, 2005, 153, 158.
Ex. 1. Hopfkapelle musical establishment, 1 November 1787 to 29 February 1798. 10

By taking into account the experience of the three composers, all of whom
shared a resentment of having to sacrifice a part of their social lives, as to fulfil
their roles as loyal servants. Both Boccherini and Haydn were not consciously
defiant of the Kapellmeister position like Mozart had been. From this, it was
perhaps that the two aforementioned were of a slightly older generation, and
also because they had not been as saturated by the patronising of royal subjects.
Nevertheless, working in a court or a church was a reasonable place for a
musician to earn a stable income, albeit they were often isolated from the world
outside the court, in order to fulfil their masters needs.

The gradual move towards public concerts in the latter half of the 18 th Century
had been influenced quite heavily by the circulation of published music.
Manuscripts, a precursor to published scores, were usually handwritten by the
composer himself or by his students11. The increase in established publishing
houses made distribution to wider audiences much easier and more accessible.
Notably, both Boccherini and Haydn had been actively engaged in publishing
their music towards the end of the 1790s. The process followed that the
composer send his manuscript copy to the publisher, and both would negotiate a
price for which the work would sell for12. However simple that seemed, publishers
during this time had no copyright laws to comply with, and would often go out of

10 Dorothea Link, Mozarts Appointment to the Viennse Court, Words About Mozart: Essays in Honour of
Stanley Sadie, Dorothea Link; Judith Nagley, Rochester, New York: Boydell Press, 2005, 157.

11 H.C. Robbins Landon, The Collected Correspondence and London Notebooks of Joseph Haydn, (London:
Barrie and Rockcliff), 1959, xx.

12
their way to profit as much as possible from the composer. Haydn, in 1779
worked with the Arata publishing firm to distribute his works, but every so often
the firm would take copies from Haydns musicians who were bribed - thus
resulting in the composer being treated unfairly and receiving no payment for his
efforts13. This type of experience happened to Boccherini as well with his
publisher Pleyel in 1796 to 1798. Through Boccherinis letters, it appeared that
Pleyel was making a bold effort to avoid full payment for his services 14. As
frustrating as it was, there was little that either Boccherini or Haydn could do in
their situations. The publishing industry had been quite new during this time, and
so laws had not yet been enforced to stop publishers treating their clients in this
way15. Therefore, this could have also been seen as a way of publishers
manipulating the reputations of their clients, and thus potentially influencing the
attitudes of music consumers during the time.

The role of a musician was also expanded through the realm of the public
concert. Concerts would be held in mostly concert halls and churches, and also in
theatres. As such, these venues also offered subscriptions to a concert series for
the upper class citizens and nobles16. The more reputable venues such as the
Concert Spirituel in Paris attracted many visiting musicians to perform there.
Around 1767 or 1768, Boccherini and his friend Manfriedi, a violinist had made
their debut performance there 17. For Boccherini his performance had impressed
the listeners, and this later resulted in an invitation from the ambassador of
Madrid for the cellist to visit the King of Spain 18. Mozart had later made his
second visit to the same venue in the summer of 1778. In a letter to his father in
May, he describes that Altogether Paris has greatly changed. The French are not
as polite as fifteen years ago19; this was partly in reaction to the audiences
general responses to the four choruses he wrote for the concert program.
Indeed, Mozart was correct in the fact that overtime, an audiences tastes in
music were becoming more developed in proportion to the rate at which

13 H.C. Robbins Landon, The Collected Correspondence and London Notebooks of Joseph Haydn, (London:
Barrie and Rockcliff), 1959, xxi.

14 Germaine de Rothschild, Boccherini: His Life and Work, trans. Andreas Mayor, (London: Oxford University
Press), 1965, 147.

15 H.C. Robbins Landon, The Collected Correspondence and London Notebooks of Joseph Haydn, (London:
Barrie and Rockcliff), 1959, xx.

16 Simon McVeigh, Concert Life, London (i), V: Musical Life: 1600 1800. Grove Music Online. <
www.grovemusic.com > 7 May 2016.

17 Germaine de Rothschild, Boccherini: His Life and Work, trans. Andreas Mayor, (London: Oxford University
Press), 1965, 2428.

18 Germaine de Rothschild, Boccherini: His Life and Work, trans. Andreas Mayor, (London: Oxford University
Press), 1965, 36-37.

19 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, trans. M.M. Bozman, ed. Hans Mersmann
(New York: Dover Press) 1928, 97-99.
compositional innovations in music were being introduced. Even then, Mozart at
this time, who had plenty of exposure to Viennese and Saltzberg audiences could
not accept the musical culture of the Parisians. This was probably the most
difficult element for a concert musician to accept: that they really were
composing for the unknown and unpredictable audience that was the future like
Carlton had mentioned20. Hence, despite the incredible financial instability the
concert musicians life held, this was eventually balanced by the economic
developments this in turn, was what set the basis of what was to become the
standard life of a musician today.

In conclusion, the roles of musicians during the second half of the 18 th Century
had broadened considerably. Courts and churches, despite their potential to
provide financial stability for musicians, were also quite strict as to how much
their otherwise loyal servant could express themselves, as well as being able to
cope with a social confinement like Haydn had. Overtime, the aforementioned
institutions gradually lost power quite notably during the French Revolution a
simultaneous economic boom gave rise to a wealthier upper and middle class.
On the other hand, opportunities arose for composers to publish their
compositions. As well as this, public concerts were becoming popular too,
although like Mozart had endured many times, this lifestyle had its risks
financially, putting the fate of the musicians success in the audiences hands.
With these ideas in mind, musicians were increasing placing themselves in the
public concert realm, which was to become the beginning of what is now
considered the modern concert life for a musician today.

20 Richard Carlton, Changes in Status and Roleplay: The Musician at the End of the Eighteenth Century
International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, 37/1 (2006), 14.
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