Day 74: Haydn Saves the Day

HaydnCD74Today’s Haydn CD – number 74 out of 150 – changes direction again, slightly. Instead of Scottish Songs for George Thomson or William Whyte, it’s Scottish Songs for William Napier.

Once again, I turn to Google to put “William Napier” in historical context. Who was he?

According to a product listing on the AllMusic web site, William Napier was a Scottish publisher who had fallen on hard times. Haydn saved him. Here’s the story:

The first of the three volumes of 50 settings each for Napier was partly motivated by charity on Haydn’s part, as in 1791, Napier was forced into bankruptcy and looking at serving some time in debtor’s prison; for a man with 12 kids, that must’ve seemed like a raw deal. Haydn spun out the first 100 settings heard here in typically short order, and Napier was saved; a further 50 were published in 1795. Setting Scots’ popular melodies turned out to be something of a cottage industry for Haydn in his last years, as overall he produced 400 such settings for various publishing houses. It proved highly profitable for Haydn, and as he was in failing health when the final commissions for yet more came around, he was able to delegate that work to students. All of these pieces, however, are presumed to have come from the master himself.

For a very busy, getting-on-in-years master like Haydn, I think it’s quite something that he took the time to dash off a bunch of songs to get Napier out of debtor’s prison.

Here’s another article about Haydn’s folk song arrangements, which includes the ones to which I’m listening today. This article, written by Andreas Friesenhagen, reveals more about Haydn and William Napier.

The way in which no specific instruments are mentioned is entirely compatible with the fact that these songs were intended for amateur music in the home. The figured bass throughout all the songs (although it is not certain that this was done entirely by Haydn himself) and some notes in the bass part, such as ”Pizzicato“ and “Coll’arco” would tend to indicate that they were intended for a keyboard instrument and a string instrument (cello). Haydn did not write instrumental introductions and codas, so-called “Symphonies”, for his arrangements for Napier.

William Napier (?1740 – 1812) was actually from Scotland, but had lived in London since 1765 as a violinist, playing, among other engagements, with King George III’s private orchestra and the orchestras of the “Professional Concerts” and the “Academy of Ancient Music”. From the end of the 1770s on, he established his own concert series in the “Thatched House Tavern” in St. James’s Street. In the meantime he had also set up a music shop and adjoining publishing house.Towards the end of the 1780s the business suffered greatly, and in the middle of 1791 Napier declared bankruptcy and was even threatened with imprisonment. It is at this point that Joseph Haydn appears on the scene. Haydn had been living in England since the beginning of 1791 as “Composer in Residence” for “Salomon’s Concerts”, the concert series put on by Johann Peter Salomon, who originally hailed from Bonn. Napier was obviously one of the London musicians whom Haydn met during his stay in London. To help the publisher out of his financial difficulties, Haydn wrote a few arrangements of Scottish folksongs for him. At least, this is roughly what the only sources for this story…
Andreas Friesenhagen, Joseph Haydn Institute, Cologne © 2008 (Translation Susan Doering)

The songs for William Napier aren’t terribly catchy or memorable (at least, to my ears). In fact, the song titles are more entertaining to me. For example:

Track 5 (“Shepherds, I have lost my love”). I’m not sure I even want to go there.

Track 8 (“The bonniest lass in a’ the world”). I just love the phrase “bonniest lass.”

Track 12 (“My boy Tammy”). What is that song trying to say? Is it like Johnny Cash’s “A Boy Named Sue”?

Make no mistake. There are some standout performances. For example:

Track 16 (“I’m o’er young to marry yet”), performed by soprano Lorna Anderson, is terrific.

Track 18 (“Jockie and Sandy”), also performed by Anderson. In this song, her voice is particularly clear and confident in the upper ranges.

I’m less impressed with tenor Jamie MacDougall on this CD. He’s still a superb singer. But he’s not really soaring in these selections…

…with the possible exception of Track 19 (“The black eagle”). MacDougall’s voice soars as high as the titular bird. This song, perhaps more than any other, showcases MacDougall’s very, very fine voice. As I’ve mentioned before, I’d love to hear MacDougall perform a proper opera. I’m sure his voice would be awesome.

Another stand-out performance: Track 22 (“Fy, let us a’ to the bridal”) performed by Anderson. It’s a sprightly song in which her voice sing-songs in a jaunty way. Too bad it’s only :49 long.

Another noteworthy performance: Track 25 (“The soger laddie”), also performed by Anderson. When the tempo of the song is brisker, and the subject matter is less melancholy than a typical Scottish song, Anderson’s voice really shines.

CD 74 features the same singers and musicians as on the previous folk-song selections:

Lorna Anderson and tenor Jamie MacDougall, both of whom actually are Scottish. They have fine voices.

Haydn Trio Eisenstadt, which consists of:

Harald Kosik piano
Verena Stourzh violin
Hannes Gradwohl cello

Also, as with the previous CDs of Scottish and Welsh Songs for George Thomson, and William Whyte, the songs for William Napier were recorded where it was likely first performed, or even composed: Haydn Hall, Esterhazy Palace, Eisenstadt.

The recording is perfect. The musicianship is magical. The entire performance is superb. Typical Brilliant Classics excellence. (Seriously, you really ought to buy box sets from Brilliant Classics. They are first-rate in every way. Here. I’ll make it easy for you. Just click on this link and it’ll take you to the listing on Amazon. Buy the Haydn Edition that I’ve been listening to for 71 days now. You’ll thank me for it later.)

Here’s what I listened to this morning:

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