Word: esterh
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...their art: included were two works by the 16th century Venetian master Tintoretto, and Portrait of a Young Man, attributed to Raphael. By far the most important of the works, however, was Raphael's 1508 Mary with the Christ Child and Young John the Baptist, known as the Esterházy Madonna after the Hungarian noble family that sold it to the state in 1872. A jewel of the collection, the Madonna gives rare insights into Raphael's compositional skills. Raphael Scholar James Beck of Columbia University estimates that it alone is worth between $1 million...
...want to hear good opera," the Empress Maria Theresa-once remarked, "I must go to Eszterháza." Such was the fame of Joseph Haydn's musical establishment at the country palace of his patron, Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, that even crowned heads journeyed from Vienna to rural Hungary to hear his operas. Yet today the two dozen or so operas by one of music's most important, beloved figures are the least known of his major works. It is an undeserved obscurity...
During the nearly 30 years that he spent in the service of the Esterházys, Haydn gained vast experience in conducting and producing operas-his own and those of other composers. In the single year of 1786, he led a total of 125 performances. But he was never a man of the commercial theater as Mozart was. His operas, mostly light in character, did not have to please any taste but the Esterházys'. And rather than working closely with a librettist to create something new-as Mozart did with Da Ponte-Haydn was largely content...
When Haydn wanted to hear his latest work, he needed only to stroll over to the Esterháazy court orchestra, put the score on the stands and wait a while. Before long, the musicians would give the piece a vigorous tryout. What is more, as a servant of an 18th century prince, Haydn was expected to provide new compositions with regularity. Modern composers no longer have to wear livery, or write on demand, but neither are they assured of having their music performed. Soloists are often indifferent or even hostile; orchestras and opera companies rely mostly on time-tested...
Across the Rinne, Gluck's triumph is likely to spread far, for opera is becoming increasingly fashionable. At Esterház, for example, where Franz Josef Haydn serves as Kapellmeister to Prince Nicolaus the Magnificent, the composer has been asked to stop writing chamber music for the prince to play on his baryton viol and to drill his 22- man orchestra in opera. Among those who heard Haydn was Archduke Ferdinand, who commissioned him to compose an opera, La Vera Costanza, to be staged in Vienna later this year...