Haydn's Gay Night in London

Haydn's visit to London in 1791 was a great event in his life. His new surroundings and novel experiences interested him mightily. He made a more or less careful diary of events, and the following is part of an account he gives of a dinner with the Lord Mayor of London. There were two tables at the banquet, at the first of which sat the Lord Mayor, the Lord Chancellor, the Duke of Leeds, and other distinguished personages. Haydn himself sat at the second table with a Mr. Sylvester, a famous lawyer and first Alderman of London.

"After dinner", says Haydn, "the distinguished company of table No. 1 retired to a separate room to drink coffee and tea; we other guests were taken to another room. At nine o'clock No. 1 goes into a smaller hall, whereupon the ball begins; in this hall there is, a parle, an elevated place for the high nobless, where the Lord Mayor is seated upon a sort of throne with his wife. The dancing then begins according to rank, but only a couple at a time, as at Court on the King's birthday, January 6th (June 4th). In this small hall there are raised benches, where for the greater part the fair sex reigns. Nothing but minuets are danced in this room; but I couldn't stay longer than a quarter of an hour; first, because of the heat caused by so many people being crowded into so small a room; second, because of the wretched dance music, two violins and one violoncello composing the whole orchestra. The minuets were more Polish than German or Italian.

A Merry Dance

"Thence I went into another room that looked more like a subterranean cave. There the dance was English, the music was a little better because there was a drum which drowned the blunders of the fiddlers. I went on to the great hall where we had dined; the music was more sufferable. The dance was English, but only on the elevated platform where the Lord Mayor and the first four members had dined. The other tables were all newly surrounded by men who, as usual, drank right lustily all night long. The most singular think of all, however, was the fact that a part of the company danced on without hearing a note of the music, for first at one table, then at another, some were howling songs and some drinking toasts amid the maddened shrieks of Hurra! Hurra! and the swinging of glasses. The hall and all the other rooms are illuminated with lamps which give out an unpleasant odor, particularly in the small dance hall. It is remarkable that the Lord Mayor needs no knife at table, as a carver, who stands in front of him in the middle of the table, cuts up everything for him. Behind the Lord Mayor there is another man who shouts out all the toasts with might and main. After each shout follow trumpets and drums. No toast was more applauded than that to the health of Mr. Pitt. Otherwise, however, there is no order".

The Etude Magazine August 1914