The following draft of Haydn's will is copied from Lady Wallace's Letters of Distinguished Musicians (London, 1867), where it was published in full for the first time. The much-corrected original is in the Court Library at Vienna. Dies says: "Six weeks before his death, in April 1809, he read over his will to his servants in the presence of witnesses, and asked them whether they were satisfied with his provisions or not. The good people were quite taken by surprise at the kindness of their master's heart, seeing themselves thus provided for in time to come, and they thanked him with tears in their eyes." The extracts given by Dies vary in some particulars from the following, because Haydn's final testamentary dispositions were made at a later date. But, as Lady Wallace says, it is not the legal but the moral aspect of the affair that interests us. Here we see epitomized all the goodness and beauty of Haydn's character. The document runs as follows:
FLORINS.
1. For holy masses,........................................12
2. To the Norman School,....................................5
3. To the Poorhouse,........................................5
4. To the executor of my will.............................200
And also the small portrait of Grassi.
5. To the pastor,..........................................10
6. Expenses of my funeral, first-class,...................200
7. To my dear brother Michael, in Salzburg,..............4000
8. To my brother Johann, in Eisenstadt,..................4000
9. To my sister in Rohrau (erased, and written
underneath): "God have mercy on her soul! To the
three children of my sister,".........................2000
10. To the workwoman in Esterhazy, Anna Maria Moser,
nee Frohlichin,........................................500
11. To the workwoman in Rohrau, Elisabeth, nee Bohme,......500
12. To the two workwomen there (erased, and replaced
by: "To the shoemaker, Anna Loder, in Vienna"),........200
Should she presume to make any written claims, I
declare them to be null and void, having already
paid for her and her profligate husband, Joseph
Lungmayer, more than 6000 gulden.
13. To the shoemaker in Garhaus, Theresa Hammer,............500
14. To her son, the blacksmith, Matthias Frohlich,..........500
15.&16. To the eldest child of my deceased sister,
Anna Wimmer, and her husband, at Meolo, in Hungary,.....500
17. To her married daughter at Kaposwar,....................100
18. To the other three children (erased),...................300
19. To the married Dusse, nee Scheeger,.....................300
20. To her imbecile brother, Joseph (erased),...............100
21. To her brother, Karl Scheeger, silversmith, and his
wife,...................................................900
22. To the son of Frau von Koller,..........................300
23. To his son (erased),....................................100
24. To the sister of my late wife (erased).
25. To my servant, Johann Elssler,.........................2500
Also one year's wages, likewise a coat, waistcoat
and a pair of trousers. (According to Griesinger,
Haydn bequeathed a capital of 6000 florins to this
faithful servant and copyist.)
26. To Rosalia Weber, formerly in my service,...............300
(She has a written certificate of this from me.)
27. To my present maid-servant, Anna Kremnitzer,...........1000
And a year's wages in addition. Also, her bed and
bedding and two pairs of linen sheets; also, four
chairs, a table, a chest of drawers, the watch,
the clock and the picture of the Blessed Virgin in
her room, a flat-iron, kitchen utensils and crockery,
one water-pail, and other trifles.
28. To my housekeeper, Theresia Meyer,......................500
And one year's wages,.................................20
29. To my old gardener, Michel,..............................24
30. To the Prince's Choir for my obsequies, to share
alike (erased),......................................100
31. To the priest (erased),..................................12
32. To the pastor in Eisenstadt for a solemn mass,............5
33. To his clerk,.............................................2
34. To the beneficiary,.......................................2
35. To Pastor von Nollendorf,.................................2
36. To Pastor von St Georg,...................................2
37. To the sexton (erased from 33),...........................1
38. To the organ-bellows' blower,.............................1
39. To the singer, Babett,...................................50
40. To my cousin, the saddler's wife, in Eisenstadt,.........50
To her daughter,........................................300
41. To Mesdemoiselles Anna and Josepha Dillin,..............100
42. To the blind daughter of Herr Graus, leader of
the choir in Eisenstadt (erased),.......................100
43. To the four sisters Sommerfeld, daughters of
the wigmaker in Presburg,...............................200
44. To Nannerl, daughter of Herr Weissgerb, my
neighbour (erased),......................................50
45. To Herr Art, merchant in the Kleine Steingasse,..........50
46. To the pastor in Rohrau,.................................12
47. To the schoolmaster in Rohrau,............................6
48. To the school children,...................................3
49. To Herr Wamerl, formerly with Count v. Harrach,..........50
50. To his present cashier,..................................50
51. To Count v. Harrach for the purpose of defraying
the bequests Nos. 51 and 52, I bequeath an
obligation of 6000 florins at 5 per cent., the
interest to be disposed of as follows:
To the widow Aloysia Polzelli, formerly
singer at Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy's, payable
in ready money six weeks after my death,................100
And each year, from the date of my death, for
her life, the interest of the above capital,............150
After her death her son, Anton Polzelli, to
receive 150 florins for one year, having always
been a good son to his mother and a grateful
pupil to me. N.B.—I hereby revoke the obligation
in Italian, signed by me, which may be produced
by Mdme. Polzelli, otherwise so many of my poor
relations with greater claims would receive too
little. Finally, Mdme. Polzelli must be satisfied
with the annuity of 150 florins. After her death
the half of the above capital, viz., 3000
florins, to be divided into two shares—one-half
(1500) to devolve on the Rohrau family, for the
purpose of keeping in good order the monument
erected to me by Count von Harrach, and also
that of my deceased father at the door of the
sacristy. The other half to be held in trust by
the Count, and the annual interest of the sum,
namely, 45 florins, to be divided between any
two orphans in Rohrau.
52. To my niece, Anna Lungmayer, payable six weeks
after my death,..........................................100
Likewise a yearly annuity to her husband and herself,....150
All these legacies and obligations, and also
the proceeds of the sale of my house and legal
costs, to be paid within one year of my death;
all the other expenses to be deducted from the
sum of ready money in the hands of the executors,
who must account to the heir for the same. On
their demise this annuity to go to their children
until they come of age, and after that period the
capital to be equally divided among them. Of
the remaining 950 florins, 500 to become the
property of my beloved Count v. Harrach, as the
depositary of my last will and testament, and
300 I bequeath to the agent for his trouble.
The residue of 150 florins to go to my stepmother,
and, if she be no longer living, to her
children. N.B.—Should Mdme. Lungmayer or
her husband produce any document signed by
me for a larger sum, I wish it to be understood,
as in the case of Mdme. Polzelli, that it is to be
considered null and void, as both Mdme. Lungmayer
and her husband, owing to my great kindness, lavished
more than 6000 florins of mine during my life, which
my own brother and the citizens in Oedenberg and
Eisenstadt can testify.
(From No. 51 is repeatedly and thickly scored out.)
53. To the widow Theresia Eder and her two daughters,
lacemakers,...............................................150
54. To my pupil, Anton Polzelli,..............................100
55. To poor blind Adam in Eisenstadt,..........................24
56. To my gracious Prince, my gold Parisian medal and
the letter that accompanied it, with a humble
request to grant them a place in the museum at
Forchtentein.
57. To Mdlle. C. Czeck, waiting-woman to Princess
Graschalkowitz (erased),.................................1000
58. To Fraulein Anna Bucholz,.................................100
Inasmuch as in my youth her grandfather lent
me 150 florins when I greatly needed them,
which, however, I repaid fifty years ago.
59. To the daughter of the bookkeeper, Kandler, my
piano, by the organ-builder Schanz.
60. The small Parisian medal to Count v. Harrach, and
also the bust a l'antique of Herr Grassi.
61. To the widow Wallnerin in Schottenhof,....................100
62. To the Father Prior Leo in Eisenstadt, of the
"Brothers of Mercy,".......................................50
63. To the Hospital for the Poor in Eisenstadt (erased),.......75
For the ratification of this my last will and testament, I have
written it entirely in my own hand, and earnestly beg the
authorities to consider it, even if not strictly or properly legal,
in the light at least of a codicil, and to do all in their power
to make it valid and binding.
JOSEPH HAYDN.
May 5, 1801.
Should God call me away suddenly, this my last will and testament,
though not written on stamped paper, to be considered valid in
law, and the stamps to be repaid tenfold to my sovereign.
In the name of the Holy Trinity. The uncertainty of the
period when it may please my Creator, in His infinite wisdom,
to call me from time into eternity has caused me, being in sound
health, to make my last will with regard to my little remaining
property. I commend my soul to my all-merciful Creator; my
body I wish to be interred, according to the Roman Catholic
forms, in consecrated ground. A first-class funeral. For my
soul I bequeath No. 1.
Joseph Haydn
Vienna, Dec. 6, 1801
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