As he had never seen the sea, he was at a loss how to express it. The
manager said he himself had never seen the ocean, but to his mind it
was like this, and he began to toss his arms wildly about. Haydn tried
every way he could think of to represent the ocean, but Kurz was not
satisfied. At last he flung his hands down with a crash on each end
of the keyboard and brought them together in the middle. "That's it,
that's it," cried the manager and embraced the youth excitedly. All
went well with the rest of the opera. It was finished and produced,
but did not make much stir, a fact which was not displeasing to the
composer, as he was not proud of his first attempt.

His acquaintance with Porpora promised better things. The singing
master had noticed his skill in playing the harpsichord, and offered
to engage him as accompanist. Haydn gladly accepted at once, hoping to
pick up much musical knowledge in this way. Old Porpora was very
harsh and domineering at first, treating him more like a valet than
a musician. But at last he was won over by Haydn's gentleness and
patience, until he was willing to answer all his questions and
to correct his compositions. Best of all he brought Haydn to the
attention of the nobleman in whose house he was teaching, so that
when the nobleman and his family went to the baths of Mannersdorf for
several months, Haydn was asked to go along as accompanist to Porpora.

The distinguished musicians he met at Mannersdorf were all very kind
to him and showed much interest in his compositions, many of which
were performed during this visit. The nobleman, impressed with Haydn's
desire to succeed, allotted him a pension of a sum equal to fifteen
dollars a month. The young musician's first act on receiving this was
to buy himself a neat suit of black.