"Surely, prince," replied the director Friedburg, beckoning to Joseph
Haydn, who advanced toward the orchestra.

"Little Moor," says the old gentleman, "you shall enter my service. I am
Prince Esterhazy. What's your name?"

"Haydn."

"Ah! I've heard of you. Get along and dress yourself like a
_Kapellmeister_. Clap on a new coat, and mind your wig is curled. You're
too short. You shall have red heels; but they shall be high, that your
stature may correspond with your merit."

So he went to live at Eisenstadt in the Esterhazy household, and
received a salary of four hundred florins, which was afterward raised to
one thousand by Prince Nicholas Esterhazy. Haydn continued the intimate
friend and associate of Prince Nicholas for thirty years, and death only
dissolved the bond between them. In the Esterhazy household the life of
Haydn was a very quiet one, a life of incessant and happy industry; for
he poured out an incredible number of works, among them not a few of
his most famous ones. So he spent a happy life in hard labor, alternated
with delightful recreations at the Esterhazy country-seat, mountain
rambles, hunting and fishing, open-air concerts, musical evenings, etc.

A French traveler who visited Esterhaz about 1782 says: "The château
stands quite solitary, and the prince sees nobody but his officials
and servants, and strangers who come hither from curiosity. He has
a puppet-theatre, which is certainly unique in character. Here the
grandest operas are produced. One knows not whether to be amazed or to