branches, but it is with the Frakno or Forchtenstein line that we
are more immediately concerned. Count Paul Esterhazy of Frakno
(1635-1713) served in the Austrian army with such distinction as
to gain a field-marshal's baton at the age of thirty. He was the
first prince of the name, having been ennobled in 1687 for his
successes against the Turks and his support of the House of
Hapsburg. He was a musical amateur and a performer of some
ability, and it was to him that the family owed the existence of
the Esterhazy private chapel, with its solo singers, its chorus,
and its orchestra. Indeed, it was this prince who, in 1683, built
the splendid Palace of Eisenstadt, at the foot of the Leitha
mountains, in Hungary, where Haydn was to spend so many and such
momentous years.

When Prince Paul died in 1713, he was succeeded by his son,
Joseph Anton, who acquired "enormous wealth," and raised the
Esterhazy family to "the height of its glory." This nobleman's
son, Paul Anton, was the reigning prince when Haydn was called to
Eisenstadt in 1761. He was a man of fifty, and had already a
brilliant career behind him. Twice in the course of the Seven
Years' War he had "equipped and maintained during a whole
campaign a complete regiment of hussars for the service of his
royal mistress," and, like his distinguished ancestor, he had
been elevated to the dignity of field-marshal. He was
passionately devoted to the fine arts, more particularly to
music, and played the violin with eminent skill. Under his reign
the musical establishment at Eisenstadt enjoyed a prosperity
unknown at any other period of its history.

Haydn's Agreement