Haydn, so far as we can make out, never essayed the baryton
again, but he wrote a surprising amount of music for it,
considering its complicated mechanism and the weakness of its
tone. In the catalogue of his works there are no fewer than 175
compositions for the instrument--namely, six duets for two
barytons, twelve sonatas for baryton and violoncello, twelve
divertimenti for two barytons and bass, and 125 divertimenti for
baryton, viola and violoncello; seventeen so-called "cassations";
and three concertos for baryton, with accompaniment of two
violins and bass. There is no need to say anything about these
compositions, inasmuch as they have gone to oblivion with the
instrument which called them into being. At the best they can
never have been of much artistic importance.

A Reproval

A new epoch began at Eisenstadt with the rule of Prince Nicolaus.
He was a man of unbounded energy himself, and he expected
everybody in his service to be energetic too. There is nothing to
suggest that Haydn neglected any of his routine duties, which
certainly gave him abundant opportunity to "break the legs of
time," but once, at least--in 1765--his employer taxed him with
lack of diligence in composition, as well as for failing to
maintain the necessary discipline among the musicians under his
charge. It is likely enough that Haydn was not a rigid
disciplinarian; but it must have been a mere whim on the part of
Prince Nicolaus to reprove him on the score of laziness in
composing. In any case, it seems to have been only a solitary
reproof. There is no evidence of its having been repeated, and we