may assume that even now it was not regarded as a very serious
matter, from the fact that three weeks after the prince was
requesting his steward to pay Haydn 12 ducats for three new
pieces, with which he was "very much pleased."

Operettas

Life at Eisenstadt moved on in "calm peace and quiet," but now
and again it was stirred into special activity, when Haydn had to
put forth his efforts in various new directions. Such an occasion
came very early in his service of Prince Nicolaus, when that
pompous person made triumphant entry into Eisenstadt. The
festivities were on a regal scale and continued for a whole
month. A company of foreign players had been engaged to perform
on a stage erected in the large conservatory, and Haydn was
required to provide them with operettas. He wrote several works
of the kind, one of which, "La Marchesa Nepola," survives in the
autograph score. Later on, for the marriage of Count Anton, the
eldest son of Prince Nicolaus, in 1763, he provided a setting of
the story which Handel had already used for his "Acis and
Galatea." This work, which was performed by the Eisenstadt
Capelle, with the orchestra clad in a new uniform of crimson and
gold, bore the name of "Acide e Galatea." Portions of the score
still exist--a section of the overture, four arias, and a finale
quartet. The overture is described as being "in his own style,
fresh and cheerful, foreshadowing his symphonies. The songs are
in the Italian manner, very inferior in originality and
expression to Handel's music; the quartet is crude in form and
uninteresting in substance." [See Miss Townsend's Haydn, p. 44.]