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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
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."
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