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Salomon's first concert, already postponed to February 25, had
been fixed for the 11th of March, on which date David, by special
permission, was to appear "whether the Opera house was open or
not." The delay was extremely awkward for both Haydn and Salomon,
particularly for Haydn. He had been brought to London with beat
of drum, and here he was compelled to hide his light while the
directors of the professional concerts shot ahead of him and
gained the ear of the public before he could assert his
superiority. By this time also the element of professional
jealousy had come into free play. Depreciatory paragraphs
appeared in the public prints "sneering at the composer as 'a
nine days' wonder,' whom closer acquaintance would prove to be
inferior to either Cramer or Clementi; and alluding to the
'proverbial avarice' of the Germans as tempting so many artists,
who met with scanty recognition from their own countrymen to
herald their arrival in England with such a flourish of trumpets
as should charm the money out of the pockets of easily-gulled
John Bull." These pleasantries were continued on rather different
lines, when at length Haydn was in a position to justify the
claims made for him.
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