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Haydn made several new acquaintances during this visit, the most
notable being, perhaps, Dragonetti, the famous double-bass
player, who had accompanied Banti, the eminent prima donna, to
London in 1794. Banti had been discovered as a chanteuse in a
Paris cafe, and afterwards attracted much notice by her fine
voice both in Paris and London. "She is the first singer in
Italy, and drinks a bottle of wine every day," said one who knew
her. In her journeys through Germany, Austria and Italy she won
many triumphs. Haydn composed for her an air, "Non Partir," in E,
which she sang at his benefit. As for "Old Drag," the familiar
designation of the distinguished bassist, his eccentricities must
have provided Haydn with no little amusement. He always took his
dog Carlo with him into the orchestra, and Henry Phillips tells
us that, having a strange weakness for dolls, he often carried
one of them to the festivals as his wife! On his way to Italy in
1798 Dragonetti visited Haydn in Vienna, and was much delighted
with the score of "The Creation," just completed. Several eminent
violinists were in London at the time of Haydn's visit. The most
distinguished of them was perhaps Felice de Giardini, who, at the
age of fourscore, produced an oratorio at Ranelagh Gardens, and
even played a concerto. He had a perfectly volcanic temper, and
hated Haydn as the devil is said to hate holy water. "I don't
wish to see the German dog," he remarked in the composer's
hearing, when urged to pay him a visit. Haydn, as a rule, was
kindly disposed to all brother artists, but to be called a dog
was too much, He went to hear Giardini, and then got even with
him by noting in his diary that he "played like a pig."
The accounts preserved of Haydn's second visit to England are, as
already remarked, far less full than those of the first visit.
Unconnected memoranda appear in his diary, some of which are
given by Griesinger and Dies; but they are of comparatively
little interest. During the summer of 1794 he moved about the
country a good deal. Thus, about the 26th of August, he paid a
visit to Waverley Abbey, whose "Annales Waverliensis" suggested
to Scott the name of his first romance. The ruined condition of
the venerable pile--it dates from 1128--set Haydn moralizing on
the "Protestant heresy" which led the "rascal mob" to tear down
"what had once been a stronghold of his own religion."
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