Wo now arrive at that period in the life of Haydn in which were produced most of those works that have raised his fame to the high point it has attained. In 1790 Salomon, the celebrated violinist, having determined to give a series of subscription concerts iu London, went to Vienna to engage either Haydn or Mozart, not only to pro duce certain compositions in aid of his design, hut to superintend In person the performance of them. It was mutually agreed by the three parties that Haydn should be the first to visit London, and that Mozart should fellow the year after ; but it was destined that the latter should not live to fulfil his part in the agreement. In 1791 Haydn arrived, and produced during that and the following year, at ' Salemon's Concerts,' in the Ilenover-equare Rooms, six of his 'Twelve Grand Symphonies,' which immediately made an extraor-1 dinay sensation In the musical world, and have over since rather increased than diminished In public estimation. Hero also ha com posed, by agreement with Corri and Dussek. music publishers, his two sets of English canzonete, which for originality, for musical expression of every kind, nod for richness and propriety of accompaniment, have no rivals. Besides these, his prolific imagination gave birth to many quartets, sonatas, &c.
In 1791 Haydn accepted a second engagment from Salomon for the same purpose. lie reached London in January, and in the course of that and the succeeding season brought forth the remaining six of his Grand Symphonies, with the same brilliant result. For these twelve symphonies, and for superintending their performance, he received a sum—including two benefit concerts, the profits guaranteed by Salo. mon—amonnting to ]5501. To this is to be added, as the fruits of his visits to England, what lie gained by hie canzoneta and other compo sitions : it was therefore with reason he declared that in London he (Uncovered the real value of the reputation he enjoyed in Germany. Ilia reception here was of the most flattering kind : the University of Oxford conferred upon him the degree of Doctor in Musio ; at the tables of the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York he was a frequent guest ; and nearly all classes vied in showing him attention. The satisfaction which he felt he gratefully acknowledged and evinced in a diary he kept while in England, a translation of a part of which (a curious document), with notes, appears in the fifth volume of the ' I larmoni eon.
In 1798 Haydn gave to the world his oratorio The Creation,' the greatest of his works, though composed in his sixty-fiftb year. It is
enough to say of this fine production of his advanced years, that it is not unworthy to rank with the finest oratorios of Handel. The design was suggested, his biographer M. Beylo tells us, by an English gentle man named Lidley (Liddell, we suspect, is the true name). The German text however, and the barbarous English translation (which to our shame is still in use), were furnished by the Baron von Swieten. Two years after this he composed' The Seasons,' a work of little lees originality than ' The Creation,' but not exhibiting, nor intended to exhibit, the same depth of thought. - The subject is not of so grave a nature, and is treated with more freedom. The last offsprings of his genius were two seta of quartets, "which betray no abatement of his vigour ; on the contrary, the second of his Op. 80 is perhaps the most original and exquisitely finished of all the works of the kind that ever proceeded from his pen." When Haydn's ' Creation' reached Paris the Institut National elected him a member, an honour contested with him by some of the greatest men of the time in Europe; sad h000nrs and marks of the highest respect flowed in upon him during his remaining years from all the leading societies and musical professors of Europo. His death is supposed to have been accelerated by the bombardment of Vienna, which powerfully agitated his weakened frame, though it must bo mentioned, to tho houour of Napoleon, that he issued strict orders that the abode of Haydn should be respected ; and when the troops entered the city, a French guard was placed at his door to protect him from every kind of injury. He died on the 29th of May 1809, and was privately buried at Gnimpendorff, his country then suffering all the horrors of war, and the capital of the empire being in possession of the enemy. He left no children. Ilis works are astonishingly numerous, embracing every elan. Among them are 116 symphonies, 83 violin quartets, 60 pianoforte sonatas, 15 masses, 4 oratorios (in eluding the ' Seven Last Words '), a grand Te Daum, a Stabat Mater, 14 Italian and German operas, 42 duets and canzoneta, upwards of 200 concertos and divertissements for particular instruments, &c. &c. Many of these, but not the most valuable, were irretrievably lost in the fire which consumed the palace of his patron at Eisenstadt: the best are out of the reach of danger; they have been printed and reprinted in half the capitals of Europe.