Johann Peter Salomon was a German violinist,
composer, arranger, conductor, teacher, and concert impresario, born (in Bonn)
on or about February 20, 1745 – he was christened (baptized) on February 20 so
it’s a sure thing he was born a few days before that. Salomon spent more than half of his career in
England. To say that he was a well-rounded
musician is quite an understatement; nevertheless, nowadays, he is remembered for two
things: (1) he was born in the same house as Ludwig Van Beethoven and (2) he
persuaded Joseph Haydn to visit London - twice.
It has been said that he had a unique style of playing, especially in
chamber music with his string quartet. He
must have had more than one teacher but I only know of one: Franz Benda, a
member of the Benda musical dynasty. By
age 13, he was playing violin in the court orchestra, presumably in Bonn since
that was where his benefactor (Clement August, a lover of the arts) presided. Salomon also made a brief concert tour as a
soloist (begun in August, 1765) which took him to Frankfurt and Berlin. By age 20, he was concertmaster of the
orchestra in the court of Prince Heinrich of Prussia (Germany), a brother of
Frederick the Great, presumably in Rheinsberg, a town which is about 40 miles
north of Berlin. (An interesting thing
about Prince Heinrich is that he almost became King of the United States.) While working for Prince Heinrich (a period
which lasted about 15 years), Salomon composed many works, among which were a
number of operas, all of them now forgotten.
Sometime in 1780, after his patron had suddenly disbanded his orchestra,
Salomon visited Paris and from there decided to travel to London. He was 35 years old. There, he gave his first concert at Covent
Garden, as conductor and violinist, on March 23, 1781. From that day forward, Salomon was very
active in English musical life, giving concerts as leader (concertmaster),
violin soloist, conductor, composer, organizer, and quartet player. How he became fluent in the English language
is unknown to me although it has been reported that he was actually fluent in
four languages. He also found time to
teach privately. As far as the famous
Haydn visits to England, I was able to ascertain, from various sources,
everything that follows. After Joseph
Haydn had become internationally popular from the dissemination of much of his
music, several persons in England had tried to persuade him, since the early 1780s,
to visit and to present concerts there.
These efforts were all unsuccessful because Haydn was still under
contract to one of the Esterhazy Princes (for whom he ultimately worked thirty
years) and was very loyal to him. Regarding
a visit or tour, Salomon had also corresponded with Haydn for a while and had
even sent a personal emissary but that trip had not been totally successful. So Haydn remained out of reach. As luck and coincidence always play a part in
everybody’s life, so it was with Salomon.
After a particular trip that he made to Italy (to secure the services of
several opera singers for a London event) – being the well-known and energetic
impresario that he was – Salomon stopped in Cologne on his way back to
London. While there, he read in the
newspapers that the good Prince Nikolaus from Esterhazy (Haydn’s employer) had
died (in Vienna, on September 28, 1790.)
Salomon immediately seized the opportunity to seek Haydn out and ask him
(again) to come to London. This time,
Haydn agreed. After signing an agreement
and figuring out the logistics, they left Vienna on December 15, 1790. It was a Wednesday. On their way to England, they stopped by Bonn
to pay their respects to Beethoven, which they did on December 26, 1790. (A year later, Mozart would be dead.) Beethoven was not yet famous - he was barely 20 years old. Salomon had known Beethoven much earlier (in
their Bonn days) and by this time he had also programmed some of his works for
his London concerts. They were good
friends. Haydn had never met
Beethoven. In any case, Haydn and
Salomon crossed the English Channel (from a point in Calais, France) on or
about January 1, 1791 (a Saturday) and shortly thereafter arrived in
London. Salomon was 45 years old. The rest is history. Haydn went on to write 12 symphonies for
Salomon’s concerts in London and other works as well. Salomon would soon be at work arranging most
of these symphonies for small chamber ensembles. One such work is the symphony number 104
which Salomon arranged for string quartet, flute, and double bass. It may be that these arrangements were not
artistic endeavors but a purely commercial venture on Salomon’s part. Salomon’s arrangements were available to the
public before any orchestral parts were even printed. (In his contract with Salomon, Haydn had
given up all rights to those works he composed in London for Salomon’s
concerts. However, Haydn was paid very
handsomely for his efforts.) In March of
1813, Salomon and a few other English musicians and patrons of the arts founded
what was called the Philharmonic Society, which still exists today. It was a de facto sponsor and/or administrator
of a professional symphony orchestra and choral society which established
concerts which were regularly presented to and for the general public and not
associated solely with the aristocracy.
The orchestra did not have a name but it could very well have had a name
if they had thought of one. Salomon
conducted its first concert in March of 1813.
He was 68 years old. As far as I
know, Salomon was active as a violinist, composer, teacher, impresario, arranger,
and conductor until the day he died. As
a composer, his most famous work is probably the opera titled Windsor Castle,
written in 1795. All of his other
compositions (including his many arrangements) have been neglected and
forgotten. It has been said that Salomon
played a Stradivarius violin which Corelli had played before him but I could
not substantiate that from more than one source. It has also been said that Salomon gave the
Jupiter nickname to Mozart’s last symphony, number 41. Perhaps it is true. Salomon’s most famous pupils are Franz Anton
Ries (Beethoven’s violin teacher and father of pianist Ferdinand Ries) and
George Pinto, English violinist, pianist, and composer. Salomon died on November 28, 1815, after a
brief illness brought on by an accident.
He was 70 years old. Here is a Vimeo file of Salomon’s Romance in D for violin, played by English violinist,
Simon Standage. The photo is courtesy of
ArtUK and Oxford University.
