Eszterháza
Eszterháza is a palace in Fertőd, Hungary, built by Prince Nikolaus Esterházy. Sometimes called the "Hungarian Versailles", it is Hungary's grandest Rococo edifice. It was the home of Joseph Haydn and his orchestra from 1766 to 1790.
Location[edit]
The palace was built near the south shore of the Neusiedler See, on swampy land, a health hazard at the time. Robbins Landon notes that "it was a particularly eccentric idea on the part of Prince Nicolaus to choose it as the site for a large castle. Possibly the castle's existence was to prove 'mind over matter'".[1]
Haydn at Eszterháza[edit]
From 1766 to 1790, the estate was the home of the celebrated composer Joseph Haydn,[4] where he lived in a four-room flat in a large two-storey building housing servants' quarters, separate from the palace.[5] Haydn wrote the majority of his symphonies for the Prince's orchestra. Eszterháza also had two opera houses, the main theatre seating 400 (destroyed by fire in 1779) and a marionette theatre;[6] Haydn conducted his own and others' operas, often with more than a hundred performances per year.[7]
The palace was geographically isolated, a factor which led to loneliness and tedium among the musicians. This is seen in some of Haydn's letters, as well as in the famous tale of the Farewell Symphony.
Fountain with marriage in 2008
