Lugia polzelli haydn biography

Luigia Polzelli (also Polcelli; c.
Luigia Polzelli, nee Moreschi, came from Naples.
La Polzelli and her husband had been engaged on March 26th, 1779, by Prince Nicolas Esterhazy for his private chapel.

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Luigia Polzelli

Italian opera singer

Luigia Polzelli (also Polcelli; c. 1760 – 5 October 1830) was an Italian mezzo-soprano, who sang at the Esterházy court in Hungary during the late 18th century. She was for a number of years the lover of the composer Joseph Haydn.

Early years

Luigia Polzelli was born Luigia Moreschi in Naples sometime around 1760. She married the violinist Antonio Polzelli some time before 1779. The couple apparently lived in Bologna.^[1]

Relationship with Haydn

Luigia arrived at the Esterházy court with her husband Antonio in 1779; both had two-year contracts. Luigia was nineteen years old at the time.^[2] Polzelli soon turned out not to be a particularly able singer. Moreover, her husband had difficulties in fulfilling his duties as a violinist, as he was in the initial stages of a long drawn out demise from tuberculosis. The reigning prince, Nikolaus Esterházy, was a great connoisseur of opera who was well acquainted with high-quality singing, and recognizing Luigia's mediocrity and Antonio's unreliability he soon

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On January 14, 1792, Joseph Haydn wrote from London to Luigia Polzelli in Italy a letter that gives some insight into the rough-and-tumble music business:

My dearest Polzelli! I received your letter just now and I’m answering it right away. I’m relieved to hear that you’re in good health and that you’ve found a position in a little theater, not so much because of the money as for the experience. I wish you the greatest success; above all, a good role and a good teacher who works as hard with you as did your Haydn….

I’ll be staying in Vienna until the middle of June, not longer, because my Prince and many other conditions make it absolutely necessary for me to return home.

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All the same, I’ll try to go to Italy to see my dear Polzelli, but in the meantime, you can send your Pietro to me here in London. He’ll always be either with me or with your sister, who is now alone and who has been separated for quite some time from her husband, the brute.

She’s unhappy, just as you were, and I feel very s

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Joseph Haydn was highly successful in his musical profession and the business aspects surrounding it. Yet, his personal life was somewhat of a mess. Under contract with Count Morzin, Haydn fell in love with Therese Keller. However, once he secured the Kapellmeister position he unexpectedly married her sister, Maria Anna Theresia Keller! Maria apparently had little refinement, education or interest in Haydn’s musical activities, and the marriage was entirely unhappy from the get go. The marriage produced no children, and since the laws of the time did not permit divorce, the couple spent countless drab and miserable years together. Unsurprisingly, both took lovers with Haydn conducting a long-term love affair with the singer Luigia Polzelli. Even more devastating than his love-less marriage was Haydn’s 30-year tenure in the remote palace of Esterháza in Hungary. Lonely and cut off from the rest of European society, Haydn sought to visit Vienna as frequently as his duties would allow.

Let us not forget, however, that Haydn was the most celebrated composer of his time, and on 10 Ju