e laid
the foundations of the modern symphony and sonata, and established
the basis of the modern orchestra. Without him, artistically speaking,
Beethoven would have been impossible. He seems to us now a figure of a
very remote past, so great have been the changes in the world of music
since he lived. But his name will always be read in the golden book of
classical music; and whatever the evolutionary processes of the art may
bring, the time can hardly come when he will be forgotten, his works
unheard.

Rohrau

Franz Joseph Haydn was born at the little market-town of Rohrau, near
Prugg, on the confines of Austria and Hungary, some two-and-a-half
hours' railway journey from Vienna. The Leitha, which flows along the
frontier of Lower Austria and Hungary on its way to the Danube, runs
near, and the district

[Figure: Haydn's birth-house at Rohrau]

is flat and marshy. The house in which the composer was born had been
built by his father. Situated at the end of the market-place, it was in
frequent danger from inundation; and although it stood in Haydn's time
with nothing worse befalling it than a flooding now and again, it has
twice since been swept away, first in 1813, fours years after Haydn's
death, and again in 1833. It was carefully rebuilt on each occasion, and
still stands for the curious to see--a low-roofed cottage, very much
as it was when the composer of "The Creation" first began to be "that
various thing called man." A fire unhappily did some damage to the
building in 1899. But excepting that the picturesque thatched roof has
given place to a covering of less inflammable material, the "Zum Haydn"
presents its extensive frontage to the road, just as it did of yore.
Our illustration shows it exactly as it is to-day. [See an interesting
account of a visit to the cottage after the fire, in The Musical Times
for July 1899.] Schindler relates that when Beethoven, shortly before
his death, was shown a print of the cottage, sent to him by Diabelli, he
remarked: "Strange that so great a man should have been born in so poor
a home!" Beethoven's relations with Haydn, as we shall see later on,
were at one time somewhat strained; but the years had softened his
asperity, and this indirect tribute to his brother composer may readily
be accepted as a set-off to some things that the biographer of the
greater genius would willingly forget.

A Poor Home

It was indeed a poor home into which Haydn had been born; but
tende