Rebecca Schroeter

- Documents:

Only the initial 'R' of her Christian name was known until 1950, when Rosemary
Hughes published her discovery of the will of Mrs Schroeter's husband, which refers to
his wife as Rebecca.

Hughes also examined the Westminster rate books and confirmed the Schroeters' place
of abode, where Rebecca continued to live for some years after her husband's death

Another Haydn manuscript still in Vienna lists her among the subscribers to the first
edition of The Creation, and her name is printed therein

In recent years, they found two more documents:

- One is Haydn's contract of 1796 with Hyde the music- seller, upon which her signature
as witness indicates that she still had a connection with the composer's business affairs
in England.

-The other is a fragmentary letter of 1797 from Haydn to the flautist Graeff in London
in which, rather strangely, he claims that his English is not good enough to write
directly to Mrs Schroeter

Alos , in the London notebooks of Haydn. There are a lot of correspondences between
him and Rebecca.

- Early life

She was born 1751. Father: Robert Scott Scottish businessman living in London, and his
wife Elizabeth. Her father died in 1771, leaving Rebecca an annuity and the future sum
of 15,000 pounds, contingent on her marrying with the approval of the executors of the
Will.

In April 1772, the Schroeters, a musical family from Germany, were arriving in
England. Schroeter had raised several children as musical prodigies, and these had
begun their careers under Hiller at Leipzig, with possibly a few lessons from C. P. E.
Bach in Berlin. The eldest was the celebrated singer Corona, one of the loves of the
young Goethe, and among the others was the pianist Johann Samuel, the future husband
of Rebecca Scott. Johann Samuel stayed in London and got some status as a pianist and
composer, but he also used to teach to support his financials. Rebecca took lessons with
him and in a while they were in love.

It was fortunate that Rebecca was of strong character. For at Wimpole Street she found
herself faced with the united opposition of mother, brother, sister, brother-in- law, two
aunts, two of Robert Scott's business colleagues, and 'other friends of the family.

At Wimpole Street the weekend dragged on, with Rebecca's mother in tears and the rest
of the family reiterating that Rebecca had no hope of the 15,000 unless she would marry
'a person whose Birth, Education or Employment gave him Rank as a Gentleman

The family had to concede defeat, and on Monday 17 July 1775 Rebecca Scott left
Wimpole Street with one maidservant and was married to Schroeter at St Martin-in- the-
Fields. The ceremony was conducted by the curate, Mr Justamond, and the witnesses.

Within a few weeks they had applied for the 15,000 and been refused.

er. Where she had at first described Schroeter merely as 'a musician and native of some
place in Germany',32 and spoken of the 'Inferiority of his Station', she later recognized
that he was 'a man of first Eminence in his Profession and universally esteemed.

On New Year's Day 1782 J. C. Bach died, and Schroeter was immediately appointed to
succeed him as music- master to Queen Charlotte

In 1786 Schroeter and Rebecca moved into. 6 James Street, Buckingham Gate, about
200 yards from Buckingham House. This is the address we find later in Haydn's
notebook, and the house to which he made so many visits.

Schroeter was seriously ill with what may have been tuberculosis or cancer of the
throat.

-Relationship with Haydn

The letters cover a period from 29 June 1791 (her request for a lesson) to just before
Haydn's departure in the summer of 1792, and without them, as Larsen pointed out we
would have almost no evidence of their relationship, since no similar correspondence
survives from Haydn's second visit. Possibly (as has frequently been surmised) letters
became unnecessary once Haydn had taken lodgings nearer to James Street.

29 June 1791, Rebecca Schroeter wrote Haydn a letter, inviting him to give her a music lesson:

Mrs. Schroeter presents her compliments to Mr. Haydn, and informs him, she is just
returned to town, and will be very happy to see him whenever it is convenient for him to
give her a lesson. James str. Buckingham Gate. Wednesday, June 29th 1791.

7 March 1792:

My D[ear]: I was extremely sorry to part with you so suddenly last Night, our
conversation was particularly interesting and I had [a] thousand things to say to you,
my heart WAS and is full of TENDERNESS for you, but no language can express HALF
the LOVE and AFFECTION I feel for you, you are DEARER to me EVERY DAY of my
life. ... Oh how earnes[t]ly [I] wish to see you, I hope you will come to me tomorrow. I
shall be happy to see you both in the Morning and the Evening. God Bless you my love,
my thoughts and best wishes ever accompany you, and I always am with the most
sincere and invariable Regard my D:

My Dearest I cannot be happy

till I see you if you know,

do, tell me, when you will come

There are no letters following Haydn's departure to England in 1792. On his return in
1794, he rented lodgings at 1 Bury Street, about 10 minutes' walk from Mrs. Schroeter's

Shortly before leaving England for the last time in 1795, Haydn wrote a set of three
piano trios (H.XV:24-6), considered today by critics as outstanding and dedicated them
to Mrs. Schroeter.

Rebecca twice captured a well-known musician of whom she was the pupil. That may
be straightforward coincidence, but a psychologist might talk about the concept of
transference, or anecdotally of ladies who must make a play for a famous man.
Her late life is difficult to chronicle, but in 1800 or 1801 she certainly left the house in
James Street

She had been taught by two fine musicians and was surely good enough to play the
great trios that bear her name, alongside their composer.

Furthermore, although we usually think of her as a keyboard player, the information that
her earlier teacher had also taught her 'other instruments' prompts the question of
whether she might have tried the violin parts as well.

References:

Hughes, Rupert. 2004. The Love Affairs Of Great Musicians, Volume 1. 1st ed. Project
Gutenberg.

SCULL, T. 1997. "MORE LIGHT ON HAYDN's 'ENGLISH WIDOW'". Music And

Letters 78 (1): 45-55. doi:10.1093/ml/78.1.45.

Haydn, Joseph, and Howard Chandler Robbins Landon. 1959. [Briefe, Engl.] The
Collected Correspondence And London Notebooks Of Joseph Haydn. 1st ed.