JOHANN SALOMON - Thomas Hardy

Johann Salomon became a dear friend and close colleague of Haydn. Today, he is most famously remembered for bringing the composer to London in both 1791 and 1794. This was deemed at the time to be such an exciting event that it was announced proudly in The Morning Chronicle to the general public on December 29th, 1790:

TITLE PAGE OF FIRST PUBLISHED EDITION OF ONE OF SALOMON’S ARRANGEMENTS

Mr. Salomon, having taken a journey to Vienna purposely to engage the celebrated Haydn, Chapel-Master to his present Highness Prince Esterhazy, to come to England, most respectfully acquaints the Nobility and the Gentry that he has actually signed an agreement with Mr. Haydn. (They) hope to be in London before the end of December, when Mr. Salomon will have the honour of submitting to the Publick a Plan of a Subscription Concert, which he flatters himself will meet with its Approbation and Encouragement.

Salomon was a German violinist, composer, and impresario in his own right. He was born in Bonn around 1745 and began working in the court orchestra at just thirteen years of age. Clearly a precocious talent, he became the concertmaster there before he was even twenty.

He moved to London in the 1780s where he became well known as a concertmaster, soloist, composer and chamber musician. As a concertmaster, he led many of the premieres of Haydn’s works in London, and Haydn’s London Symphonies are sometimes even referred to as the Salomon Symphonies.

Interestingly, Salomon was one of only a few whom Haydn permitted to arrange his works. The title page of the first edition of his arrangements of the London Symphonies states that the works were “Composed for Mr. Salomon’s concerts and arranged for five instruments,” - two violins, a German flute, a tenor (viola) flute and violoncello with the accompaniment of an ad libitum keyboard. It is unclear whether Haydn played any role in this particular instrumentation.

In examining the treatment of Haydn’s music within the arrangements, it is clear that Salomon possessed a deep understanding of Haydn’s musical genius and remained faithful to it. He never sought to overshadow the music with any sense of his own spirit and at all times the music remains as close as possible to Haydn’s original. Salomon’s decision to pair the flute with strings manages to capture the energy of a much fuller orchestra and, at times, even gives that illusion.

In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, chamber arrangements of larger-scale works were common. It was a popular way for composers to promote their works as well as to make money through purchases by amateur musicians to perform them with friends. Another reason was so that people could hear the works again or for the first time, often in their own home. Today this could be compared to listening to a recording or sharing a playlist on Spotify.