Eszterháza
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Eszterháza is a
palace A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...
in
Fertőd Fertőd is a town in the Győr-Moson-Sopron county of Hungary, not far from Austria. Fertőd was formed when the towns of Eszterháza and Süttör were unified, in 1950. It is the location of one of Hungary's best known palaces, Eszterháza, whic ...
,
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
, built by Prince
Nikolaus Esterházy Nicholas is a male given name and a surname. The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglican Churches celebrate Saint Nicholas every year on December 6, which is the name day for "Nicholas". In Greece, the name and its ...
. Sometimes called the "Hungarian
Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
", it is Hungary's grandest
Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
edifice. It served as the home to
Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...
and his orchestra from 1760 to 1790. In 2018, it was used as the shooting location for the
Melanie Martinez Melanie Adele Martinez (born April 28, 1995) is an American singer and songwriter. Born in Astoria, Queens, and raised in Baldwin, New York, Martinez rose to fame in 2012 after appearing on the American television vocal talent show '' The Voice ...
film K-12.


History

Esterháza was not the primary or ancestral home of the
Esterházy family The House of Esterházy, also spelled Eszterházy (), is a Hungarian noble family with origins in the Middle Ages. From the 17th century, the Esterházys were the greatest landowner magnates of the Kingdom of Hungary, during the time that it ...
; that was
Schloss Esterházy Schloss Esterházy ( hu, Esterházy-kastély) is a palace in Eisenstadt, Austria, the capital of the Burgenland state. It was constructed in the late 13th century, and came under ownership of the Hungarian Esterházy family in 1622. Under Paul ...
, a palace nearby ( away), in
Kismarton Eisenstadt (; hu, Kismarton; hr, Željezni grad; ; sl, Železno, Austro-Bavarian: ''Eisnstod'') is a city in Austria, the state capital of Burgenland. It had a recorded population on 29 April 2021 of 15,074. In the Habsburg Empire's Kingdom ...
(today Eisenstadt, Austria).
Miklós Esterházy Miklós () is a given name or surname, the Hungarian form of the Greek (English ''Nicholas''), and may refer to: In Hungarian politics * Miklós Bánffy, Hungarian nobleman, politician, and novelist * Miklós Horthy, Regent of the Kingdom of Hu ...
began his plans for a new palace not long after he became reigning prince in 1762 on the death of his brother
Paul Anton Paul Viorel Anton (; born 10 May 1991) is a Romanian professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder for Nemzeti Bajnokság II club Győr. Club career Early years In 2008, Anton began his career with his hometown club Gloria Bistr ...
.Robbins Landon, H. C. and David Wyn Jones (1988). ''Haydn: His Life and Music''. Thames and Hudson. p. 95. Before this time, Nikolaus was accustomed to spending much of his time at a hunting lodge called Süttör, built in the same location around 1720 with a design by Anton Erhard Martinelli. The hunting lodge was the nucleus around which Esterháza was built. The first architect to work on the project was Johann Ferdinand Mödlhammer, succeeded in 1765 by Melchior Hefele. While the palace is often compared to Versailles, which the Prince had visited in 1764 when he visited Paris,
H. C. Robbins Landon Howard Chandler Robbins Landon (March 6, 1926November 20, 2009) was an American musicologist, journalist, historian and broadcaster, best known for his work in rediscovering the huge body of neglected music by Haydn and in correcting misunderstand ...
claims that a more direct influence can be found in "Austrian prototypes, particularly
Schönbrunn palace Schönbrunn Palace (german: Schloss Schönbrunn ; Central Bavarian: ''Schloss Scheenbrunn'') was the main summer residence of the Habsburg rulers, located in Hietzing, Vienna. The name ''Schönbrunn'' (meaning “beautiful spring”) has its root ...
in Vienna." The palace cost the Prince the sum of 13 million Austro-Hungarian gulden, a figure that Robbins Landon terms "astronomical". Eszterháza was first inhabited in 1766, but construction continued for many years. The opera house was completed in 1768 (the first performance was of
Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...
's opera ''
Lo speziale ''Lo speziale'' (''The Apothecary''), Hob. 28/3, is a three-act opera buffa by Joseph Haydn, with a libretto by Carlo Goldoni. A love triangle between the poor apprentice Mengone, the rich and assured dandy Volpino, and the local apothecary's ...
''), the marionette theater in 1773. Joseph Haydn's concerts typically took place in the Sala Terrena on the ground floor, in the picture gallery, where on May 30, 1781, a concert was performed in the presence of Duke Albert and Sachsen-Teschen and his spouse, Archduchess Christine. Musical entertainment for the higher ranks was provided in the main building, typically located in the picture gallery ground floor. Regular free-to-attend academies were typically held in the marionette theater, which were open to the public and hosting a whole range of cultural and environmental programmes. The fountain in front of the palace was not completed until 1784, at which point the Prince considered his project complete. The music room was decorated with white and gold walls with delicately rounded corners, the frescoed ceiling, glass chandeliers, roses, and audience's period chairs. Nikolaus Esterházy died in 1790. Neither his son
Anton Anton may refer to: People *Anton (given name), including a list of people with the given name *Anton (surname) Places *Anton Municipality, Bulgaria **Anton, Sofia Province, a village *Antón District, Panama **Antón, a town and capital of th ...
, who inherited the Esterházy lands, nor any of his later successors had any interest in living in the isolated palace.


Location

The palace was built near the south shore of the
Neusiedler See Lake Neusiedl (german: Neusiedler See), or Fertő ( hu, Fertő (tó); hr, Nežidersko jezero, Niuzaljsko jezero; sl, Nežidersko jezero; sk, Neziderské jazero; cs, Neziderské jezero) is the largest endorheic lake in Central Europe, straddl ...
, 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'".


Rooms

The palace has 126 rooms. Of particular note is the Banquet Room which has on its ceiling a painting of
Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
in his
Chariot A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000&nbs ...
. The large library holds almost 22,000 volumes and is graced with the letter 'E', standing for the family surname. The largest room is the grotto-like Sala Terrana which was inspired by the then fashionable
Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...
style. On the ceiling are dancing Angels who hold wreaths of flowers in the shape of an 'E'.


Haydn at Eszterháza

From 1766 to 1790, the estate was the home of the celebrated composer
Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...
, where he lived in a four-room flat in a large two-storey building housing servants' quarters, separate from the palace. 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 A marionette (; french: marionnette, ) is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed ...
theatre; Haydn conducted his own and others' operas, often with more than a hundred performances per year.Webster, James (2001). "Joseph Haydn", article in ''
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...
''.
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 Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...
, as well as in the famous tale of the
Farewell Symphony Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 45 in F minor, known as the "Farewell" Symphony (german: Abschieds-Symphonie; modern orthography: ), is a symphony dated 1772 on the autograph score. A typical performance of the symphony lasts around twenty-five minu ...
.


Picture gallery

File:Fertod-Kastélykapu1-2013.10.30-17.00.29x.jpg File:Fertod, Palais Esterhazy de nuit.jpg File:Schloss Esterházy (Fertőd).jpg File:Fertöd 7933.jpg File:Fertőd- (29).JPG File:Esterháza 10177.jpg, Fountain with marriage in 2008 File:Esterházy-kastély (4051. számú műemlék) 8.jpg File:Fertőd a kastély oldalról.jpg File:Fertod-Diszterem2-2013.11.02-10.58.14x.jpg File:Fertod-SalaTerrena2-2013.11.02-11.30.03x.jpg File:Fertod-SalaTerrena4-2013.11.02-11.32.09x.jpg File:Fertöd 7978.jpg File:Fertöd 7995.jpg File:Fertöd 7996.jpg File:Fertod-Interior01-2013.11.02-11.03.55x.jpg File:Fertod-SalaTerrena7-2013.11.02-11.30.53x.jpg File:Fertöd- château Esterhaza, the red salon.JPG File:Fertod-Interior08-2013.11.02-11.24.39x.jpg


Eszterházy Treasure


File:Eszterhazy1.jpg File:Eszterhazy2.jpg File:Eszterhazy3.jpg File:Eszterhazy5.jpg File:Eszterhazy7.jpg File:Eszterhazy8.jpg File:Eszterhazy15.jpg File:Eszterhazy18.JPG File:Eszterhazy19.JPG File:Eszterhazy20.JPG


See also

*
Buildings inspired by Versailles This is a list of Baroque architecture, Baroque palaces and Residenz, residences built in the late 17th and 18th centuries. Baroque architecture is a building style of the Baroque, Baroque era, begun in late 16th-century Italy and spread in Europe ...
*
House of Esterházy A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air ...
*
List of residences of Joseph Haydn This article is a chronologically-ordered list of the locations where the composer Joseph Haydn lived. Haydn, who lived from 1732 to 1809, spent most of his life in a small region near Vienna no more than about 50 km. across, shown on the map ...
*
Schloss Esterházy Schloss Esterházy ( hu, Esterházy-kastély) is a palace in Eisenstadt, Austria, the capital of the Burgenland state. It was constructed in the late 13th century, and came under ownership of the Hungarian Esterházy family in 1622. Under Paul ...


References


Further reading

* Chissell, J. (June 22, 1971). "A Week of Music at the Eszterháza Palace". ''The Times'' (London). Issue 58205. p. 7. * Malina, J. (2016). ''On the Venues for Decline of the Academies at Eszterháza in Hoyden's Time'' (2nd ed., Vol. 13). Cambridge University Press.


External links

*
On Haydn's Trail: Eszterháza Palace, by the Historians of Eighteenth-Century Art & Architecture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eszterhaza Buildings and structures in Győr-Moson-Sopron County Esterházy family Historic house museums in Hungary Hunting lodges in Hungary Joseph Haydn Mansions in Hungary Museums in Győr-Moson-Sopron County Palaces in Hungary Tourist attractions in Győr-Moson-Sopron County