Early life and marriage
She was born in 1751 (baptized 13 May) to Robert Scott, a wealthy 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.Source for this paragraph: Scull (1997) Some time in or before 1775, the family engaged the composer and pianist Johann Schroeter, an immigrant from Germany, as Rebecca's music teacher. By 1775, Johann and Rebecca had fallen in love, and sought to be married—much against the family's wishes. (Their objection hinged on matters of social class: they felt that Schroeter, a mere musical trademan, was not high enough on the social scale for the daughter of a wealthy family.) The marriage eventually did proceed (17 July 1775), but only with great difficulties. The family tried to get Schroeter to abandon the marriage by offering him the sum of £500, and they also attempted to deprive Rebecca of her £15,000 inheritance (it is not known whether the attempt succeeded.) The marriage produced no children of which any record has survived. Schroeter continued his musical career but fell into poor health (perhaps, some said at the time, from excessive alcohol consumption). He died either on 1 or 2 November 1788. Mrs. Schroeter continued to live in comfort at No. 6 James Street, Buckingham Gate, where she and her husband had moved in 1786.Source for this paragraph: Scull 1997Relationship with Haydn
Joseph Haydn, probably the most celebrated composer in Europe in his lifetime, traveled to England during 1791–1792 and 1794–1795, where he led highly successful concerts and composed a number of his best known works, including his last twelve symphonies. He resided in London for most of his stay. On 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.'' Haydn accepted the invitation. This is the first of 22 letters from Mrs. Schroeter to Haydn, which are preserved not in the originals, but in copies made by Haydn in his so-called "second London notebook". The letters indicate that, just like 16 years earlier, Mrs. Schroeter fell in love with her music teacher. These feelings were evidently reciprocated. BiographerSchroeter's letters to Haydn
The Schroeter letters express an ardent affection and are often very solicitous of Haydn's welfare. 7 March 1792: :''My D ar I was extremely sorry to part with you so suddenly last Night, our conversation was particularly interesting and I had 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 y 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.'' 19 April 1792: :''M D ar I was extremely sorry to hear this morning that you were indisposed, I am told you was five hours at your Study's yesterday,' indeed MY D ar L ve I am afraid it will hurt you why should you who have already produced so many WONDERFUL and CHARMING compositions, still fatigue yourself with such close application.'' Mrs. Schroeter was also very supportive of Haydn's career, telling him often how much she appreciated his music. In the letter of 1 June 1792, biographers have attempted to restore a wording which in the notebook copy was first double-underlined, then heavily crossed out, presumably by Haydn himself. The passage begins: :''I hope to see you my Dr LAfter 1792
There are no letters following Haydn's departure from England in 1792. On his return in 1794, he rented lodgings at 1 Bury Street, about 10 minutes' walk from Mrs. Schroeter's residence, and biographers conjecture that he continued his relationship with her. The two never saw each other again after 1795, when Haydn departed permanently for his home in Austria. It seems clear, however, that they parted as friends. Shortly before leaving England for the last time in 1795, Haydn wrote a set of three piano trios (Hob. XV:24, XV:25 and XV:26), considered today by critics as outstanding, and dedicated them to Mrs. Schroeter. In 1796, she helped Haydn with a business matter, signing (as a witness) a large-scale contract between Haydn and Frederick Augustus Hyde, a music publisher. In 1800, when the self-published edition of Haydn's famous oratorio '' The Creation'' appeared, Mrs. Schroeter's name was on the list of subscribers.Geiringer (1983, 143-144) This is the last recorded contact, but the fact that Dies knew that Mrs. Schroeter was "still living" when he wrote his 1810 biography (see above) suggests that communication between Mrs. Schroeter and Haydn may have continued after 1800.Later life
Mrs. Schroeter moved from the James Street house in either 1800 or 1801, was recorded as living in 11 Gloucester Place,Notes
References
*Bartha, Denes, ed. (1965) ''Joseph Haydn: Gesammelte Briefe und Aufzeichnungen'', Kassel. *Hughes, Rupert (1903) ''The Love Affairs of Great Musicians''. Library of Alexandria. *Hughes, Rosemary (1950) ''Haydn''. *Geiringer, Karl (1983) ''Haydn: A Creative Life in Music''. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. *Larsen, Jens Pater (1976) "A Haydn contract," ''The Musical Times'' 117:737-738. *Robbins Landon, H. C. (1959) ''The Collected Correspondence and London Notebooks of Joseph Haydn'' *Robbins Landon, H. C. (1976) ''Haydn: Chronicle and Works, Vol. 3''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. *Rosen, Charles (1997) ''The Classical Style''. New York: Norton. *Scull, Tony (1997) "More Light on Haydn's 'English Widow'," ''Music & Letters'' 78: 45-55 *Wolff, Konrad (1958) "Johann Samuel Schroter," ''The Musical Quarterly'' 44:338-359. The scanty available factual material on Schroeter's life has been elaborated into a book-length work by Peter Hobson: ''The Girl in Rose: Haydn's Last Love''. (2004, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson). For reviews, seExternal links
*The letters may be read in their entirety in Robbins Landon (1959, pp. 279–286), which is posted on line