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Vienna offered the composer the chance of culminating his creative output, satisfying his professional ambitions and writing freely about any topic, perhaps even composing the music he wanted to compose. When he arrived in Vienna, apart from fighting for new social measures, Joseph II also controlled the imperial opera. He considered culture a means of spreading his ideas, a way of educating the people, of making the concepts expounded in philosophy and art comprehensible. Aided by Count Orsini-Rosenberg, manager of the Burgtheater, the Emperor not only controlled the programming of operas or the choice of composers, librettists and singers, but also drew up the statutes of the theatre and the honorariums that should be paid for each production. Unlike other monarchs, he routinely intervened in these matters, giving us an idea of his advanced concept of political culture: a true relationship between culture, thought, state and man. In his correspondence one perceives more than just a passing interest in court or administrative affairs, but the desire to find pieces to serve his planned political ends. Joseph II took advantage of his trips of a family or political nature to recruit singers, contract composers and select libretti for his Italian opera in Vienna. In his Memoirs Da Ponte narrates his meeting with Martín in the following manner:
“Paisiello was gone to Italy, and I was not then acquainted with Mozart. I was in this predicament when Vicenzo Martini [Martín y Soler] arrived in Vienna [at the end of 1785]… He was ambitious to write an opera for the theatre of Vienna, and in spite of the unhappy fate of my first essay, he was advised by his friends to have recourse to me for the words. I took time to reflect [on his proposal], not knowing much of him, and asked the advice of the emperor, who was glad of the opportunity, and urged me to embrace it”. (Lorenzo Da Ponte, An Extract from the life of Lorezno Da Ponte with the History of Several Dramas written by him, and among others, il Figaro, il Don Giovanni and La scuola deli amanti, set to music by Mozart, New York, 1819, p. 10). Following the resounding success of the premiere of Martín’s Il burbero di buon cuore (1786), Da Ponte wrote:
[During a reception with Joseph II] “Scarcely did [the Emperor] see me, before he exclaimed, Bravo! Da Ponte, we must strike while the iron is hot: prepare another work for that Spaniard. I am extremely pleased with his music, and your composition… Before long several composers had turned to me for librettos. There were but two [composers] whom I esteemed and loved: Martini [Martín y Soler], the Emperor’s favourite composer, and the first engine of my theatrical victory; and W. Mozart, with whom, at that time, I became acquainted”. (Da Ponte, An Extract…, pp. 11-12).
What probably made a greater impression on the monarch was Soler’s theatrical capacity, craft and, above all, the power of using music as a vehicle for ideas. This can be seen in Il burbero di buon cuore (Da Ponte, based on Goldoni), Una cosa rara (1786, Da Ponte, taken from La luna de la sierra by Vélez de Guevara), L’Arbore di Diana (1787, Da Ponte’s first completely original libretto) and Il Sogno (1789, scenic cantata, libretto by Da Ponte). These works reflect an evolution in his compositional style. In particular, the more one enters into the relationship between music and text and the manner in which this is resolved, the more Martín’s intention to reject everything superfluous and restrict himself to what was effective in the appropriate dramatic context can be seen. As I was able to see first hand in Budapest, Haydn corroborated this quality, which in Joseph II’s opinion was missing in Mozart’s operas (“trop de notes”, “trop difficile pour la voix”). Haydn’s admiration for Martín’s dramatic capacity seems to have a direct relationship with the fact that he hardly made any cuts to the Valencian composer’s scores, such as L’Arbore de Diana, which Haydn himself had performed at Esterháza. By contrast, Haydn is known not to have had any hesitation in making “cuts” to other operas performed at the Hungarian palace.
Furthermore, the artistic and social demands of his principal patron, Joseph II, and of the Viennese public at such a decisive point in history, help us to imagine the stature of Martín y Soler in this context and deserve consideration in the interpretation of his music today. The Viennese opera was not just a concert hall: it represented fresh ideas and the avant-garde of the stage. Mozart, Anfossi, Salieri and Haydn tried to crystallise their thoughts in opera. Martín could not possibly have remained indifferent to the transformation of the buffo genre into the dramma giocoso, which was representative of this critical period. Apart from four Viennese operas, three were composed in collaboration with the poet from Veneto during his short stay in London, all of which were premiered at the King’s Theatre in 1795: La capricciosa corretta, L’isola del piacere and the intermezzo Le nocce de’contadini spagnuoli. In all of them, behind the idyllic image of an Arcadian or mythological world (such as L’Arbore di Diana, Il Sogno and L’isola del piacere), were veritable political satires.
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