By the early 1780s Haydn had been in the employ of Prince Nikolaus Esterházy for some twenty years. Yet, although his duties kept him at court for much of the year, his music and his reputation had already reached right across Europe, as far as Spain and England. Since there were no copyright laws to speak of in those days, dissemination of music was often through the work of publishers who had no compunction in re-engraving pirated versions of orchestral parts (the usual form of publication) if they could lay their hands on manuscript versions by disreputable copyists. Haydn, though obviously averse to publications of his music that gave him no financial reward, was astute enough a businessman often to have his works brought out by more than one publisher. Such was the case with Symphonies 76, 77 and 78, issued in the early 1780s by no fewer than three companies: Torricella in Vienna, Boyer in Paris and Forster in London. (Mozart tried a similar ploy by selling a manuscript to one publisher and then writing the music out again from memory to sell to another.)