1790 was a year of momentous change for Haydn. At the beginning of the year he was in Vienna, happy with his friends, going to performances of Mozart’s Figaro, and even organising a string quartet party for his friend Maria Anna von Genzinger. At the beginning of February, however, he was forced to return to his post at Eszterháza Castle, in the wilds of Hungary. On 9 February he wrote disconsolately to von Genzinger: ‘Well, here I sit in my wilderness – forsaken – like a poor waif – almost without any human society – melancholy – full of the memories of past glorious days – yes! past alas! – and who knows when these days shall return again’. Haydn had simply outgrown his post as Kapellmeister to the Eszterházy family. He had been working for them for nearly thirty years, and by 1790 he was the most famous composer in Europe. Yet he felt unable to break his contract while his employer, Prince Nicolaus, was still alive, and release only came when the prince died suddenly on 28 September. Prince Anton, Nicolaus’s successor, had little interest in music and immediately dismissed most of the musicians. Haydn was retained with a pension, but was free to accept other work. One evening a few weeks later the violinist and impresario Johann Peter Salomon announced himself at Haydn’s Viennese apartment with the famous words: “I am Salomon of London and have come to fetch you. Tomorrow we will arrange an accord”.