of Haydn. King George III of England was so enthused that he requested part of the manuscript from Haydn, which he later presented to highly esteemed personages [fn]. Ferdinand of Naples was also delighted with Haydn's compositions and even attempted to talk him into settling down in Naples. Haydn almost accepted this proposal [fn].
Ernst Fritz Schmidt, author of the article "Haydn's Werke für die Drehleier", committed several errors in regard to the instrument and its notation. He believed that the 'lira organizzata' was the same instrument as the hurdy-gurdy, as is shown already by the title of his work and in his list of the various names for the hurdy-gurdy [fn]. He explains that the change in London from two vielles organisée to flute and oboe did not offer difficulties, "da der Meister der Leier stets nur enistmming in hoher Sopranlage notiert". [fn]. ("since the master only wrote one line for the lyre in the high soprano range") It thus escaped his notice that the hurdy-gurdy as well as the vielle organisée can only play one voice above its drone and consequently was never written for otherwise.
Although the courtly hurdy-gurdy fashion remained almost exclusively confined to France, apart from these commissioned works for the king of Naples, there were also outside of France such famous composers as Leopold Mozart and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who wrote for the hurdy-gurdy. In these compositions the hurdy-gurdy was employed as a peasant and not as a virtuoso instrument.
In the second of four menuettes (K.601) in C major Wolfgang Mozart used the hurdy-gurdy in a trio as a melody instrument (ex. 42). He prescribed for the menuette flutes, oboes, fagottes, clarinets, kettle drums in C and G, a first and second violin and a bass, and in the trio exchanged the flutes of the top voices for a piccolo, hurdy-gurdy, oboes and the first violin play the melody in unison. The drone of the hurdy-gurdy is not written but must have been sounded, since the fagotte and the clarinets blow a drone in c and g almost all the way through, and the bass with the second violin move entirely on c and g. Only when the hurdy-gurdy falls out do the accompanying voices become livelier. Notations like legato-bows and staccato dots indicate that Mozart was familiar with the rhythmical possibilities of the wheel.
The second piece in which Wolfgang Mozart wrote for the hurdy-gurdy has almost the same instrumentation: in the third dance of the "Vier Deutschen Tänze" ['Four German Dances'] (K. 602), again in C major, the hurdy-gurdy is also used in a trio although this time as the only melody instrument, since the flutes are missing. Two lines are written for the hurdy-gurdy, of which the lower gives the drone sounds (ex. 43). In contrast to the trio of the menuette this has no legato bows or other notations. However in compensation the drone notes are given, and in the manner in which they are to be emphasized, the accentuation on one and three counts with the wheel is established without any special notations.
Wolfgang Mozart used the hurdy-gurdy as a melody instrument only in pieces which recall folk music with their simple melodies. In 1755 his father Leopold composed a multi-movement work called "Die Bauernhochzeit" [translation JW: "The Peasant Wedding"], which was consciously connected with the country people and their musical instruments: horns, oboes, violins, hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes, viola, fagotte,
cellos and basses. Hurdy-gurdy and bagpipes were put right in with the rest of the instruments and not displayed in solo passages, but were played only in common with the other instruments.
The hurdy-gurdy intended by Leopold Mozart is tuned in D and has a range of two octaves, from d' to d'''. The work has five movements with the following titles and keys: Marcia villanesca (D), Menuet und Trio (D), Andante (d), Menuet (A), and Trio (D), Finale (D). Hurdy-gurdy and bagpipes are used very sparingly and only in the movements in D major, thus the first and fifth movements, as well as the two trios. Again only the melody line is written for both instr