The Girl in Rose

Peter Hobday

Rebecca Schroeter was an attractive and educated Scottish heiress who always had a weakness for musicians as they did for her. 'My dearest love' Haydn called her. 'Beautiful' 'amiable' and 'a young lady of fashion' Rebecca was also independently minded and determined. She fell for her charismatic German music master Johann Schroeter and eloped with him in 1775 to London.

From the moment of her arrival in the capital Rebecca Schroeter found a place for herself in the musical and social life of fashionable Georgian society. She crossed paths with Bach and all the leading lights the bluestockings politicians and the King's circle. When her husband was appointed to be the King's Music Master Rebecca could host parties and debates at their elegant new house in Leicester Square.

This idyllic life was cut short by her husband's death in 1788 but then Haydn the most famous composer in Europe met her and demanded the attention of 'the beautiful English widow'. It is a relationship which continued until Haydn's death in 1809.

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