Maria Anna Sabina (von) Genzinger (6 November 1754 – 26 January 1793), called Marianne, was a Viennese amateur musician, the mother of six children, and a friend of the composer Joseph Haydn. Her correspondence with Haydn preserves a personal view of the composer not available from any other biographical source. Her daughter Josepa was a singer who gave the first performance of Haydn's Ariadne auf Naxos. Background Marianne Genzinger was the daughter of Joseph von Kayser, who served as court councillor for Prince Batthyány. Her mother, born Maria Anna von Hackher zu Hart, was of an old Austrian aristocratic family. On 29 June 1773 she married the physician Peter Leopold Genzinger (b. son of the abbey's apothecary on 17 November 1737 in Schlägl, d. 8 September 1797 in Vienna). Robbins Landon describes Genzinger as "a popular 'Ladies' Doctor'". He was raised to the nobility by Emperor Francis II on 18 June 1793, thus henceforth "von Genzinger". In 1792, he was made Rector of the Vienna Faculty of Medicine. For many years, Genzinger served as Physician in Ordinary to Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy, who from 1766 to his death in 1790 was Joseph Haydn's patron and employer. It is plausible that Haydn met Marianne through this connection. Marianne bore six children, four boys and two girls. Like many cultivated women of the time, she was an amateur musician and could play the piano. She continued her piano studies in adulthood (see below). The friendship with Haydn began in 1789. At this time, the composer was 57 years old, and was nearing the end of his nearly 30 years of full-time service with Esterhazy princes, the latter half spent mostly at the remote palace of Esterháza in Hungary. Although he was the most celebrated of all composers at the time, he still was bound by loyalty and economic considerations to his Prince. Haydn frequently sought to visit Vienna, which however lay a considerable distance from Esterháza. The origin of the friendship Although it is not known how Haydn and Marianne met, their friendship originated in correspondence: having arranged the Andante movement of one of Haydn's symphonies for piano, she sent a copy of her work to the composer, asking him to critique it. Here is the text of her letter, dated 10 June 1789: [three crosses] Most respected Herr v[on] Hayden, With your kind permission, I take the liberty of sending you a