The Gesellschaft der Associierten was an association of music-loving noblemen centered in Vienna and founded by Baron Gottfried van Swieten in 1786.
Thus van Swieten lacked the vast wealth held by the older nobility, who possessed great landed estates in the hinterlands of the Empire.
By recruiting a group of fellow music-lovers from the upper nobility, van Swieten was able to fund concert productions that would have been beyond his personal means.
[2] This was dissolved in 1792, perhaps in conjunction with Baron van Swieten's fall from political power (he lost his principal positions on December 5, 1791, the day his protégé Mozart died).
He also made payments to Joseph Haydn above and beyond his obligations as a member of the society,[8] and facilitated the handling of the large crowds that appeared at his palace for the concerts, in particular paying for sentry/police coverage as well as compensating the flour merchants for the business they lost due to the crush of people.
[9] Haydn biographer Albert Christoph Dies, considered less reliable than Griesinger, adds a Count Marschall and a Baron von Spielmann.