Joseph Haydn

"Haydn" redirects here. For other uses, seeHaydn (disambiguation).

Portrait of Haydn byThomas Hardy,c. 1791

Franz Joseph Haydn(/ˈhaɪdən/HY-dən,German:[ˈfʁantsˈjoːzɛfˈhaɪdn̩];31 March1732 – 31 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of theClassical period.He was instrumental in the development ofchamber musicsuch as thestring quartetandpiano trio.His contributions tomusical formhave led him to be called "Father of theSymphony"and" Father of the String quartet ".

Haydn spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthyEsterházyfamily at theirEszterházaCastle. Until the later part of his life, this isolated him from other composers and trends in music so that he was, as he put it, "forced to become original".Yet his music circulated widely, and for much of his career he was the most celebrated composer in Europe.

He wasa friend and mentor of Mozart,a tutor of Beethoven,and the elder brother of composerMichael Haydn.

Life and career

Early life

St. Stephen's Cathedral.In the foreground is the Kapellhaus (demolished 1804) where Haydn lived as a chorister.

Joseph Haydn was born inRohrau,Austria,a village that at that time stood on the border with Hungary.His father wasMathias Haydn,awheelwrightwho also served as "Marktrichter", or marketplace supervisor. Haydn's mother Maria, née Koller, had worked as a cook in the palace ofAloys Thomas Raimund, Count von Harrach,the presiding aristocrat of Rohrau. Neither parent could read music;however, Mathias was an enthusiasticfolk musician,who during thejourneymanperiod of his career had taught himself to play the harp. According to Haydn's later reminiscences, his family was extremely musical, and they frequently sang together and with their neighbours.

Haydn's parents had noticed that their son was musically gifted and knew that in Rohrau he would have no chance to obtain serious musical training. It was for this reason that, around the time Haydn turned six, they accepted a proposal from their relative Johann Matthias Frankh, the schoolmaster and choirmaster inHainburg,that Haydn be apprenticed to Frankh in his home to train as a musician. Haydn therefore went off with Frankh to Hainburg and he never again lived with his parents.

Life in the Frankh household was not easy for Haydn, who later remembered being frequently hungryand humiliated by the filthy state of his clothing.He began his musical training there, and could soon play bothharpsichordand violin. He also sangtrebleparts in the churchchoir.

There is reason to think that Haydn's singing impressed those who heard him, because in 1739he was brought to the attention ofGeorg Reutter the Younger,the director of music inSt. Stephen's Cathedralin Vienna, who happened to be visiting Hainburg and was looking for new choirboys. Haydn passed his audition with Reutter, and after several months of further training moved to Vienna (1740), where he worked for the next nine years as a chorister.

Haydn lived in the Kapellhaus next to the cathedral, along with Reutter, Reutter's family, and the other four choirboys, which after 1745 included his younger brotherMichael.The choirboys were instructed in Latin and other school subjects as well as voice, violin, and keyboard.Reutter was of little help to Haydn in the areas ofmusic theoryand composition, giving him only two lessons in his entire time as chorister.However, since St. Stephen's was one of the leading musical centres in Europe, Haydn learned a great deal simply by serving as a professional musician there.

Like Frankh before him, Reutter did not always bother to make sure Haydn was properly fed. As he later told his biographerAlbert Christoph Dies,Haydn was motivated to sing well, in hopes of gaining more invitations to perform before aristocratic audiences, where the singers were usually served refreshments.

Map showinglocations where Haydn livedor visited

Freelancer struggles

By 1749, Haydn had matured physically to the point that he was no longer able to sing high choral parts. EmpressMaria Theresaherself complained to Reutter about his singing, calling it "crowing".One day, Haydn carried out a prank, snipping off the pigtail of a fellow chorister.This was enough for Reutter: Haydn was firstcaned,then summarily dismissed and sent into the streets.He had the good fortune to be taken in by a friend, Johann Michael Spangler,who shared his family's crowded garret room with Haydn for a few months. Haydn immediately began his pursuit of a career as a freelance musician.

Morzin Palace, Dolní Lukavice,Czech Republic

Haydn struggled at first, working at many different jobs: as a music teacher, as a street serenader, and eventually, in 1752, as valet-accompanist for the Italian composerNicola Porpora,from whom he later said he learned "the true fundamentals of composition".He was also briefly inCount Friedrich Wilhelm von Haugwitz's employ, playing the organ in the Bohemian Chancellery chapel at theJudenplatz.

While a chorister, Haydn had not received any systematic training in music theory and composition. As a remedy, he worked his way through thecounterpointexercises in the textGradus ad ParnassumbyJohann Joseph Fuxand carefully studied the work ofCarl Philipp Emanuel Bach,whom he later acknowledged as an important influence.He said of CPE Bach's first six keyboard sonatas, "I did not leave my clavier till I played them through, and whoever knows me thoroughly must discover that I owe a great deal to Emanuel Bach, that I understood him and have studied him with diligence." According toGriesingerand Dies, in the 1750s Haydn studied an encyclopedic treatise byJohann Mattheson,a German composer.

As his skills increased, Haydn began to acquire a public reputation, first as the composer of an opera,Der krumme Teufel,"The Limping Devil", written for the comic actor Joseph Felix von Kurz, whose stage name was "Bernardon". The work was premiered successfully in 1753, but was soon closed down by the censors due to "offensive remarks".Haydn also noticed, apparently without annoyance, that works he had simply given away were being published and sold in local music shops.Between 1754 and 1756 Haydn also worked freelance for the court in Vienna. He was among several musicians who were paid for services as supplementary musicians at balls given for the imperial children during carnival season, and as supplementary singers in the imperial chapel (theHofkapelle) in Lent and Holy Week.

With the increase in his reputation, Haydn eventually obtained aristocratic patronage, crucial for the career of a composer in his day. Countess Thun,having seen one of Haydn's compositions, summoned him and engaged him as her singing and keyboard teacher.In 1756, Baron Carl Josef Fürnberg employed Haydn at his country estate, Weinzierl, where the composer wrote his first string quartets. Of them, Philip G. Downs said "they abound in novel effects and instrumental combinations that can only be the result of humorous intent".Their enthusiastic reception encouraged Haydn to write more. It was a turning point in his career. As a result of the performances, he became in great demand both as a performer and a teacher.Fürnberg later recommended Haydn toCount Morzin,who, in 1757,became his first full-time employer.His salary was a respectable 200 florins a year, plus free board and lodging.

Kapellmeister years

Haydn's wife. Unauthenticated miniature attributed toLudwig Guttenbrunn

Haydn's job title under Count Morzin wasKapellmeister,that is, music director. He led the count's small orchestra inUnterlukawitzand wrote his first symphonies for this ensemble – perhaps numbering in the double figures. Philip Downs comments of these first symphonies: "the seeds of the future are there, his works already exhibit a richness and profusion of material, and a disciplined yet varied expression."In 1760, with the security of a Kapellmeister position, Haydn married. His wife was the former Maria Anna Theresia Keller (1729–1800),the sister of Therese (b. 1733), with whom Haydn had previously been in love. Haydn and his wife had a completely unhappy marriage,from which time permitted no escape. They produced no children, and both took lovers.

Count Morzin soon suffered financial reverses that forced him to dismiss his musical establishment, but Haydn was quickly offered a similar job (1761) by PrincePaul Anton,head of the immensely wealthyEsterházy family.Haydn's job title was only Vice-Kapellmeister, but he was immediately placed in charge of most of the Esterházy musical establishment, with the old KapellmeisterGregor Wernerretaining authority only for church music. When Werner died in 1766, Haydn was elevated to full Kapellmeister.

As a "house officer" in the Esterházy establishment, Haydn woreliveryand followed the family as they moved among their various palaces, most importantly the family's ancestral seatSchloss EsterházyinEisenstadtand later onEsterháza,a grand new palace built in rural Hungary in the 1760s. Haydn had a huge range of responsibilities, including composition, running the orchestra, playingchamber musicfor and with his patrons, and eventually the mounting of operatic productions. Despite this backbreaking workload,the job was in artistic terms a superb opportunity for Haydn.The Esterházy princes (Paul Anton, then from 1762 to 1790Nikolaus I) were musical connoisseurs who appreciated his work and gave him daily access to his own small orchestra. During the nearly thirty years that Haydn worked at the Esterházy court, he produced a flood of compositions, and his musical style continued to develop.

PrinceNikolaus Esterházy,Haydn's most important patron

Much of Haydn's activity at the time followed the musical taste of his patron Prince Nikolaus. In about 1765, the prince obtained and began to learn to play thebaryton,an uncommon musical instrument similar to the bassviol,but with a set of pluckedsympathetic strings.Haydn was commanded to provide music for the prince to play, and over the next ten years produced about 200 works for this instrument in various ensembles, the most notable of which are the 126baryton trios.Around 1775, the prince abandoned the baryton and took up a new hobby: opera productions, previously a sporadic event for special occasions, became the focus of musical life at court, and the opera theater the prince had built at Esterháza came to host a major season, with multiple productions each year. Haydn served as company director, recruiting and training the singers and preparing and leading the performances. He wroteseveral of the operas performedand wrote substitutionariasto insert into the operas of other composers.

1779 was a watershed year for Haydn, as his contract was renegotiated: whereas previously all his compositions were the property of the Esterházy family, he now was permitted to write for others and sell his work to publishers. Haydn soon shifted his emphasis in composition to reflect this (fewer operas, and more quartets and symphonies) and he negotiated with multiple publishers, both Austrian and foreign. His new employment contract "acted as a catalyst in the next stage in Haydn's career, the achievement of international popularity. By 1790 Haydn was in the paradoxical position... of being Europe's leading composer, but someone who spent his time as a duty-bound Kapellmeister in a remote palace in the Hungarian countryside."The new publication campaign resulted in the composition of a great number of new string quartets (the six-quartet sets of Op.33,50,54/55, and64). Haydn also composed in response to commissions from abroad: theParis symphonies(1785–1786) and the original orchestral version ofThe Seven Last Words of Christ(1786), a commission fromCádiz,Spain.

View ofEszterháza

The remoteness ofEszterháza,which was farther from Vienna than Eisenstadt, led Haydn gradually to feel more isolated and lonely.He longed to visit Vienna because of his friendships there.Of these, a particularly important one was withMaria Anna von Genzinger(1754–1793), the wife of Prince Nikolaus's personal physician in Vienna, who began a close, platonic relationship with the composer in 1789. Haydn wrote to Mrs. Genzinger often, expressing his loneliness at Esterháza and his happiness for the few occasions on which he was able to visit her in Vienna. Later on, Haydn wrote to her frequently from London. Her premature death in 1793 was a blow to Haydn, and hisF minor variationsfor piano, Hob. XVII:6, may have been written in response to her death.

Another friend in Vienna wasWolfgang Amadeus Mozart,whomHaydn had metsometime around 1784. According to later testimony byMichael Kellyand others, the two composers occasionally played instring quartetswithCarl Ditters von Dittersdorf(second violin) andJohann Baptist Wanhal(cello) for small gatherings attended byGiovanni PaisielloandGiovanni Battista Casti.Impressed by Mozart's work, Haydn praised it unstintingly to others. Mozart returned the esteem in his"Haydn" quartets.In 1785 Haydn was admitted to the sameMasonic lodgeas Mozart, the "Zur wahren Eintracht"in Vienna.

London journeys

Portrait byLudwig Guttenbrunn,paintedc. 1791–92,depicts Haydn c. 1770

In 1790, Prince Nikolaus died and was succeeded as prince by his sonAnton.Following a trend of the time,Anton sought to economize by dismissing most of the court musicians. Haydn retained a nominal appointment with Anton, at a reduced salary of 400 florins, as well as a 1000-florin pension from Nikolaus.Since Anton had little need of Haydn's services, he was willing to let him travel, and the composer accepted a lucrative offer fromJohann Peter Salomon,a German violinist andimpresario,to visit England and conduct new symphonies with a large orchestra.

The choice was a sensible one because Haydn was already a very popular composer there. Since the death ofJohann Christian Bachin 1782, Haydn's music had dominated the concert scene in London; "hardly a concert did not feature a work by him".Haydn's work was widely distributed by publishers in London, including Forster (who had their own contract with Haydn) and Longman &Broderip(who served as agent in England for Haydn's Vienna publisherArtaria).Efforts to bring Haydn to London had been made since 1782, though Haydn's loyalty to Prince Nikolaus had prevented him from accepting.

After fond farewells from Mozart and other friends,Haydn departed from Vienna with Salomon on 15 December 1790, arriving inCalaisin time to cross the English Channel on New Year's Day of 1791. It was the first time that the 58-year-old composer had seen the sea. Arriving in London, Haydn stayed with Salomon in Great Pulteney Street (London, nearPiccadilly Circus)working in a borrowed studio at theBroadwoodpiano firm nearby.

It was the start of a very auspicious period for Haydn: both the 1791–1792 journey, along with a repeat visit in 1794–1795, were greatly successful. Audiences flocked to Haydn's concerts; he augmented his fame and made large profits, thus becoming financially secure.Charles Burneyreviewed the first concert thus: "Haydn himself presided at the piano-forte; and the sight of that renowned composer so electrified the audience, as to excite an attention and a pleasure superior to any that had ever been caused by instrumental music in England."Haydn made many new friends and, for a time, was involved in a romantic relationship withRebecca Schroeter.

Hanover Square Rooms,principal venue of Haydn's performances in London

Musically, Haydn's visits to England generated some of his best-known work, including theSurprise,Military,DrumrollandLondonsymphonies; theRiderquartet; and the"Gypsy Rondo"piano trio. The great success of the overall enterprise does not mean that the journeys were free of trouble. Notably, his first project, the commissioned operaL'anima del filosofowas duly written during the early stages of the trip, but the opera's impresarioJohn Galliniwas unable to obtain a license to permit opera performances in the theatre he directed, theKing's Theatre.Haydn was well paid for the opera (£300) but much time was wasted.Thus only two new symphonies,no. 95andno. 96Miracle,could be premiered in the 12 concerts of Salomon's spring concert series in 1791. Another problem arose from the jealously competitive efforts of a senior, rival orchestra, theProfessional Concerts,who recruited Haydn's old pupilIgnaz Pleyelas a rival visiting composer; the two composers, refusing to play along with the concocted rivalry, dined together and put each other's symphonies on their concert programs.

The end of Salomon's series in June gave Haydn a rare period of relative leisure. He spent some of the time in the country (Hertingfordbury),but also had time to travel, notably to Oxford, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the university. The symphony performed for the occasion,no. 92has since come to be known as theOxford Symphony,although it had been written two years before, in 1789.Four further new symphonies (Nos.93,94,97and98) were performed in early 1792.

Haydn as portrayed byJohn Hoppnerin England in 1791

While traveling to London in 1790, Haydn had met the youngLudwig van Beethovenin his native city ofBonn.On Haydn's return, Beethoven came to Vienna andwas Haydn's pupilup until the second London journey. Haydn took Beethoven with him toEisenstadtfor the summer, where Haydn had little to do, and taught Beethoven somecounterpoint.While in Vienna, Haydn purchased a house for himself and his wife in the suburbs and started remodeling it. He also arranged for the performance of some of his London symphonies in local concerts.

By the time he arrived on his second journey to England (1794–1795), Haydn had become a familiar figure on the London concert scene. The 1794 season was dominated by Salomon's ensemble, as the Professional Concerts had abandoned their efforts. The concerts included the premieres of the 99th, 100th, and 101st symphonies. For 1795, Salomon had abandoned his own series, citing difficulty in obtaining "vocal performers of the first rank from abroad", and Haydn joined forces with the Opera Concerts, headed by the violinistGiovanni Battista Viotti.These were the venue of the last three symphonies, 102, 103, and 104. The final benefit concert for Haydn ( "Dr. Haydn's night" ) at the end of the 1795 season was a great success and was perhaps the peak of his English career. Haydn's biographerGriesingerwrote that Haydn "considered the days spent in England the happiest of his life. He was everywhere appreciated there; it opened a new world to him".

Viennese celebrity

Haydn returned to Vienna in 1795. Prince Anton had died, and his successorNikolaus IIproposed that the Esterházy musical establishment be revived with Haydn serving again as Kapellmeister. Haydn took up the position on a part-time basis. He spent his summers with the Esterházys in Eisenstadt, and over the course of several years wrote sixmassesfor them including theLord Nelson massin 1798.

Wax sculpture of Haydn by Franz Thaler, c. 1800

By this time Haydn had become a public figure in Vienna. He spent most of his time in his home, a large house in the suburb of Windmühle,and wrote works for public performance. In collaboration with his librettist and mentorGottfried van Swieten,and with funding from van Swieten'sGesellschaft der Associierten,he composed his two great oratorios,The Creation(1798) andThe Seasons(1801). Both were enthusiastically received. Haydn frequently appeared before the public, often leading performances ofThe CreationandThe Seasonsfor charity benefits, includingTonkünstler-Societätprograms with massed musical forces. He also composed instrumental music: the popularTrumpet Concerto,and the last nine in his long series of string quartets, including theFifths,Emperor,andSunrise.Directly inspired by hearing audiences singGod Save the Kingin London, in 1797 Haydn wrote a patriotic "Emperor's Hymn" "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser",(" God Save Emperor Francis "). This achieved great success and became" the enduring emblem of Austrian identity right up to the First World War "(Jones).The melody was used for von Fallersleben'sDeutschlandlied(1841), which was written as part of the German unification movement and whose third stanza is today thenational anthemof the Federal Republic of Germany. (Modern Austria uses adifferent anthem.)

During the later years of this successful period, Haydn faced incipient old age and fluctuating health, and he had to struggle to complete his final works. His last major work, from 1802, was the sixth mass for the Esterházys, theHarmoniemesse.

Retirement, illness, and death

By the end of 1803, Haydn's condition had declined to the point that he became physically unable to compose. He suffered from weakness, dizziness, inability to concentrate and painfully swollen legs. Since diagnosis was uncertain in Haydn's time, it is unlikely that the precise illness can ever be identified, thoughJonessuggestsarteriosclerosis.The illness was especially hard for Haydn because the flow of fresh musical ideas continued unabated, although he could no longer work them out as compositions.His biographer Dies reported Haydn saying in 1806:

I must have something to do—usually musical ideas are pursuing me, to the point of torture, I cannot escape them, they stand like walls before me. If it's anallegrothat pursues me, my pulse keeps beating faster, I can get no sleep. If it's anadagio,then I notice my pulse beating slowly. My imagination plays on me as if I were a clavier. "Haydn smiled, the blood rushed to his face, and he said "I am really just a living clavier."

House in Vienna (nowa museum) where Haydn spent the last years of his life

The winding down of Haydn's career was gradual. The Esterházy family kept him on as Kapellmeister to the very end (much as they had with his predecessor Werner long before), but they appointed new staff to lead their musical establishment: Johann Michael Fuchs in 1802 as Vice-KapellmeisterandJohann Nepomuk Hummelas Konzertmeister in 1804.Haydn's last summer in Eisenstadt was in 1803,and his last appearance before the public as a conductor was a charity performance ofThe Seven Last Wordson 26 December 1803. As debility set in, he made largely futile efforts at composition, attempting to revise a rediscoveredMissa brevisfrom his teenage years and complete hisfinal string quartet.The former project was abandoned for good in 1805, and the quartet was published with just two movements.

Haydn was well cared for by his servants, and he received many visitors and public honors during his last years, but they could not have been very happy years for him.During his illness, Haydn often found solace by sitting at the piano and playing his "Emperor's Hymn".A final triumph occurred on 27 March 1808 when a performance ofThe Creationwas organized in his honour. The very frail composer was brought into the hall on an armchair to the sound of trumpets and drums and was greeted by Beethoven,Salieri(who led the performance) and by other musicians and members of the aristocracy. Haydn was both moved and exhausted by the experience and had to depart at intermission.

Bergkirchein Eisenstadt, site of Haydn's tomb

Haydn lived on for 14 more months. His final days were hardly serene, as in May 1809 the French army underNapoleonlaunched an attack on Vienna and on 10 May bombarded his neighborhood. According to Griesinger, "Fourcase shotsfell, rattling the windows and doors of his house. He called out in a loud voice to his alarmed and frightened people, 'Don't be afraid, children, where Haydn is, no harm can reach you!'. But the spirit was stronger than the flesh, for he had hardly uttered the brave words when his whole body began to tremble. "More bombardments followed until the city fell to the French on 13 May.Haydn, was, however, deeply moved and appreciative when on 17 May a French cavalry officer named Sulémy came to pay his respects and sang, skillfully, an aria fromThe Creation.

On 26 May Haydn played his "Emperor's Hymn" with unusual gusto three times; the same evening he collapsed and was taken to what proved to be to his deathbed.He died peacefully in his own home at 12:40 a.m. on 31 May 1809, aged 77.On 15 June, a memorial service was held in theSchottenkircheat which Mozart'sRequiemwas performed. Haydn's remains were interred in the localHundsturm cemeteryuntil 1820, when they were moved to Eisenstadt by Prince Nikolaus. His head took a different journey;it was stolenbyphrenologistsshortly after burial, and the skull was reunited with the other remains only in 1954, now interred in a tomb in the north tower of theBergkirche.

Character and appearance

Haydn's signature on a work of music:di me giuseppe Haydn( "by me Joseph Haydn" ). He writes in Italian, a language he often used professionally.

Laus Deo( "praise be to God" ) at the conclusion of a Haydn manuscript

James Websterwrites of Haydn's public character thus: "Haydn's public life exemplified theEnlightenmentideal of thehonnête homme(honest man): the man whose good character and worldly success enable and justify each other. His modesty and probity were everywhere acknowledged. These traits were not only prerequisites to his success asKapellmeister,entrepreneur and public figure, but also aided the favorable reception of his music. "Haydn was especially respected by the Esterházy court musicians whom he supervised, as he maintained a cordial working atmosphere and effectively represented the musicians' interests with their employer; seePapa Haydnand the tale of the"Farewell" Symphony.Haydn had a robust sense of humor, evident in his love of practical jokesand often apparent in his music, and he had many friends. For much of his life he benefited from a "happy and naturally cheerful temperament",but in his later life, there is evidence for periods of depression, notably in the correspondence withMrs. Genzingerand in Dies's biography, based on visits made in Haydn's old age.

Haydn was a devout Catholic who often turned to hisrosarywhen he had trouble composing, a practice that he usually found to be effective.He normally began the manuscript of each composition withIn nomine Domini[in the name of the Lord] and ended withLaus Deo[praise be to God].He retained this practice even in his secular works; he frequently only uses the initials "L. D.", "S. D. G." [soli Deo gloria], orLaus Deo et B. V. M.[... and toBeatae Virgini Mariae] and sometimes adds, "et om^ssi^s  "(et omnibus sanctis– and all saints)

Haydn's early years of poverty and awareness of the financial precariousness of musical life made him astute and even sharp in his business dealings. Some contemporaries (usually, it has to be said, wealthy ones) were surprised and even shocked at this. Webster writes: "As regards money, Haydn…always attempted to maximize his income, whether by negotiating the right to sell his music outside the Esterházy court, driving hard bargains with publishers or selling his works three and four times over [to publishers in different countries]; he regularly engaged in 'sharp practice'" which nowadays might be regarded as plain fraud.But those were days when copyright was in its infancy, and the pirating of musical works was common. Publishers had few qualms about attaching Haydn's name to popular works by lesser composers, an arrangement that effectively robbed the lesser musician of livelihood. Webster notes that Haydn's ruthlessness in business might be viewed more sympathetically in light of his struggles with poverty during his years as a freelancer—and that outside the world of business, in his dealings, for example, with relatives, musicians and servants, and in volunteering his services for charitable concerts, Haydn was a generous man – e.g., offering to teach the two infant sons of Mozart for free after their father's death.When Haydn died he was certainly comfortably off, but by middle class rather than aristocratic standards.

Portrait of Joseph Haydn by Christian Ludwig Seehas, 1785

Haydn was short in stature, perhaps as a result of having been underfed throughout most of his youth. He was not handsome, and like many in his day he was a survivor ofsmallpox;his face was pitted with the scars of this disease.His biographerDieswrote: "he couldn't understand how it happened that in his life he had been loved by many a pretty woman. 'They couldn't have been led to it by my beauty.'"

Haydn had a dark complexion and black eyes.His nose, large and aquiline, was disfigured by thepolypshe suffered during much of his adult life,an agonizing and debilitating disease that at times prevented him from writing music.

Music

Main article:List of compositions by Joseph Haydn

James Webster summarizes Haydn's role in the history of classical music as follows:

He excelled in every musical genre. [...] He is familiarly known as the "father of the symphony" because he composed 107 symphonies,and could with greater justice be thus regarded for the string quartet; no other composer approaches his combination of productivity, quality and historical importance in these genres.

Structure

A central characteristic of Haydn's music is the development of larger structures out of very short, simple musicalmotifs,often derived from standard accompanying figures. The music is often quite formally concentrated, and the important musical events of a movement can unfold rather quickly.

Original copy of "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser"in Haydn's hand

Haydn's work was central to the development of what came to be calledsonata form.His practice, however, differed in some ways from that ofMozartandBeethoven,his younger contemporaries who likewise excelled in this form of composition. Haydn was particularly fond of the so-calledmonothematic exposition,in which the music that establishes the dominant key is similar or identical to the opening theme. Haydn also differs from Mozart and Beethoven in hisrecapitulationsections, where he often rearranges the order of themes compared to the exposition and uses extensivethematic development.

Haydn's formal inventiveness also led him to integrate thefugueinto the classical style and to enrich the rondo form with more cohesive tonal logic (seesonata rondo form). Haydn was also the principal exponent of thedouble variationform—variations on two alternating themes, which are often major- and minor-mode versions of each other.

Character

Perhaps more than any other composer's, Haydn's music is known for its humor.The most famous example is the sudden loud chord in the slow movement of his"Surprise" symphony;Haydn's many other musical jokes include numerousfalse endings(e.g., in the quartetsOp. 33 No. 2andOp. 50 No. 3), and the remarkable rhythmic illusion placed in the trio section of the third movement ofOp. 50 No. 1.

The tone of Haydn's music also reflects, perhaps, Haydn's fundamentally healthy and well-balanced personality. Occasional minor-key works, often deadly serious in character, form striking exceptions to the general rule. Haydn's fast movements tend to be rhythmically propulsive and often impart a great sense of energy, especially in the finales. Some characteristic examples of Haydn's "rollicking" finale type are found in the"London" Symphony No. 104,the String Quartet Op. 50 No. 1, and the Piano Trio Hob XV: 27. Haydn's early slow movements are usually not too slow in tempo, relaxed, and reflective. Later on, the emotional range of the slow movements increases, notably in the deeply felt slow movements of the quartetsOp. 76 Nos. 3 and 5,theSymphonies No. 98and102,and the Piano Trio Hob XV: 23. Theminuetstend to have a strong downbeat and a clearly popular character. Over time, Haydn turned some of his minuets into "scherzi"which are much faster, at one beat to the bar.

One of the most apt tributes to Haydn was spoken by the poetJohn Keats.Keats, dying of tuberculosis, was brought to Rome by his friends in November 1820, in the hope that the climate might help to mitigate his suffering. (The poet died a few weeks later on 23 February 1821, at the age of 25.) According to his friendJoseph Severn:

About this time he expressed a strong desire that we had a pianoforte, so that I might play to him, for not only was he passionately fond of music, but found that his constant pain and o'erfretted nerves were much soothed by it. This I managed to obtain on loan, and Dr. Clark procured me many volumes and pieces of music, and Keats had thus a welcome solace in the dreary hours he had to pass. Among the volumes was one of Haydn's Symphonies, and these were his delight, and he would exclaim enthusiastically, 'This Haydn is like a child, for there is no knowing what he will do next.'

Style

Haydn's early work dates from a period in which the compositional style of the HighBaroque(seen inJ. S. BachandHandel) had gone out of fashion. This was a period of exploration and uncertainty, and Haydn, born 18 years before the death of Bach, was himself one of the musical explorers of this time.An older contemporary whose work Haydn acknowledged as an important influence wasCarl Philipp Emanuel Bach.

Tracing Haydn's work over the six decades in which it was produced (roughly from 1749 to 1802), one finds a gradual but steady increase in complexity and musical sophistication, which developed as Haydn learned from his own experience and that of his colleagues. Several important landmarks have been observed in the evolution of Haydn's musical style.

In the late 1760s and early 1770s, Haydn entered a stylistic period known as "Sturm und Drang"(" storm and stress "). This term is taken froma literary movementof about the same time, though it appears that the musical development actually preceded the literary one by a few years.The musical language of this period is similar to what went before, but it is deployed in work that is more intensely expressive, especially in the works in minor keys. James Webster describes the works of this period as "longer, more passionate, and more daring".Some of the most famous compositions of this time are the"Trauer" (Mourning) Symphony No. 44,"Farewell" Symphony No. 45,the Piano Sonata in C minor (Hob. XVI/20, L. 33), and thesix "Sun" Quartets Op. 20,all from c. 1771–72. It was also around this time that Haydn became interested in writingfuguesin the Baroque style, and three of the Op. 20 quartets end with a fugue.

Following the climax of the "Sturm und Drang", Haydn returned to a lighter, more overtly entertaining style. There are no quartets from this period, and the symphonies take on new features: the scoring often includes trumpets andtimpani.These changes are often related to a major shift in Haydn's professional duties, which moved him away from "pure" music and toward the production ofcomic operas.Several of the operas were Haydn's own work (seeList of operas by Joseph Haydn); these are seldom performed today. Haydn sometimes recycled his opera music in symphonic works,which helped him continue his career as a symphonist during this hectic decade.

Joseph Haydn Playing Quartets

In 1779, an important change in Haydn's contract permitted him to publish his compositions without prior authorization from his employer. This may have encouraged Haydn to rekindle his career as a composer of "pure" music. The change made itself felt most dramatically in 1781, when Haydn published thesix Op. 33 String Quartets,announcing (in a letter to potential purchasers) that they were written in "a new and completely special way".Charles Rosenhas argued that this assertion on Haydn's part was not just sales talk but meant quite seriously, and he points out a number of important advances in Haydn's compositional technique that appear in these quartets, advances that mark the advent of theClassicalstyle in full flower. These include a fluid form of phrasing, in which each motif emerges from the previous one without interruption, the practice of letting accompanying material evolve into melodic material, and a kind of "Classicalcounterpoint"in which each instrumental part maintains its own integrity. These traits continue in the many quartets that Haydn wrote after Op. 33.

In the 1790s, stimulated by his England journeys, Haydn developed what Rosen calls his "popular style", a method of composition that, with unprecedented success, created music having great popular appeal but retaining a learned and rigorous musical structure.An important element of the popular style was the frequent use offolkor folk-like material (seeHaydn and folk music). Haydn took care to deploy this material in appropriate locations, such as the endings of sonata expositions or the opening themes of finales. In such locations, the folk material serves as an element of stability, helping to anchor the larger structure.Haydn's popular style can be heard in virtually all of his later work, including the twelve"London" symphonies,the late quartets and piano trios, and the two lateoratorios.

The return to Vienna in 1795 marked the last turning point in Haydn's career. Although his musical style evolved little, his intentions as a composer changed. While he had been a servant, and later a busy entrepreneur, Haydn wrote his works quickly and in profusion, with frequent deadlines. As a rich man, Haydn now felt that he had the privilege of taking his time and writing for posterity. This is reflected in the subject matter ofThe Creation(1798) andThe Seasons(1801), which address such weighty topics as the meaning of life and the purpose of humankind and represent an attempt to render the sublime in music. Haydn's new intentions also meant that he was willing to spend much time on a single work: both oratorios took him over a year to complete. Haydn once remarked that he had worked onThe Creationso long because he wanted it to last.

The change in Haydn's approach was important in thehistory of classical music,as other composers were soon following his lead. Notably, Beethoven adopted the practice of taking his time and aiming high.

Catalogues

Anthony van Hobokenprepared a comprehensive catalogue of Haydn's works. TheHoboken catalogueassigns a catalog number to each work, called its Hoboken number (abbreviated H. or Hob.). These Hoboken numbers are often used in identifying Haydn's compositions.

Haydn's string quartets also have Hoboken numbers, but they are usually identified instead by theiropus numbers,which have the advantage of indicating the groups of six quartets that Haydn published together. For example, the string quartetOpus 76, No. 3is the third of the six quartets published in 1799 as Opus 76.

Instruments

An "Anton Walterin Wien "fortepiano used by the composer is now on display in theHaydn-Haus Eisenstadt.In Vienna in 1788 Haydn bought himself a fortepiano made by Wenzel Schantz. When the composer was visiting London for the first time, an English piano builder,John Broadwood,supplied him with a concert grand.

See also

• List of compositions by Joseph Haydn
• List of concertos by Joseph Haydn
• List of masses by Joseph Haydn
• List of operas by Joseph Haydn
• List of piano trios by Joseph Haydn
• List of solo piano compositions by Joseph Haydn
• List of string quartets by Joseph Haydn
• List of symphonies by Joseph Haydn
• Joseph Haydn's ethnicity
• Haydn's birthplace
• List of Haydn's residences

References

Informational notes

Citations

Bibliography

Biographical sources

• Deutsch, Otto Erich(1965).Mozart: A Documentary Biography.Stanford:Stanford University Press– viaInternet Archive.
• Dies, Albert Christoph(1810).Biographische Nachrichten von Joseph Haydn nach mündlichen Erzählungen desselben entworfen und herausgegeben[Biographical Accounts of Joseph Haydn, written and edited from his own spoken narratives]. Vienna: Camesinaische Buchhandlung.English translation in:Dies, Albert Christoph (1963). "Biographical Accounts of Joseph Haydn". In Gotwals, Vernon (ed.).Haydn: Two Contemporary Portraits.(translation by Vernon Gotwals). Milwaukee: University of Wisconsin Press.ISBN978-0-299-02791-9.One of the first biographies of Haydn, written on the basis of 30 interviews carried out during the composer's old age.
• Finscher,Ludwig (2000).Joseph Haydn und seine Zeit.Laaber: Laaber-Verlag.ISBN978-3-921518-94-6.Highly detailed discussion of life and work; in German.
• Geiringer, Karl;Geiringer, Irene (1982).Haydn: A Creative Life in Music(3rd ed.). University of California.ISBN978-0-520-04316-9.The first edition was published in 1946 with Karl Geiringer as the sole author.
• Griesinger, Georg August(1963). "Biographical Notes Concerning Joseph Haydn". In Vernon Gotwals (ed.).Haydn: Two Contemporary Portraits.Translated by Vernon Gotwals. Milwaukee: University of Wisconsin Press.ISBN978-0-299-02791-9.A translation from the original German:Biographische Notizen über Joseph Haydn(1810). Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel.Like Dies's, a biography produced from interviews with the elderly Haydn.
• Hadden, James(1902).Haydn.J. Dent.Reissued 2010 by Cambridge University Press.
• Hughes, Rosemary (1970).Haydn(Revised ed.). New York:Farrar, Straus and Giroux.ISBN978-0-460-02281-1.Originally published in 1950. Gives a sympathetic and witty account of Haydn's life, along with a survey of the music.
• Jones, David Wyn(2009a).The Life of Haydn.Oxford University Press.Focuses on biography rather than musical works; an up-to-date study benefiting from recent scholarly research on Haydn's life and times.
• Jones, David Wyn (2009b).Oxford Composer Companions: Haydn.Oxford University Press.A comprehensive one-volume collection of detailed contributions by Haydn scholars.
• Landon, H. C. Robbins(1976–1980).Haydn: Chronicle and Works.Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press.ISBN978-0-253-37003-7.An extensive compilation of original sources in five volumes.
• Landon, H. C. Robbins;Jones, David Wyn(1988).Haydn: His Life and Music.Indiana University Press.ISBN978-0-253-37265-9.Biography chapters by Robbins Landon, excerpted fromLandon 1976–1980and rich in original source documents. Analysis and appreciation of the works by Jones.
• Larsen, Jens Peter(1980). "Joseph Haydn".The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.Published separately asThe New Grove: Haydn.New York: Norton. 1982.ISBN978-0-393-01681-9.
• Redfern, Brian L. (1970).Haydn: A Biography, with a Survey of Books, Editions & Recordings.Archon Books.ISBN978-0-208-00886-2.
• Webster, James;Feder, Georg (2001). "Joseph Haydn".The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.Published separately as a book:The New Grove Haydn.New York: Macmillan. 2002.ISBN978-0-19-516904-1.Careful scholarship with little subjective interpretation; covers both life and music, and includes a very detailed list of works.

Criticism and analysis

• Brendel, Alfred(2001)."Does classical music have to be entirely serious?".In Margalit, Edna; Margalit, Avishai (eds.).Isaiah Berlin: A Celebration.Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp.193–204.ISBN978-0-226-84096-3.On jokes in Haydn and Beethoven.
• Keefe, Simon P.2023.Haydn and Mozart in the Long Nineteenth Century: Parallel and Intersecting Patterns of Reception.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-1-009-25437-3(hbk).
• Proksch, Bryan (2015).Reviving Haydn: New Appreciations in the Twentieth Century.Rochester, New York: University of Rochester Press.ISBN978-1-58046-512-0.Surveys the decline in Haydn's reputation in the nineteenth century before examining the factors that led to a resurgence in the twentieth.
• Rosen, Charles(1997).The classical style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven(2nd ed.). New York: Norton.ISBN978-0-393-31712-1.First edition published in 1971. Covers much of Haydn's output and seeks to explicate Haydn's central role in the creation of the classical style. The work has been influential, provoking both positive citation and work (e.g.,Webster 1991) written in reaction.
• Rosen, Charles (1988).Sonata forms(2nd ed.). New York: Norton..Further discussion of Haydn's style and technique as it relates to sonata form.
• Sisman, Elaine(1993).Haydn and the Classical Variation.Cambridge: Harvard University Press.ISBN978-0-674-38315-9.
• Sutcliffe, W. Dean (1989). "Haydn's Musical Personality".The Musical Times.130(1756): 341–344.doi:10.2307/966030.JSTOR966030.
• Webster, James(1991).Haydn's "Farewell" symphony and the idea of classical style: through-composition and cyclic integration in his instrumental music.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-38520-6.This book focuses on a single work, but contains many observations and opinions about Haydn in general.

Further reading

• Celestini, Federico(2010). "Aspekte des Erhabenen in Haydns Spätwerk". In Celestini, Federico; Dorschel, Andreas (eds.).Arbeit am Kanon.Vienna: Universal Edition. pp. 16–41.ISBN978-3-7024-6967-2.On the sublime in Haydn's later works; in German.
• Clark, Caryl, ed. (2005).The Cambridge Companion to Haydn.Cambridge Companions to Music.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-83347-9.Covers each of the genres Haydn composed in as well as stylistic and interpretive contexts and performance and reception.
• Clark, Caryl; Day-O'Connell, Sarah, eds. (2019).The Cambridge Haydn Encyclopedia.Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press.ISBN9781107129016.Sixty-seven scholars contribute over eighty entries as well as seven longer thematic essays on biography and identity, ideas, institutions, musical materials, people and networks, performance, and place.
• Griffiths, Paul(1983).The String Quartet.New York: Thames & Hudson.ISBN978-0-500-01311-3.
• Hughes, Rosemary (1966).Haydn String Quartets.London: BBC.A brief (55-page) introduction to Haydn's string quartets.
• Macek, Bernhard A.(2012).Haydn, Mozart und die Großfürstin. Eine Studie zur Uraufführung der "Russischen Quartette" op. 33 in den Kaiserappartements der Wiener Hofburg(in German). Vienna: Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H.ISBN978-3-901568-72-5.
• Sutcliffe, W. Dean (1992).Haydn, string quartets, op. 50.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-39103-0.Covers not just Op. 50 but also its relevance to Haydn's other output as well as his earlier quartets.
• Tolley, Thomas (2017). "'Divorce a la mode': The Schwellenberg Affair and Haydn's Engagement with English Caricature ".Music in Art: International Journal for Music Iconography.42(1–2): 273–307.ISSN1522-7464.

External links

• "Joseph Haydn"byKarl Geiringer,Raymond L. Knapp,H. C. Robbins Landon,Encyclopædia Britannica
• Free scores by Joseph Haydnat theInternational Music Score Library Project(IMSLP)
• Free scores by Joseph Haydnin theChoral Public Domain Library(ChoralWiki)
• Joseph Haydn-Institut(in German)
• The Haydn Society of North America
• Michael Lorenz, "Haydn Singing at Vivaldi's Exequies: An Ineradicable Myth". Michael Lorenz blog, 9 June 2014
• "Discovering Haydn".BBC Radio 3.