Haydn" redirects here. For other uses, see Haydn
(disambiguation).
Franz Joseph Haydn[1] (March 31 or April 1, 1732 May 31, 1809)
was one of the most prominent composers of the Classical period,
called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String
Quartet".
A life-long resident of Austria, Haydn spent most of his career as
a court musician for the wealthy Eszterházy family on their remote
estate. Being isolated from other composers and trends in music
until the later part of his long life, he was, as he put it,
"forced to become original".
Joseph Haydn was the brother of Michael Haydn, himself a highly
regarded composer, and Johann Evangelist Haydn, a tenor.
Portrait by Thomas Hardy, 1792Contents [hide]
1 Life
1.1 Childhood
1.2 Struggles as a freelancer
1.3 The years as Kapellmeister
1.4 The London journeys
1.5 Final years in Vienna
2 Character and appearance
3 Works
3.1 Structure and character of the music
3.2 Evolution of Haydn's style
4 Catalogues
5 Notes
6 See also
6.1 Works
6.1.1 Overviews
6.1.2 Articles on works by Joseph Haydn
6.2 Contemporaries
6.3 Other topics
7 Further reading
8 External links
[edit]
Life
[edit]
Childhood
Joseph Haydn was born in 1732 in the Austrian village of Rohrau
near the Hungarian border. His father was Matthias Haydn, a
wheelwright who also served as "Marktrichter", an office akin to
village mayor. Haydn's mother, the former Maria Koller, had
previously worked as a cook in the palace of Count Harrach, the
presiding aristocrat of Rohrau. Neither parent could read music.
However, Matthias was an enthusiastic folk musician, who during the
journeyman period of his career had taught himself to play the
harp. According to Haydn's later reminiscences, his childhood
family was extremely musical, and frequently sang together and with
their neighbors.
Haydn's parents were perceptive enough to notice that their son was
musically talented and knew that in Rohrau he would have no chance
to obtain any serious musical training. It was for this reason that
they accepted a proposal from their relative Johann Matthias
Franck, the schoolmaster and choirmaster in Hainburg, that Haydn be
apprenticed to Franck in his home to train as a musician. Haydn
thus went off with Franck to Hainburg (ten miles away) and never
again lived with his parents. At the time he was not quite
six.
Life in the Franck household was not easy for Haydn, who later
remembered being frequently hungry as well as constantly humiliated
by the filthy state of his clothing. However, he did begin his
musical training there, and soon was able to play both harpsichord
and violin. The people of Hainburg were soon hearing him sing
treble parts in the church choir.
There is reason to think that Haydn's singing impressed those who
heard him, because two years later (1740), he was brought to the
attention of Georg von Reutter, the director of music in St.
Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, who was touring the provinces
looking for talented choirboys. Haydn passed his audition with
Reutter, and soon moved off to Vienna, where he worked for the next
nine years as a chorister, the last four in the company of his
younger brother Michael.
Like Franck before him, Reutter didn't always bother to make sure
Haydn was properly fed. The young Haydn greatly looked forward to
performances before aristocratic audiences, where the singers
sometimes had the opportunity to satisfy their hunger by devouring
the refreshments. Reutter also did little to further his
choristers' musical education. However, St. Stephen's was at the
time one of the leading musical centers in Europe, with many
performances of new music by leading composers. Haydn was able to
learn a great deal by osmosis simply by serving as a professional
musician there.
[edit]
Struggles as a freelancer
In 1749, Haydn had matured physically to the point that he was no
longer able to sing high choral parts. On a weak pretext, he was
summarily dismissed from his job. He evidently spent one night
homeless on a park bench, but was taken in by friends and began to
pursue a career as a freelance musician. During this arduous
period, which lasted ten years, Haydn worked many different jobs,
including valetaccompanist for the Italian composer Nicolò
Porpora, from whom he later said he learned "the true fundamentals
of composition". He laboured to fill the gaps in his training, and
eventually wrote his first string quartets and his first opera.
During this time Haydn's professional reputation gradually
increased.
[edit]
The years as Kapellmeister
Portrait by Ludwig Guttenbrunn, ca. 1770In 1759 (1757 according to
the New Grove Encyclopedia), Haydn received his first important
position, that of Kapellmeister (music director) for Count Karl von
Morzin. In this capacity, he directed the count's small orchestra,
and for this ensemble wrote his first symphonies. Count Morzin soon
suffered financial reverses that forced him to dismiss his musical
establishment, but Haydn was quickly offered a similar job (1761)
as assistant Kapellmeister to the Eszterházy family, one of the
wealthiest and most important in the Austrian Empire. When the old
Kapellmeister, Gregor Werner, died in 1766, Haydn was elevated to
full Kapellmeister.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Haydn