Haydn and Mozart
Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart left remarkably little paper evidence of their friendship. Haydn lived from 1732 to 1809, and Mozart from 1756 to 1791. Even so, one gesture from the younger man speaks loudly. In the dedication of six string quartets, Mozart asked the older composer to "be to them a father, guide, and friend". The relationship between the two is not well documented, yet the evidence that they enjoyed each other's company is strong. How did two composers who worked in different places come to meet? What did each really think of the other's music? And what did they say to one another when they parted for the last time?
In 1772, Haydn's six string quartets of Opus 20 were circulating widely across Europe. Charles Rosen conjectures that they inspired the six early quartets, K. 168-173, which the 17-year-old Mozart wrote during a visit to Vienna in 1773. Haydn was already a fairly well-known composer while Mozart was still a child.
About 90 km from Vienna stood the palace of Eszterháza in Hungary, where Haydn's presence was required most of the time. His employer and patron, Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, preferred to live there. During the winter months, the Prince moved to the family's ancestral palace in Eisenstadt and brought Haydn with him. Eisenstadt lay only about 50 km from Vienna, so brief visits to the city were often feasible. Mozart, based in Salzburg, did not settle permanently in Vienna until 1781, and the two probably could not meet before then.
As Jones notes, there were several moments in the 1770s and early 1780s when the pair might have crossed paths. The earliest likely meeting came on the 22nd and the 23rd of December 1783. The Vienna Tonkünstler-Societät, a charitable organization for musicians, sponsored a performance that included works by both men. Jones suggests Haydn was represented by a symphony and a chorus, probably from his oratorio Il ritorno di Tobia. Mozart probably offered the concert aria Misero! o sogno!, K. 431, and on the first night a piano concerto.
Haydn was 51 that winter and the most celebrated composer in Europe. Mozart was 27, and his reputation was clearly on the rise. His opera The Abduction from the Seraglio had premiered with great success in Vienna and was being produced in several other cities. The concert hall, however, was not where their friendship would grow most naturally.
Jens Peter Larsen suggests that "quartet playing was central to the contact between Haydn and Mozart". Documentation of such evenings is slim. One report comes from the Reminiscences, published in 1826, of the Irish tenor Michael Kelly, who premiered some of Mozart's most important lyric tenor roles in opera.
Kelly describes a quartet party that Storace gave for his friends. Haydn took the first violin, Baron Dittersdorf the second violin, Vanhal the cello, and Mozart the viola. Kelly judged the players only tolerable on their instruments. Still, he added, "a greater treat, or a more remarkable one, cannot be imagined", and he stressed that he was there himself.
Dittersdorf and Vanhal are little remembered today, but both were well-known composers of their time, particularly of symphonies. Many scholars now believe Dittersdorf actually played first violin, given his world-class technique, with Haydn on second.
The composer Maximilian Stadler remembered other evenings. In performances of Mozart's string quintets K. 515, 516, and 593, he recalled, Haydn and Mozart each took a viola part. The most famous fruit of this shared chamber-music world was a set of six quartets published in 1785.
Mozart's six "Haydn" quartets, K. 387, 421, 428, 458, 464, and 465, were written in the early years of the friendship. They are thought to show the stylistic influence of Haydn's Opus 33 series, which had appeared in 1781.
The dedication was unusual for its day. At that time, dedicatees were usually aristocrats, not fellow musicians.
On the 15th of January 1785, Haydn heard the new quartets for the first time at a social occasion. Mozart performed them with "my dear friend Haydn and other good friends". On the 12th of February, the last three were played again. Mozart's father Leopold was in the audience that night, having travelled from Salzburg for a visit.
To Leopold, Haydn made a remark that is now widely quoted. He swore, before God and as an honest man, that Leopold's son was "the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name". Haydn added that Mozart had taste and "the most profound knowledge of composition". Mozart would likely have valued this testimony, since Leopold had often expressed doubts about his son's career path. Haydn's praise, as it turns out, was not reserved for fathers.
In a letter to Franz Rott, Haydn wished he could impress Mozart's works on the soul of every friend of music. If he could, he wrote, "the nations would vie with each other to possess such a jewel". Haydn freely praised Mozart in this way, without jealousy, to his friends.
He was just as generous with the musicologist Charles Burney. "I have often been flattered by my friends with having some genius, but he was much my superior," Haydn told him.
A letter to his friend Marianne von Genzinger shows a more private side. Haydn confessed there that he had dreamed of Mozart's work. He had been listening happily to a performance of The Marriage of Figaro. Mozart's own side of the story survives mainly through a biographer who spoke to his widow.
Franz Niemetschek, an early biographer of Mozart, interviewed Mozart's widow Constanze. He wrote that Mozart's judgment of art was shaped by "high esteem for true merit, and regard for the individual". According to Niemetschek, Mozart "was always very touched when he spoke of the two Haydns or other great masters". The second Haydn was Joseph's brother Michael, organist-choirmaster of the Salzburg cathedral for many years and a friend and colleague of both Leopold and Wolfgang Mozart.
Niemetschek also tells an often-repeated story about a private party. A new work by Joseph Haydn was being performed, and one guest, a man never known to praise anyone but himself, kept finding fault. Mozart listened patiently until the man declared, "I would not have done that". Mozart answered: "Neither would I, but do you know why? Because neither of us could have thought of anything so appropriate." Niemetschek concludes that with this remark Mozart made for himself "yet another irreconcilable enemy".
Scholars have questioned how reliable Niemetschek is on Mozart. He claimed a long association with the composer, but he gives no direct quotations or citations of personal conversations. After Mozart's death, though, he welcomed Mozart's two surviving sons, Karl and Wolfgang Jr., into his home in the Lesser Quarter. He became a foster father figure to the boys.
On the 14th of December 1784, Mozart joined the Masonic lodge called "Zur Wohltätigkeit", meaning "Beneficence". Fifteen days later, on the 29th of December 1784, Haydn applied to a different lodge, "Zur wahren Eintracht", or "True Concord". He was probably convinced by Mozart. Lodge records show that Mozart often attended "Zur wahren Eintracht" as a visitor.
Haydn's admission ceremony took place on the 11th of February 1785. Mozart could not attend because he had a concert that night. Mozart stayed an enthusiastic Mason, but Haydn did not. There is no evidence he attended a meeting after his admission, and the lodge dropped him from its rolls in 1787.
The German language has formal pronouns such as Sie and Ihnen, and intimate ones such as du and dir. Otto Jahn, in his Mozart biography of 1856, reported that Haydn and Mozart addressed each other with the intimate du. Between two men of such different ages, that was unusual at the time, and so it counts as evidence of a close friendship. Jahn relied on Mozart's sister-in-law Sophie Haibel and on Georg August Griesinger, Haydn's friend and biographer. Griesinger would also preserve one version of the pair's final parting.
In December 1790, Haydn prepared to leave for London, and he saw Mozart in the days just before his departure. The best-known account comes from the biography by Albert Christoph Dies, who interviewed the elderly Haydn 15 years after the event. Prince Anton Esterházy granted permission for the journey at once. Haydn's friends were less enthusiastic, and they reminded him that he was sixty and that a long journey brought discomforts.
Mozart, who usually called Haydn "Papa", took special pains to dissuade him. "You have had no training for the great world, and you speak too few languages," he warned. "Oh," replied Haydn, "my language is understood all over the world!"
Haydn left on the 15th of December 1790, in company with Salomon. According to Dies, Mozart never left his friend's side that day and dined with him. At the moment of parting he said, "We are probably saying our last farewell in this life." Tears welled in both men's eyes. Haydn took the words to be about himself. It never occurred to him that Mozart's life might be cut short within the year.
Griesinger offers a different and probably less romanticized account. In his version, Mozart said at a happy meal with Salomon that Haydn would not bear the trip long. He expected Haydn to come back soon, "because you are no longer young". Haydn, then almost 59, answered that he was still vigorous and in good health. Had Mozart not died on the 5th of December 1791, he would have taken Haydn's place in Salomon's concerts in 1794.
Haydn was still in London a year later when news of the death reached him. He wrote to their mutual friend Michael Puchberg that for some time he was "quite beside myself over his death". He could not believe that Providence should so quickly have called away "an irreplaceable man". Haydn also wrote to Constanze Mozart and offered to give her son musical instruction when he reached the appropriate age. Later, he followed through on that offer.
Updated
Common questions
Were Haydn and Mozart friends?
Yes, Haydn and Mozart were friends. Their relationship is not very well documented, but the evidence that they enjoyed each other's company is strong. Mozart dedicated six string quartets to Haydn.
When did Haydn and Mozart first meet?
The earliest likely meeting of Haydn and Mozart was on the 22nd and the 23rd of December 1783. A performance sponsored by the Vienna Tonkünstler-Societät included works by both men. Haydn was 51 and Mozart was 27.
What are the Haydn Quartets by Mozart?
The Haydn Quartets are six string quartets by Mozart, K. 387, 421, 428, 458, 464, and 465, dedicated to Haydn. They were published in 1785. They are thought to be stylistically influenced by Haydn's Opus 33 series, which appeared in 1781.
What did Haydn say about Mozart?
Haydn told Leopold Mozart that his son was "the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name". He also told Charles Burney that Mozart was "much my superior".
Did Haydn and Mozart play music together?
Yes, though documentation is slim. Michael Kelly's Reminiscences of 1826 describe a quartet party at which Haydn and Mozart played alongside Dittersdorf and Vanhal. Maximilian Stadler recalled them taking the viola parts in Mozart's string quintets K. 515, 516, and 593.
Were Haydn and Mozart both Freemasons?
Mozart joined the lodge "Zur Wohltätigkeit" on the 14th of December 1784. Haydn applied to "Zur wahren Eintracht" on the 29th of December 1784, probably convinced by Mozart. Haydn's admission ceremony took place on the 11th of February 1785, and he was dropped from the rolls in 1787.
When did Haydn last see Mozart before leaving for London?
Haydn left for London on the 15th of December 1790, and Mozart spent that day with him. According to Dies, Mozart said at parting, "We are probably saying our last farewell in this life." Mozart died on the 5th of December 1791.
All sources
19 references cited across the entry
- 1BookMozart: An Introduction to the Music, the Man, and the MythsRoye E. Wates — Amadeus Press — 2010
- 2Bernard Jacobson (1995) in CD#13 of the Best of The Complete Mozart Edition Germany: Philips.
- 3Jahn (1856) p. 315Jahn — 1856
- 4JournalHaydn and Mozart's 1773 Stay in Vienna: Weeding a Musicological GardenPeter Brown — 1992
- 5BookMozart: A Documentary BiographyOtto Erich Deutsch — Stanford University Press — 1965
- 6BookBiographical Accounts of Joseph HaydnAlbert Christoph Dies — University of Wisconsin Press — 1810
- 7BookHaydn: A Creative Life in MusicKarl Geiringer — University of California Press — 1982
- 8BookBiographical Notes Concerning Joseph HaydnGeorg August Griesinger — University of Wisconsin Press, Breitkopf und Härtel — 1810
- 9BookW. A. MozartOtto Jahn — Breitkopf und Härtel — 1856
- 10BookThe Cambridge Mozart EncyclopediaDavid Wyn Jones — Cambridge University Press — 2006
- 11BookOxford Composer Companions: HaydnDavid Wyn Jones — Oxford University Press — 2009b
- 12BookHaydnRosemary Hughes — Farrar Straus and Giroux — 1970
- 13BookThe New Grove Dictionary of Music and MusiciansJens Peter Larsen — 1980
- 14BookLeben des K. K. Kapellmeisters Wolfgang Gottlieb MozartFranz Niemetschek — Leonard Hyman — 1798
- 15BookThe Classical StyleCharles Rosen — W. W. Norton — 1998
- 16JournalMozart and FreemasonryKatherine Thomson — 1976
- 17JournalThe Bass Part in Haydn's Early String QuartetsJames Webster — 1977
- 18BookThe New Grove Dictionary of Music and MusiciansJames Webster et al. — Grove — 2001
- 19BookThe Cambridge Mozart EncyclopediaHarry White — Cambridge University Press — 2006