Joseph Haydn
In the village of Rohrau, Austria, a child named Joseph Haydn was born on the 31st of March 1732. His father Mathias worked as a wheelwright and served as the marketplace supervisor for the town. His mother Maria had previously been a cook in the palace of Count Harrach. Neither parent could read music, yet they sang together frequently with their neighbors. The family recognized that young Joseph possessed a rare musical gift. They knew he would have no chance to receive serious training if he stayed in Rohrau. Around the time Haydn turned six, his parents accepted a proposal from Johann Matthias Frankh. Frankh was the schoolmaster and choirmaster in nearby Hainburg who offered to apprentice the boy. Haydn left home immediately and never lived with his parents again. Life in the Frankh household proved difficult for the six-year-old. He remembered being frequently hungry and humiliated by the filthy state of his clothing. Despite these hardships, he quickly learned to play both harpsichord and violin. He also began singing treble parts in the church choir.
Haydn spent nearly thirty years working as music director for the Esterházy family at their palace of Eszterháza. This remote location stood in rural Hungary far from Vienna. Prince Paul Anton first employed him in 1761 as Vice-Kapellmeister. When Gregor Werner died in 1766, Haydn became full Kapellmeister. He wore livery and followed the family between palaces like Schloss Esterházy in Eisenstadt. His duties included composing, running the orchestra, playing chamber music, and mounting operatic productions. The isolation forced him to become original according to his own words. Prince Nikolaus developed an interest in the baryton around 1765. Haydn produced about 200 works for this uncommon instrument over the next decade. The most notable pieces were the 126 baryton trios. In 1779 his contract changed to allow him to publish compositions elsewhere. This shift led to a flood of new string quartets and symphonies. By 1790 he was Europe's leading composer while living in a remote Hungarian countryside. The remoteness caused feelings of loneliness that he expressed in letters to Maria Anna von Genzinger.
Prince Nikolaus died in 1790 allowing Haydn to travel freely. He accepted a lucrative offer from Johann Peter Salomon to visit England. Haydn departed Vienna on the 15th of December 1790 arriving in Calais. He crossed the English Channel on New Year's Day of 1791. It marked the first time the fifty-eight-year-old composer had seen the sea. Audiences flocked to his concerts in London during two successful visits. Charles Burney reviewed the first concert noting how the sight of Haydn presiding at the piano electrified the audience. He made large profits becoming financially secure for the first time. Musically these trips generated some of his best-known work including the Surprise Symphony and the Military Symphony. His first project involved an opera called L'anima del filosofo but licensing issues prevented its performance. Only two new symphonies could be premiered in the spring concert series of 1791. A rival orchestra recruited Ignaz Pleyel as a visiting composer to compete with Haydn. The two men refused to play along with the rivalry and dined together instead. In 1794 he returned for a second journey that included premieres of symphonies numbered 99, 100, and 101.
Haydn entered a stylistic period known as Sturm und Drang in the late 1760s. This term described works that were longer more passionate and more daring than before. Famous compositions from this era include the Trauer Symphony No. 44 and the Farewell Symphony No. 45. These pieces often appeared in minor keys and displayed intense expressiveness. Following this climax Haydn returned to a lighter entertaining style around 1773. Symphonies began to include trumpets and timpani while operas became the focus of court life. An important change occurred in 1781 when he published six Opus 33 String Quartets. He announced they were written in a new and completely special way. Charles Rosen argued these quartets marked the advent of the Classical style in full flower. They featured fluid phrasing where each motif emerged without interruption from the previous one. In the 1790s stimulated by his England journeys Haydn developed what Rosen called his popular style. This method created music with great appeal while retaining rigorous musical structure. Folk material frequently appeared at endings of sonata expositions or opening themes of finales. The twelve London symphonies and late quartets exemplify this mature approach.
Haydn maintained close relationships with several contemporaries throughout his career. He met Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart sometime around 1784 in Vienna. The two composers occasionally played string quartets together for small gatherings attended by Giovanni Paisiello. Haydn praised Mozart's work unstintingly to others while Mozart returned the esteem in his Haydn quartets. Both men joined the same Masonic lodge named Zur wahren Eintracht in 1785. Ludwig van Beethoven became Haydn's pupil after meeting him in Bonn during 1790. Haydn took Beethoven to Eisenstadt for the summer teaching him counterpoint. Ignaz Pleyel served as a rival visiting composer recruited by a competing orchestra in London. Despite professional competition the two composers dined together and put each other's symphonies on concert programs. Maria Anna von Genzinger began a close platonic relationship with the composer in 1793. Her premature death in 1793 was a blow to Haydn who wrote to her frequently from London.
By the end of 1803 Haydn's condition declined to the point that he could no longer compose. He suffered from weakness dizziness inability to concentrate and painfully swollen legs. His biographer Albert Christoph Dies reported Haydn saying in 1806 about his struggle. The Esterházy family kept him on as Kapellmeister to the very end appointing Johann Michael Fuchs as Vice-Kapellmeister in 1802. Haydn made largely futile efforts at composition attempting to revise a Missa brevis from his teenage years. A final triumph occurred on the 27th of March 1808 when a performance of The Creation was organized in his honor. The frail composer was brought into the hall on an armchair greeted by Beethoven and Salieri. He died peacefully in his own home at 12:40 a.m. on the 31st of May 1809 aged seventy-seven. In May 1809 French troops under Napoleon bombarded Vienna causing four case shots to fall near his house. Haydn called out to his frightened people telling them not to be afraid where Haydn is no harm can reach you. Fourteen months later he collapsed after playing his Emperor Hymn three times with unusual gusto.
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Common questions
When and where was Joseph Haydn born?
Joseph Haydn was born on the 31st of March 1732 in the village of Rohrau, Austria. His father Mathias worked as a wheelwright while his mother Maria had previously been a cook in the palace of Count Harrach.
How long did Joseph Haydn work for the Esterházy family?
Joseph Haydn spent nearly thirty years working as music director for the Esterházy family at their palace of Eszterháza. He first served as Vice-Kapellmeister starting in 1761 before becoming full Kapellmeister after Gregor Werner died in 1766.
What happened during Joseph Haydn's visits to England?
Joseph Haydn visited London twice between 1791 and 1794 where he achieved great financial success and musical fame. These trips generated some of his best-known work including the Surprise Symphony and the Military Symphony while he traveled with Johann Peter Salomon.
Which composers were close friends or pupils of Joseph Haydn?
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart became a close friend who occasionally played string quartets with Joseph Haydn in Vienna around 1784. Ludwig van Beethoven studied counterpoint under Joseph Haydn after meeting him in Bonn during 1790.
When did Joseph Haydn die and what caused his death?
Joseph Haydn died peacefully on the 31st of May 1809 aged seventy-seven in his own home. His decline began by 1803 when he could no longer compose due to weakness dizziness inability to concentrate and painfully swollen legs.