Haydn, (Franz) Joseph (1732–1809)

The Austrian composer Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) was Kapellmeister at Schloss Esterházy, the grand palace of the Esterházy family in Hungary. Nicolas Esterházy, pictured here in a portrait by an anonymous artist, was his patron from 1761 until 1790.

Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn at the clavichord, as painted by Guttenbrunn. Haydn's studiously consistent arrangement of four movements within all his symphonies standardized the symphonic form.

Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn, who strongly influenced the development of the classical style of music in the 18th century. The death of his patron Prince Esterhazy in 1790 allowed him to accept an invitation to visit London where he was inspired to compose his London Symphonies, which included the popular Surprise and London symphonies (numbers 94 and 104 respectively).

Austrian composer. He was instrumental in establishing and perfecting the classical sonata form, and wrote numerous chamber and orchestral works (he produced more than a hundred symphonies). He also composed choral music, including the oratorios The Creation (1798) and The Seasons (1801). He was the first great master of the string quartet, and was a teacher of Mozart and Beethoven.

Haydn was employed by the Hungarian Esterházy family from 1761, being responsible for all the musical entertainment at their palace. His work also includes operas, church music, and songs, and the ‘Emperor's Hymn’, adopted as the Austrian, and later the German, national anthem.

Born in Lower Austria, the son of a wheelwright, Haydn went at the age of eight as a chorister to St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna under Georg Reutter (junior). On leaving the choir school in about 1749 he lived as a freelance, playing violin and organ, and teaching. He was for a time pupil-manservant to the Italian composer Nicola Porpora in Vienna, but in composition he was largely self-taught, studying the works of C P E Bach, Johann Fux's Gradus ad Parnassum, and others. His earliest compositions date from these years, especially church music, including two Masses. His first string quartets were written about 1755 for Baron Fürnberg, through whom he obtained the post of music director to Count Morzin in 1759. The next year he entered into what proved to be an unfortunate marriage, and in 1761 took employment with the Esterházy family. In 1766 he became Kapellmeister (music director), a post he held for the rest of his life.

At Eszterháza, the magnificent palace in the Hungarian marshes, completed in 1766, Haydn wrote the majority of his instrumental music and operas. At first he wrote symphonies and instrumental pieces for the prince, notably more than a hundred trios for the baryton over ten years. Beginning with symphony no. 22 (The Philosopher) in 1764 and continuing through the 1760s to no. 49 (La passione), Haydn gained his maturity as a composer, showing inventiveness in each work. The first truly mature string quartets, the set of six Op. 20 (1772), continue this developing mastery and were followed by the six quartets Op. 33 (1781). These include The Joke and The Bird, and were claimed to be written ‘in a quite new and special manner’. In the set of Op. 50 (1787), Haydn repays the debt which Mozart had acknowledged when dedicating his own quartets to the older composer.

Though Haydn was isolated in Eszterháza, his fame spread. His works were published abroad, and he received invitations to travel, which his duties obliged him to refuse. In 1786 he was commissioned to compose six symphonies for the Concert de la Loge Olympique in Paris; these works are full of splendid invention and brilliant orchestral effects, declaring for the first time Haydn's genius to the world at large.

On the death of Prince Nikolaus in 1790 the Esterházy musicians were disbanded. Haydn, though retaining his title and salary, was free to accept an invitation from the violinist and impresario J P Salomon to go to England. His first visit to London, in 1791–92, for which he composed an opera (not produced) and six symphonies, was a great success, and was followed by another in 1794–95, for which a further six symphonies were written. The 12 London symphonies confirmed his reputation as the most original composer of the genre during his time. The wit, melodic inventiveness, and densely woven developments of these works were matched in the great sets of string quartets written in 1791–97 (Op. 64, Op. 71, Op. 74, and Op. 76).

In 1792 he received an honorary doctorate from Oxford University. On the accession of Prince Nikolaus II in 1795 the Esterházy music establishment was in part revived; but Haydn's duties were light, chiefly involving the composition of a Mass each year for the princess's name day, and giving rise to the six great Masses of 1796–1802. Inspired by the works of Handel he had heard in London, he composed The Creation and The Seasons. From 1803 he composed little, living in retirement in Vienna.

In spite of huge advances made in the knowledge and performance of Haydn's music in recent years, the sheer range and quantity of his output is intimidating, and some of his works are still unpublished.

Works Opera 20 works for the stage, of which seven are lost (all first performances at Eszterháza, unless otherwise stated): Acide, festa teatrale (Eisenstadt, 1763), La cantarina, intermezzo (Eisenstadt, 1766), Lo speziale, dramma giocosa (1768), Le pescatrici, dramma giocosa (1770), L'infedeltà delusa, burletta (1773), L'incontro improvviso, dramma giocosa (1775), Il mondo della luna, dramma giocosa (1777), La vera costanza, dramma giocosa (1779), L'isola disabitata, azione teatrale (1779), La fedeltà premiata, dramma pastorale giocosa (1781), Orlando Paladino, dramma eroicomico (1782), Armida, dramma eroico (1784), L'anima del filosofo (now known by its alternative title of Orfeo ed Euridice, written for London 1791 but not performed; first known production Florence, 10 June 1951, with Callas and Christoff); marionette operas Philemon und Baucis (1773), Hexen-Schabbas (1773, lost), Dido (1776, lost), Die Feuerbrunst (1776), Die Bestrafte Rachbegierde (1779).

Masses 14: Missa ‘Rorate coeli desuper’ (1748), Missa brevis in F (1749), Missa Cellensis (Cäcelienmesse) in C (1766), Missa in honorem BVM (Grosse Orgelmesse) in E♭ (1771), Missa Sancti Nicolai in G (1772), Missa brevis (Kleine Orgelmesse) in B♭ (1778), Missa Cellensis (Mariazeller Messe) (1782), Missa Sancti Bernardi (Heiligmesse) in B♭ (1796), Missa in tempore belli (Paukenmesse) in C (Vienna, 1796), Mass in D minor (Nelson Mass) (Eisenstadt, 1798), Mass in B♭ (Theresienmesse) (1799), Mass in B♭, (Schöpfungsmesse) (Eisenstadt, 1801), Mass in B♭ (Harmoniemesse) (Eisenstadt, 1802). A fragment of the lost Mass Sunt bona mixta malis (about 1769) was discovered in Ireland in 1983.

Cantatas and oratorios Stabat Mater (1767), Applausus (Zwettl, 17 April 1768), Il ritorno di Tobia (Vienna, 1775), Die Sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuze/Seven Last Words (Vienna, 1796), Die Schöpfung/The Creation), (Vienna, 1798), Die Jahreszeiten/The Seasons (Vienna, 1801). Also Te Deum in C (1800).

Symphonies 104: nos. 1–5 (1758–60); nos. 6–8, Le Matin, Le Midi, Le Soir (1761); nos. 9–21 (about 1762); no. 22 in E♭, The Philosopher (1764); nos. 23–25 (1764); no. 26 in D minor, Lamentatione (1770); nos. 27–29 (1765); no. 30 in C, Alleluja (1765); no. 31 in D, Hornsignal (1765); nos. 32–42 (about 1768), no. 43 in E♭, Mercury (1772); no. 44 in E minor, Trauersinfonie (1772); no. 45 in F♯ minor, Farewell (1772); no. 46 in B and no. 47 in G (1772); no. 48 in C, Maria Theresa, and no. 49 in F minor, La passione (about 1768); nos. 50–52 (1773); no. 53 in D, The Imperial (1778); nos. 54–59 (1774); no. 60 in C, Il distratto (1774); nos. 61–72 (about 1779); no. 73 in D, La Chasse (1782); nos. 74–81 (1781–84); nos. 82–87 Paris Symphonies; no. 82 in C, The Bear, no. 83 in G minor, The Hen, no. 84 in E♭, no. 85 in B♭, La Reine, no. 86 in D, no. 87 in A (1785–86); no. 88 in G, no. 89 in F, no. 90 in C, no. 91 in E♭ (1787–88); no. 92 in G, The Oxford (1789); nos. 93–104 London Symphonies, no. 93 in D, no. 94 in G, The Surprise, no. 95 in C minor, no. 96 in D, The Miracle, no. 97 in C, no. 98 in B♭, no. 99 in E♭, no. 100 in G, The Military, no. 101 in D, The Clock, no. 102 in B♭, no. 103 in E♭, The Drumroll, no. 104 in D, The London (1791–95).

Concertos four for violin, in C, D, A, and G (1769–71); two for cello in C and D (1761 and 1783); organ concerto in C (1756); concerto for violin and harpsichord (1766); harpsichord concertos in F, G, and D (1771–84); for trumpet in E♭ (1796); Sinfonia concertante in B♭ for oboe, violin, cello, and bassoon (1792); five concertos for lire organizzate (about 1786); five concertos for oboe, flute, horn, and bassoon are either lost or spurious.

String quartets The usually given number of 83 is incorrect; from this must be subtracted the set of six Op. 3, now known to be by Romanus Hoffstetter, and the arrangement of The Seven Last Words, hitherto counted as seven separate quartets. Op. 1 nos. 1–6 (about 1757); Op. 2 nos. 1, 2, 4, and 6 (about 1762); Op. 9 nos. 1–6 (about 1771); Op. 17 nos. 1–6 (about 1772), Op. 20, nos. 1–6, Sun Quartets in E♭, C, G minor, D, F minor, A (1772); Op. 33 nos. 1–6, Russian Quartets in B minor, E♭ (The Joke), C (The Bird), B♭, G, D (1781); Op. 42 in D minor (1785); Op. 50 nos. 1–6 in B♭, C, E♭, F♯ minor, F, and D (The Frog) (1787); Op. 54 nos. 1–3 in G, C, and E (1788); Op. 55 nos. 1–3 in A, F minor, and B♭ (1790); Op. 64 nos. 1–6 in C, B minor, B♭, G, D (The Lark), and E♭ (1791); Op. 71 nos. 1–3 in B♭, D, and E♭ (1795); Op. 74 nos. 1–3 in C, F, and G minor (The Rider) (1796); Op. 76 nos. 1–6 in G, D minor (The Fifths), C (The Emperor), B♭ (The Sunrise), D, E♭ (1797); Op. 77 nos. 1 and 2 in G and F (1802); Op. 103 in D minor (1803).

Other instrumental 32 piano trios, 126 baryton trios and other chamber music; 60 piano sonatas (1760–94), five sets of variations for piano including F minor (1793); solo songs, part songs, arrangements of Scottish and Welsh folk songs. Twelve canzonettas to English words for solo voice and piano including ‘My Mother Bids Me Bind My Hair’, ‘Sailor's Song’, and ‘She Never Told Her Love’ (1794–95); solo cantatas Arianna a Náxos (1789) and Berenice che fai (1795).