Franz Joseph Haydn

In many ways Franz Joseph Haydn, the quintessential composer of the period of eighteenth century Enlightenment, is the father of modern music. The forms that he brought to their first perfection are at the center of all ensuing musical thought:  the symphony, string quartet, and piano sonata. Haydn was warmly known as “Papa” by the orchestra at the Esterhazy Court where he worked for a good deal of his life, but he has become known as Papa Haydn to us all.

Haydn was born in the town of Rohrau on the Austrian-Hungarian border in 1732, the son of a wagon maker. He was raised with the hope that he might become a clergyman. His studies at nearby Hainburg included lessons on wind and string instruments and his musical gifts were quickly evident. Haydn was not a prodigy like Mozart, Schubert, or Mendelssohn, but he had an even, balanced, and highly industrious temperament that served him well and fit comfortably with the era in which he was born.

At the age of eight, Haydn joined the choir of St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna where he excelled until 1749 when his boy soprano voice broke. Until 1758, he lived an impoverished freelance life, meanwhile studying the music of C. P. E. Bach and taking a few composition lessons. Slowly, though, his reputation grew, and, in 1758 he became the music director and composer for Count von Morzin.

In 1761, Haydn entered the service of the Esterhazy family as vice-Kapellmeister. It was an event that would have ramifications for the history of music. Prince Paul Esterhazy was succeeded by Prince Nicholas, the Magnificent, who, in turn, built a new palace second only to Versailles. Nicholas was an ardent music lover and the new palace had a 400 seat theatre for opera. When Kapellmeister Gregorious Werner died, Haydn succeeded him, now fully presiding over a good-sized orchestra of between twenty and twenty-three players while conducting from the keyboard or violin. It became one of the best ensembles in Europe and was the workshop in which Haydn would continually experiment. The majority of his 104 symphonies were composed during this period.

Duties at the court included the business management of the court’s musical life as well as supplying music for the 2 to 4 P.M. weekly Tuesday and Thursday afternoon concerts. Prince Esterhazy played the baryton, a now obsolete cello-like hurdy gurdy and Haydn wrote for him approximately 200 trios with viola and cello as well as numerous Baryton duos. In addition, Haydn authority H. C. Robbins Landon estimates that Haydn conducted 1026 performances of Italian operas alone between 1780 and 1790.

Haydn was confidently aware of his increasing stature in the greater world. Indeed, he was in no way threatened but rather deeply impressed by his only true competition, Mozart, who he considered “the greatest composer the world possesses now.” They met in 1781 when Mozart was twenty-five and the respect and influence was mutual with Mozart dedicating his important set of string quartets (Nos. 14-19) to Haydn.

In 1790, Nicholas died and his successor, Anton, while retaining Haydn, greatly diminished the court’s musical activities. Haydn was free to move to Vienna and later in the year he accepted an offer from violinist and impresario Johann Saloman to go to England. London was Europe’s most active musical center at this time and Haydn stayed for eighteen months while enjoying great public acclaim. Here he began his last set of twelve symphonies and received an honorary degree from Oxford.

The trip being so successful, Haydn returned to London in 1794 staying through August 1795. The now completed group of symphonies became known collectively as the London Symphonies, the last, No. 104 being called the London Symphony. By this time the Esterhazy orchestra had been restored by Nicholas II to mainly accompany church services and Haydn resumed his leadership and composing his series of great masses. This was also the time when he felt Austria should have an equivalent anthem to God Save the King and God Save Emperor Franz was the result. This famous melody can also be heard as the theme of the variations in the Emperor Quartet ( Op. 76, No. 3).

In 1802, Haydn retired from his official duties and spent his last years without complaint, although suffering from rheumatism and various illnesses. As the respected elder of music, he apparently enjoyed receiving visitors and, at this death on May 31, 1809, his last words were, “Children be comforted, I am well.” The Mozart Requiem was played at his funeral.

Franz Joseph Haydn was tremendously inventive and prolific. In addition to the Creation Mass, The Seasons and 104 symphonies, there are 83 string quartets, 52 piano sonatas, and numerous other concertos and chamber pieces. Haydn may or may not have invented the string quartet itself, but he consolidated the nascent tendencies of Rococco music into the modern sonata principle, and this became the vehicle for the most ambitious elevated musical thoughts well into the next century and even into our own.