Franz Joseph Haydn

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FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809 ) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791 were the two great figures of the last quarter of the eighteenth century . They were not men of the same generation , but they were contemporaries in the sense that they influenced one another , and there is a kind of likeness about them which makes them belong together as the outstanding representatives of their own particular period . That period known variously

as the "Age of Haydn and Mozart " the "Viennese Period or the "Classical Period " is susceptible to two interpretations depending upon whether the emphasis is placed on its relation to the preceding or to the succeeding period . If the relation to the preceding period is to be stressed , the age of Haydn and Mozart should properly be called the "Classical Period " because it marks the culmination of the principles of monophonic style and pure independent musical form , the growth of which had marked the period of Gluck , Stamitz , and C .

. E Bach . If , on the other hand , its relation to the succeeding period is to be emphasized , it must be looked upon as a transitional period leading to , or forming the beginning of , the "Viennese Period " of Beethoven . In the firest case the formal and stylistic perfection of Mozart , and to a less extent of Haydn , is considered as a culmination , as an end in itself in the second case that perfection is considered as a necessary but secondary step in an evolutionary chain leading to the achievement of a new expressive medium (Sieghard Brandenburg , 1998

Franz Joseph Haydn was born in Rohrau , lower Austria , on March 31 , 1732 As a child he went to live in the house of a relative , Johann Matthias Frankh , who gave him a thorough musical training . Between 1740 and 1748 Haydn was a chorister at St . Stephen 's Cathedral in Vienna . During that period he earned his living by teaching , playing the harpsichord , and doing hack work , but all the while immersing himself deeply into serious music study . In 1755 he was engaged by Karl Joseph von F 'rnberg as conductor of his orchestra , for which he wrote various nocturnes and divertimentos . It was during this period that he also created his first string quartets . While employed at the palace of Count Morzin , between 1758 and 1760 , he wrote his first symphonies . In 1760 he married Maria Anna Keller , a marriage that proved unhappy from the beginning and soon gave way to a permanent separation . In 1761 , Haydn became second Kapellmeister for Prince Paul Anton Esterhbzy at his estate in Eisenstadt . When the Esterhbzys built a new palace at Esterhbz , Haydn assumed the status of full Kapellmeister (1766 ) and held this post for almost a quarter of a century . For the many concert and opera performances at Esterhbz , Haydn produced a vast repertory of compositions in virtually every field and form , arriving at full...