Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Franz Joseph Haydn: Born: 1732 in Austria
Franz Joseph Haydn: Born: 1732 in Austria
Joseph
Haydn
Born: 1732
in Austria
Many of the composers from the Classical and Romantic periods were either bizarre and
eccentric, misguided, half-insane, disliked by most other people of the time, or had
terribly tragic lives. Haydn is the exception to that rule. He was a hard worker who was
well-liked by others who led a somewhat normal life
Franz Joseph
sang at St.
Stephens for 9
years, but was
eventually kicked
out for two
reasons:
1) His voice broke
2) He cut off the pigtail of
another boy during
choir rehearsal (he
was always pulling
pranks)
Prince Nicholas
This Palace is only the summer home of the Esterhazys. The Prince that hired him, Prince Paul,
died one year after Haydn came aboard, but the Princes brother, Nicolas, became the new
Prince and he enjoyed music even more than Prince Paul. Haydn ended up working for Prince
Nicolas for the next 29 years, writing music for all of the splendid parties that Nicolas held all the
time. When Nicolas died, his son, Anton, was not interested in music, so he disbanded the
orchestra. Prince Anton kept Haydn on as choir director, but there were very few concerts
throughout the year, so Haydn traveled around a lot during this time. When Prince Anton died,
his son, Prince Nicolas II wanted Haydn to come back and rebuild the orchestra as it used to be.
Haydn returned to work for Prince Nicolas II for the remainder of his life.
It was like a college campus. Everything you need is on the grounds somewhere.
Its hard enough putting 2 concerts a year together, and thats without writing the music, recruiting performers
and singers, and fixing all the instruments! Putting on musical events almost everyday must have been rough.
The Esterhazy Estate attracted some of the most important people from
around Europe. There were parties all the time and Haydn had to
compose NEW music to be played at each one. He wrote 84 string
quartets, giving him the name Father of the String Quartet.
Here are
more pictures
of the
Esterhazy
concert hall
taken by Mr.
Tychinski
when an
orchestra he
belongs to
played there
in the
summer of
2004.
(click to see more)
Click to hear what Haydn did to help the musicians (let it play before clicking again)
After a couple lessons, Haydn told Mozarts father that Mozart was the best composer hed ever met.
He became good friends with Mozart and was very upset at Mozarts death at an early age.
Haydn also thought Beethoven was a fantastic composer, but they had difficult moments in their
relationship. He once remarked to Beethoven you give me the impression of being a man who has
several heads, several hearts and several souls.
Prince Anton
Haydn
Mozart
Young Beethoven
Haydn: b. 1732
Mozart: b. 1756
Mozart: d. 1791
Haydn: d. 1809
35
The End