BIOGRAPHY

*PESONAL BACKGROUND
Joseph Haydn, in full Franz Joseph Haydn, (born March 31, 1732, Rohrau,
Austria—died May 31, 1809, Vienna), Austrian composer who was one of the
most important figures in the development of the Classical style in music
during the 18th century. He helped establish the forms and styles for the
string quartet and the symphony.
*WORKS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
Haydn was an extremely prolific composer. His total output includes 108
symphonies, one of which (number 106) is lost and one of which (number
105) is actually a symphonie concertante; 68 string quartets; 32 divertimenti
for small orchestra; 126 trios for baryton, viola, and cello; 29 trios for piano,
violin, and cello; 21 trios for two violins and cello; 47 piano sonatas; about 20
operas; 14 masses; 6 oratorios; and 2 cello concerti. Haydn’s achievement
was long confused by the fact that an enormous number of works were
wrongly attributed to him, and it was not until the 1950s that musicological
research was able to pare this staggering amount of spurious attributions
from Haydn’s recognized output. Work on a definitive catalog of his
compositions continued into the late 20th century.

In his youth and early career, Haydn experimented with the prevailing
stylistic trends. He was familiar with the pompous and complex idiom of the
preceding Baroque period; he then adopted the light, gay, and elegant
musical style that was popular at the time in Austria; and he was
subsequently influenced by the strongly emotional and expressive style
preferred by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and other north German composers.
He eventually achieved his own distinctive musical identity by using some
elements from all three of these styles simultaneously.
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN
 BIOGRAPHY
*PERSONAL BACKROUND

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in full Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,

baptized as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, (born January
27, 1756, Salzburg, archbishopric of Salzburg [Austria]—died December 5, 1791,
Vienna), Austrian composer, widely recognized as one of the greatest composers in
the history of Western music. With Haydn and Beethoven he brought to its height
the achievement of the Viennese Classical school. Unlike any other composer in
musical history, he wrote in all the musical genres of his day and excelled in every
one. His taste, his command of form, and his range of expression have made him
seem the most universal of all composers; yet, it may also be said that his music was
written to accommodate the specific tastes of particular audiences.

*WORKS
Mozart most commonly called himself Wolfgang Amadé or Wolfgang Gottlieb. His
father, Leopold, came from a family of good standing (from which he was
estranged), which included architects and bookbinders. Leopold was the author of a
famous violin-playing manual, which was published in the very year of Mozart’s
birth. His mother, Anna Maria Pertl, was born of a middle-class family active in local
administration. Mozart and his sister Maria Anna (“Nannerl”) were the only two of
their seven children to survive.
 BIOGRAPHY
*PERSONAL BACKGROUND
Ludwig van Beethoven, (baptized December 17, 1770, Bonn,
archbishopric of Cologne [Germany]—died March 26, 1827,
Vienna, Austria), German composer, the predominant musical
figure in the transitional period between the Classical and
Romantic eras.

*WORKS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Beethoven’s greatest achievement was to raise instrumental
music, hitherto considered inferior to vocal, to the highest plane
of art. During the 18th century, music, being fundamentally
nonimitative, was ranked below literature and painting. Its highest
manifestations were held to be those in which it served a text—
that is, cantata, opera, and oratorio—the sonata and the suite
being relegated to a lower sphere. A number of factors combined
to bring about a gradual change of outlook: the instrumental
prowess of the Mannheim Orchestra, which made possible the
development of the symphony; the reaction on the part of writers
against pure rationalism in favour of feeling; and the works of
Haydn and Mozart. But, above all, it was the example of
Beethoven that made possible the late-Romantic dictum of the
English essayist and critic Walter Pater: “All arts aspire to the
condition of music.”