Joseph Haydn

Overview

Biography

Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period, known as the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" for his decisive role in establishing these forms as the central vehicles of classical instrumental music. Born in Rohrau, Lower Austria, the son of a wheelwright, he was a chorister at St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna as a boy before embarking on a career that would make him the most celebrated living composer in Europe.

For nearly thirty years (1761–1790), Haydn served as Kapellmeister at the Esterházy estate — first at Eisenstadt, then at the grand palace of Eszterháza in Hungary — for the wealthy Esterházy princes, who maintained a permanent orchestra, opera house, and puppet theatre. This long, settled employment gave Haydn an unparalleled laboratory for musical experimentation: he could try out ideas immediately with his own orchestra, observe the results, and refine his technique. His 104 numbered symphonies, composed over several decades, trace the evolution from elegant entertainment to the profound late works — the twelve "London" symphonies, composed for Haydn's triumphant visits to England in 1791–92 and 1794–95, are among the greatest orchestral works of the eighteenth century.

His 68 string quartets, above all the six quartets of Op. 76 (1797–1799), established the conversation between four equal voices as the quintessential chamber music form. His two late oratorios — The Creation (1798) and The Seasons (1801) — were enormously popular in his lifetime and remain among the most performed choral works of the period. Haydn was a friend and mentor to the young Mozart, and taught the young Beethoven. Serene, good-humoured, and deeply religious, he represents in many ways the ideal of the Classical style: elegant, balanced, witty, and humane.