Haydn's productivity is matched by his inexhaustible originality. His 62 piano sonatas and 43 piano trios document a growth from the easy elegance suitable for the home music making of amateurs to the public virtuosity of his late works. The 107 symphonies and 68 string quartets that span his career are proof of his ever-fresh approach to thematic materials and form, as well as of his mastery of instrumentation. In other categories, however, his works circulated widely, and his influence was profound. Haydn freely admitted the superiority of the operas of his young friend Wolfgang Mozart. Most of Haydn's 19 operas and marionette operettas were written to accommodate the talents of the Esterháza company as well as the tastes of his prince. Many of his works were unknown beyond the walls of Esterháza, most notably the 125 trios and other assorted pieces featuring the baryton, a hybrid string instrument played by Prince Miklós. Haydn was prolific in nearly all genres, vocal and instrumental, sacred and secular. He died in Vienna, on May 31, 1809, a famous and wealthy man. From this period also comes his Emperor's Hymn (1797), which later became the Austrian national anthem. In his late years in Vienna, Haydn turned to writing masses and composed his great oratorios, The Creation (1798) and The Seasons (1801). Known as the "Salomon" or "London" symphonies, they include several of his most popular works: "Surprise" (#94), "Military" (#100), "Clock" (#101), "Drum Roll" (#103), and "London" (#104). Haydn's two trips to England for these concerts, in 1791-95, were the occasion of the huge success of his last symphonies. The enterprising British violinist and impresario Johann Peter Salomon lost no time in engaging the composer for his concert series in London. Although Haydn retained his title of Kapellmeister, he was at last free to travel beyond the environs of Vienna. As a result, much of Haydn's work in the 1780s reached beyond the guests at Esterháza to a far wider audience, and his fame spread accordingly.Īfter the death of Prince Miklós in 1790, his son, Prince Antál, greatly reduced the Esterházy musical establishment. One remarkable aspect of his contract after 1779 was the freedom to sell his music to publishers and to accept commissions. Although he frequently regretted the burdens of his job and the isolation of Esterháza, Haydn's position was enviable by 18 th-century standards. In addition to the symphonies, operas, marionette operettas, masses, chamber pieces, and dance music that Haydn was expected to compose for the prince's entertainment, he was required to rehearse and conduct performances of his own and others' works, coach singers, maintain the instrument collection and music library, perform as organist, violist, and violinist when needed, and settle disputes among the musicians in his charge. At Esterháza, his vast summer estate, Prince Miklós could boast a musical establishment second to none, the management of which made immense demands on its director. The second of these, Pal Antál's brother, Prince Miklós Jozsef Esterházy, was an ardent, cultivated music lover. Haydn served under the patronage of three successive princes of the Esterházy family. The turning point in Haydn's fortunes came in 1761, when he was appointed assistant music director to Prince Pal Antál Esterházy he became full director, or Kapellmeister, in 1762. Haydn's marriage in 1760 to Maria Anna Keller proved to be unhappy as well as childless. A more substantial position followed in 1759, when he was hired as music director by Count Ferdinand Maximilian von Morzin. In 1755 Haydn was engaged briefly by Baron Karl Josef von Furnberg, for whom he apparently composed his first string quartets. He studied on his own the standard textbooks on counterpoint and took occasional lessons from the noted Italian singing master and composer Nicola Porpora. Dismissed from the choir at the age of 17, he spent the next several years as a struggling free-lance musician. When he was eight years old he was accepted into the choir school of Saint Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, where he received his only formal education. Of humble origins, Franz Joseph Haydn (MaMay 31, 1809) was born in the village of Rohrau, near Vienna.
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