- Biography
- The Cello Concerto in C Major
- The Cello Concerto in D Major
- String Quartet (‘The Razor’)
- Symphony No. 88
- The Lark
- Surprise Symphony
- Clock Symphony
- Military Symphony
- Trumpet Concerto
- Emperor Quartet
- The Creation
- The Seasons
Biography
Unlike Mozart, Haydn did not come from a musical background.
He was taught to read music by a cousin and joined the choir of St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, from which he was dismissed at the age of sixteen.
He had a difficult start in life and, at the beginning of his career, certainly fitted the image of the hard-at-work composer, starving in a garret and struggling to make ends meet.
He managed to obtain one or two lessons in singing and composition from Nicola Porpora, a relatively famous Italian composer, developed his technique and started writing small-scale works in the form of chamber music, mainly string quartets.
Haydn established a good reputation fairly quickly and landed a job as the director of music to Count Morzin.
The money was poor, but at least it was a secure start for the young composer.
Shortly after getting married Haydn was made redundant, but fate was to play a hand when he was offered a job at the court of Prince Esterházy, where he stayed until 1790 and wrote much of his finest music.
He eventually ended up with the prestigious job of Kapellmeister to the Esterházys, who looked after Haydn very well.
The musicians there were thought to be the best in the country at the time, and consequently he was inspired to write great music for the orchestra, the choir and small groups of instrumentalists playing chamber music and providing harmoniemusik (background music) for state functions and banquets.
Haydn was very loyal to his employer, possibly to the detriment of his career, in that he turned down many opportunities to travel the world.
However, after his period of employment with the Esterházys ended, he went to London at the invitation of the famous violinist-impresario Salomon and this was a great success.
Haydn became friendly with the royal family, his lifestyle was lavish and he had a most comfortable existence – unlike Mozart! This disparity is most clearly reflected when comparing the music of the two composers.
Haydn’s is generally less emotionally charged and often has a happier quality to it, whereas with Mozart there’s often an inner sadness and poignancy showing through.
Haydn was writing at the time when Mozart was at his best, and the two held each other in high regard, occasionally even performing together.
In fact there is a famous story of a conversation that Haydn had with Mozart’s father during which Haydn acclaimed Mozart as being the ‘greatest composer I know, personally or by reputation’.
Haydn’s music played a significant role in the long-term development of classical music, particularly in the fields of the symphony, the oratorio and the string quartet.
He wrote an astonishing 104 symphonies, 80 string quartets and numerous oratorios, including the celebrated Creation and The Seasons.
In addition there are piano, violin, cello and wind instrument concertos, instrumental works, piano sonatas, masses and a whole host of small-scale pieces for odd combinations of instruments.
The Cello Concerto in C Major
1763, Concerti, Orchestral
Composed in the earliest days of Haydn’s associations with the Eszterházy family, this Cello Concerto in C Major would have been performed with a small orchestra consisting of possibly no more than fifteen members.
The Cello Concerto in D Major
1763, Concerti, Orchestral
Composed in the earliest days of Haydn’s associations with the Eszterházy family, this Cello Concerto in D Major would have been performed with a small orchestra consisting of possibly no more than fifteen members.
String Quartet (‘The Razor’)
String Quartet (‘The Razor’), Op. 55: 1st Movement
1787, Chamber Music
Of all Haydn’s chamber music, the medium he best perfected was most definitely the string quartet, and he is effectively credited with having invented the form. With the emphasis on the fact that chamber music should be fun to play (after all, Haydn used to sit with friends – including Mozart – and play quartets for hours!), Haydn’s quartets are delightful yet civilised.
‘The Razor’ is typical of the man’s style, whilst the ‘Emperor’ is certainly one of his most charming quartets.
Symphony No. 88
Symphony No. 88 in G Major
1787, Symphonies, Orchestral
Haydn wrote his eighty-eighth symphony for a violinist called Johann Peter Tost, who was the leader of the second violins in Haydn’s own orchestra in Esterhazá.
It is a grand exercise in the use of as many musical devices that the composer was aware of: a particular stroke of genius is the way in which the trumpets and drums are silent in the first movement so as to create a huge impact on their entrance in the Largo of the second.
The Lark
String Quartet Op. 64, No. 5 (‘The Lark’)
1790, Chamber Music
Even though Haydn wrote over a hundred symphonies, his best medium was without doubt the string quartet; indeed, ‘The Lark’ is one of his most famous. Haydn always believed that chamber music should be, first and foremost, fun to play. This is true of this work, being a lively piece that shows his mature style at full stretch.
Surprise Symphony
Symphony No. 94 in G Major (‘The Surprise’)
1792, Symphonies, Orchestral
This particular symphony is more commonly referred to as ‘The Surprise’ symphony on account of the story that Haydn, fully aware that a long concert could send parts of the audience to sleep, threw in a loud chord during the second movement to wake up any dozers. Today, however, listeners would probably not notice the ‘surprise’, as it is quite tame compared with what occurs in more recent music, yet at the time it was considered to be rather daring and even ‘wild’.
Clock Symphony
Symphony No. 101 in D Major (‘The Clock’)
1794, Symphonies, Orchestral
When Haydn wrote the ‘The Clock’, he was sixty-two years old and living in London. He had already written a hundred symphonies, yet he still managed to surprise and delight his audiences without actually repeating himself musically. After its first performance, on 3 March 1794, the London Morning Chronicle wrote:
’ . . . a grand Overture by HAYDN; the inexhaustible, the wonderful, the sublime HAYDN!
The first two movements were encored and the character that pervaded the whole composition was heartfelt joy. Nothing can be more original than the subject of the first movement; and having found a happy subject, no man knows like HAYDN how to produce incessant variety without once departing from it. . . . we never heard a more charming effect than was produced by the trio to the minuet. It was HAYDN; what can we, what need we say more?’
Set in the traditional four movements, it is the Andante (third movement), with its familiar tick-tock rhythm, that earned the 101st Symphony its nickname ‘The Clock’. As a matter of interest, in Vienna in 1793 Haydn wrote twelve pieces for an elaborate musical clock owned by his patron Prince Eszterházy, of which one is incredibly similar to the Minuet of the Symphony that so enchanted the original London audience.
Military Symphony
Symphony No. 100 in G Major (‘Military’): Adagio
1794, Symphonies, Orchestral
When this symphony was first performed in 1794, the audiences found it brilliant yet also horrifying, as it was designed to sum up all the terrors of war – specifically the Napoleonic Wars, which had just begun.
Subtitled the ‘Military’, it has four movements that are both stirring and inspiring.
Trumpet Concerto
Trumpet Concerto in E Flat Major
1796, Concerti, Orchestral
Haydn’s last and finest concerto was written as an experiment for a trumpet-playing friend of his in Vienna. The type of trumpet used for the first performance is, however, no longer in existence, for the ‘new’ trumpet of the time had keys rather than valves, and could be likened, in some ways, to a saxophone.
The concerto is still performed today to great acclaim.
Emperor Quartet
String Quartet No. 77 in C Major (‘Emperor’): 1st Movement
1799, Chamber Music
Of all Haydn’s chamber music, the medium he best perfected was most definitely the string quartet, and he is effectively credited with having invented the form. With the emphasis on the fact that chamber music should be fun to play (after all, Haydn used to sit with friends – including Mozart – and play quartets for hours!), Haydn’s quartets are delightful yet civilised.
The ‘Emperor’ is certainly one of his most delightful while ‘The Razor’ is typical of the man’s style.
The Creation
1801, Choral
Haydn was never truly comfortable writing music for voices rather than instruments, and this has resulted in his choral work being witty, neat and ordered, rather than wild, reckless and passionate. The Creation is a good example of this, where the opening chorus ‘The Heavens are Telling the Glory of God’ seems to lack a cohesion of voices yet has a delightful Baroque/Classical splendour.
The Seasons
1801, Choral
Along with The Creation, The Seasons is seen as the greatest of Haydn’s choral works and was once described as ‘ . . . a work effervescent with the optimism of old age.’