Joseph Haydn is the pioneer of the Viennese classic and shaped the musical work of Mozart and Beethoven.
At the end of his day he liked to sit at the piano in the morning, played the hymn that he had written for Emperor Franz II (I.), and his gray parrot whistled. Joseph Haydn composed in old age, but not that much anymore. When he sent the last quartet to his publisher in 1806, he added a business card at the status: "All my strength, old and weak is." Almost as an excuse that the quartet had only two sentences. A little melancholic, but still original and charming: This is how you can imagine old Joseph Haydn after renewing the musical style and shaped a whole generation of composers. A considerable career, especially for growing up in modest conditions in Lower Austria. His life path was very bumpy at first.
Rohrau, Lower Austria. Haydn is born into a simple family as the second of 12 children. His father, a servant of Count Harrach, is a farmer and market funnel. He repairs carriages and also makes music. It quickly strikes: the boy sings well. So the family sends him to Uncle Frank in Vienna at the age of 6. There he can play the timpani at the Easter procession. There a friend of the uncle discovers his talent and conveys him in a good school. The uncle trains him musically and he becomes a choir boy in St. Stephen's Cathedral. Until the voice break causes problems and he flies out of the choir after a prank in which he cuts off the wig braid of a school colleague.
Hard years in Vienna - and employment with the Esterházy family
This is followed by deprivation -rich years, a modest existence in the Michaelerhaus's attic. However, there are people from whom he benefits from: the Habsburg court poet and opera librettist Pietro Metastasio, whose servant and student he becomes, and the Princess Esterházy, whose sons Haydn will soon be under Kapellmeister - by 30 years. Now he is secured and can try a lot musically. Now he has an orchestra.
If you will, chance Haydn helped a little on the jumps, even with the invention of the string quartet. To date, only three people had been composed. A count asked him to write a composition for four people. He did it so clever, for two violins, a viola and a cello, with a new structure - consisting of structure, exposure, implementation and repreise - that everyone else wanted to look at him and know how he had managed it. Now it went steeply uphill.
Lessons for Mozart and Beethoven
Haydn is a sought -after man. He teaches Beethoven, also meets the Mozart, which is 24 years younger - a talent for him that only occurs every 100 years: "He is a god in music!" The two exchange ideas, appreciate and make music together. It is not for nothing that the Haydn quartets that composed Mozart and devoted to his friend and acquaintance.
Like the other five great composers of the Viennese classical music, Haydn studies his predecessors from the Baroque period, Johann Sebastian Bach or Georg Friedrich Handel, but he begins to write music for the people. He opens the music. In addition, a market for freelance composers is created during this time, which Haydn knows how to use well. With the help of the newly created music publishers, it is possible for him to compose "on his own account" and sell his works to international clients. In addition to his "full setting", this goes out at the Esterházys. But only with a lot of discipline.
Two successful trips to London
When Fürst Esterházy releases him after 30 years, he is not wrong. Finally free! In 1790 the composer and concert day Johann Peter Salomon offered him 5,000 guilders for a concert tour to London. Haydn is courted in the British capital, warmly welcomed and passed around as a luminary. When he crossed the border in Schärding, he is asked about his job. He says: "Tonmeister". Then the customs officer: "So Hafner" (= potter/stove builder). Haydn's answer: "Yes, and that in the car here is my journeyman". It was his secretary Johann Elssler. The man had humor.
After studying Handel's oratorios, he brought the idea of writing an oratorio from a second successful London trip. Haydn was very religious. He wrote his most famous work: "The creation." The premiere in 1799 in the Burgtheater was a stormy success. "We want Papa Haydn", people called when it was out. The old man slowly came on stage. "Long live Papa Haydn! Long live the music! ”All imperial majesties were present and called with the crowd:“ Bravo! ”
A bang for marketing
The gray parrot, which he had brought from London, was also able to croak "Papa Haydn" - and the beautiful imperial song that Haydn wrote in 1797 for Emperor Franz because he found that the Habsburgers also needed a hymn. The melody for the string quartet is said to be based on the English hymn "God Save the King", and the original text Leopold Haschkas is also similar to the English pension. After the First World War, Germany took over the song as a national anthem. Incidentally, Haydn did not write the famous symphony with the bang so that the audience did not fell asleep. It was more of a marketing measure to stand out from the music of his ever more successful student Ignaz Pleyel. Bumm!
Shortly before his death, the French hussar officer Clement Sulemy was with the old master in order to present the aria "with dignity and sovereignty" from creation to the aged old man. He is the last external visitor that Haydn received. And that under adverse circumstances. Vienna is besieged and bombed by the French. When a bullet hits near the house that the walls are trembling, Haydn calls: "Children, don't be afraid where Haydn is, no misfortune can hit you."
Joseph Haydn died on May 31, 1809. He composed over 80 quartets, which show his virtuosity in the handling of counterpoint, melody and structure. He created over 100 symphonies that represent a turning point in the development of the genre. His experiments with shapes, harmonies and instruments opened new ways for subsequent composers. In his symphonies, he combined elegance, drama and fine nuances.
