Joseph Haydn Biography - Childhood, Life Achievements & Timeline Musicians Joseph Haydn Biography Joseph Haydn was an 18th century Austrian composer of the Classical period. This biography of Joseph Haydn provides detailed information about his childhood, life, achievements, works & timeline. Quick Facts Michael Haydn, Johann Evangelist Haydn Spouse/Partner: Alois Anton Nikolaus Polzelli Image Credit Joseph Haydn was an 18th century Austrian composer of the Classical period who played a major role in the development of chamber music. One of the most prominent composers of his time, he is fondly referred to as "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" in recognition of his immense contribution to musical form. Born as the son of a folk musician, he developed an early interest in music. His musically inclined parents recognized their young sonâs talents and arranged for him to acquire musical training. He blossomed into a good singer and performed in a choir while he was a boy. He grew up to be a very talented singer and instrumentalist, but faced many struggles in his attempts to get established in a profession.

Initially he worked in a string of jobs without much success before finally finding work as a valetâaccompanist for the Italian composer Nicola Porpora from whom he learned the fundamentals of composition. Joseph Haydn did not receive a systematic training in musical theory; he self-educated himself by studying the works of prominent composers like Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, whom he later acknowledged as an important influence. Eventually he established himself as a famous composer in his own right and was appointed as a court musician of the wealthy EsterhÃ¡zy family. Childhood & Early Life Franz Joseph Haydn was born on 31 March 1732 in Rohrau, Austria to Mathias Haydn, a wheelwright, and his wife, Maria who used to work as a cook before marriage. Both of his parents, especially his father loved music and Mathias was also a folk musician who had taught himself to play the harp. He started displaying his musical gifts from an early age and his parents sent him to live with their relative, Johann Matthias Frankh, the schoolmaster and choirmaster in Hainburg, who promised that he would train Joseph in music.

As a young child, he learned to play various musical instruments and received a good basic training. His talents got him noticed by Georg von Reutter, the musical director of St. Stephenâs Cathedral in Vienna, and he invited Joseph to serve as a chorister in Viennaâs most important church. He moved to Vienna in 1740 and stayed at the choir school for nine years during which he acquired a lot of practical knowledge through performing but had little training in musical theory. Over the years he physically matured and by 1749 his voice broke and he was no longer able to sing high choral parts. He was then expelled from the cathedral choir and the choir school. Musical Career Jobless all of a sudden, he struggled to establish himself in a career. Over the next few years he worked at a variety of jobs including that of a music teacher and a street serenader. Since he did not receive any systematic training in musical theory while at the choir school, he embarked on a journey of self-education by studying the works of prominent composers and by practicing the exercises given in manuals of musical theory.

In 1752, he caught the attention of the Italian composer and singing teacher Nicola Porpora, who accepted him as valetâaccompanist. It was there that he learned the true fundamentals of composition. His skills developed over time and soon he started writing music along with playing instruments. One of his first compositions, the opera, âDer krumme Teufelâ ("The Limping Devil") was first premiered in 1753 with great success. He gained much in stature over the next few years and was appointed as a musical director and chamber composer for the Bohemian count Ferdinand Maximilian von Morzin, in 1758. In this position he was made in charge of an orchestra of about 16 musicians. After working with Morzin for three years he accepted a similar job offered by Prince Paul Anton, head of the wealthy EsterhÃ¡zy family, in 1761. His official title was Vice-Kapellmeister and he was placed in charge of most of the EsterhÃ¡zy musical establishment.

The old Kapellmeister, Gregor Werner, died in 1766 and Haydn was elevated to full Kapellmeister. He served the EsterhÃ¡zy family for nearly three decades and greatly raised the quality of the princeâs musical ensembles by appointing a number of gifted instrumentalists and singers. The EsterhÃ¡zy family was very supportive of Haydnâs ambitious plans and greatly appreciated his musical contributions. Over the course of his employment he had the good fortune of working in an environment highly conducive to the development of his musical skills. Haydn not only composed operas for the court, but also composed symphonies, string quartets, and other chamber music. During his career with the prince, he frequently travelled to Vienna and met Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on one of these trips. The men developed a close friendship and found inspiration in each otherâs work. The head of the EsterhÃ¡zy family, Prince Nikolaus, died in 1790, and was succeeded by his son, Prince Anton. The new prince had no interest in music and dismissed most of the court musicians. However he retained Haydn though he was no longer assigned any important duty.

This gave Haydn ample time to pursue his personal musical interests. He embarked on a trip to England in 1791 and spent several months there. He met eminent musicians and received much respect from the English for his works. In mid 1792 he left for Germany where he met a young Ludwig van Beethoven and soon realized the potential he possessed. Haydn invited the young man to come to Vienna and receive musical instruction from him. Accordingly Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1792 and began studying with Haydn. By the late 1790s, Prince Anton had died and was succeeded by Nikolaus II. The new prince wanted to revive the EsterhÃ¡zy musical establishment and requested Haydn to serve again as Kapellmeister. Haydn took up the position on a part-time basis. Major Works Joseph Haydn was a prolific composer with 104 Symphonies, 32 Piano Trios, 62 Piano Sonatas, and more than 90 String Quartets to his name.

One of his most popular String Quartet is the âEmperor Quartetâ Op.76 No.3 which uses the theme from the anthem âGod Save Emperor Francisâ. It later became the melody for the Austrian national anthem and then the German national anthem. Personal Life & Legacy Joseph Haydnâs personal life was a complicated one. He married Maria Anna Keller in 1760. His marriage proved to be an unhappy one, and both the spouses took on lovers. He had no children from this marriage. He had a long term affair with Luigia Polzelli, a young Italian mezzo-soprano in the princeâs service. As a successful and respected composer, he had become quite wealthy by his later years. He was well cared for by his servants during the last years of his life and died peacefully on 31 May 1809, aged 77. Translate this page to Spanish, French, Hindi, Portuguese Pictures of Joseph Haydn House of Esterházy - The Full Wiki The Full Wiki Note: Many of our articles have direct quotes from sources you can cite, within the Wikipedia article!

This article doesn't yet, but we're working on it! See more info or our list of citable articles . Related top topics From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Eszterházy arms The House of Esterházy (also spelled Eszterházy) was a Hungarian [1] [2] [3] [4] noble family in Hungary beginning in the Middle Ages . From the 17th century they were among the great landowner magnates of the Kingdom of Hungary, during the time it was part of the Habsburg Empire and later Austria-Hungary . Contents 9 External links History The Esterházys arose among the minor nobility of the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary (today's southwest Slovakia). This is reflected in the full name of the family, Esterházy of Galantha, Galanta being a small town east of Bratislava , then capital of Hungary, now capital of Slovakia . The family rose to prominence under Count Nikolaus Esterházy (1583–1645) and his son, Prince Paul Esterházy (1635–1713).

In the 17th century, after Nikolaus' acquisitions, the family split into four main family lines: the older Forchtenstein (Hungarian: Fraknó) line : founded by Nikolaus Esterházy, main seat: Eisenstadt (Kismarton) the younger Forchtenstein line the Zvolen (Zólyom) line: founded by Paul Esterházy (died 1641) the Csesznek line: founded by Daniel Esterházy (died 1654) In 1626 the Esterházys were granted the title of Count and in 1712, the older Forchtenstein line received the title of (Ruling) Prince by the Holy Roman Emperor. The success of the family arose from the steady accumulation of land, and loyalty both to the Roman Catholic Church and to the Habsburg Emperor. The latter factor was perhaps the most important. A consistent theme of Hungarian history was an ardent and sometimes violent wish to become free of Austrian rule, a wish that was finally fulfilled at the end of the First World War .

The Esterházy princes were consistently loyal to the Habsburg monarchy, and on several occasions rendered vital services to it in times of crisis. These included the Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683, and the outright occupation of Vienna by Napoleon in 1809. The family acquired its property in three principal ways: redistribution of land taken from Protestants in the Counter-Reformation , redistribution of land conquered from the Turks , and felicitous marriages. [5] Most of these lands were situated in present-day Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. The family ultimately became the largest landowners in the Habsburg Empire, and their income sometimes exceeded that of the Emperor. Homes The family derived its name from the settlement Eszterháza , Kingdom of Hungary near Dunajská Streda (now Slovakia). The settlement no longer exists, and is not to be confused with the later castle of the same name which they inhabited since the Middle Ages. Since 1421 they became the owners of a property in Galanta .

The most important seat of the Esterházys was Eisenstadt (Hungarian: Kismarton), since the heads of the family chose to make a castle in this tiny village their primary residence. A fortified stronghold had been built there in the 14th century; after the Esterházys acquired it they rebuilt it 1663-1672 to what is now the princely Schloss Esterházy . Their practical reason for choosing to create and maintain the princely court at Eisenstadt may have been that while the region was in Hungary, it had been mainly settled by Germans, and was situated rather close to the Habsburgs' Imperial residence, Vienna. (The region remained part of Hungary until 1921, when it was handed over to Austria according to the Treaty of Saint-Germain , 1919, and the Treaty of Trianon , 1920.) Schloss Esterházy in Eisenstadt, Austria The Esterházys maintained a number of other residences throughout the Kingdom of Hungary and Transylvania , and those Esterházy princes who preferred the stylish life of the capital spent most of their time in Vienna.

In the 1770s, Prince Nikolaus Esterházy , who disliked Vienna, had a magnificent new palace constructed in Fertőd (unification of Eszterháza and Süttör), Hungary. It was built on the site of a former hunting lodge. This is the most admired of the Esterházy homes, often called the "Hungarian Versailles ." Eszterháza Palace , in Fertőd, Hungary Nomenclature The main line of the Esterházy family was generally bilingual, in Hungarian (as a result of their ethnicity) and German (as they were aristocrats of the Austrian Empire). Esterházys living in parts of the Kingdom of Hungary where other languages were spoken by the population also spoke those languages, especially Slavic languages in Slavic areas. Some family members went by both Hungarian and (rather distinct) German names. Thus, Pál Antal (Hungarian) was the same person as Paul Anton (German), and Miklós József was the same person as Nikolaus Josef.

In discussions written in English, the Esterházy princes are occasionally given English versions of their names, as in "Nicholas". The family name is also rendered variously: Eszterházy (Hungarian spelling), Esterházy (German), and Esterhazy (typographic convenience). The full family name since the 16th century was Eszterházy de Galántha (later also styled von/of Galanta). The Latinised form of the family name, Estoras, in 2009 is used to label fine Esterházy wines. Haydn Portrait of Joseph Haydn by Ludwig Guttenbrunn , ca. 1770 The Esterházy family is perhaps best known for its association with the celebrated composer Joseph Haydn , who served as their Kapellmeister . Haydn was hired by Prince Paul Anton in 1761, and worked for most of his years of service (1762–1790) under his successor Nikolaus.

During the following reign, that of Prince Anton (1790–1794), the Esterházy family mostly did without the services of musicians, and Haydn, retained on a nominal appointment, spent most of this time in trips to England. Finally, during the reign of Nikolaus II, Haydn performed largely ceremonial duties, principally consisting of composing an annual mass for the name day of the Prince's wife (and Haydn's friend), Princess Maria Josepha Hermenegild (1768–1845). The aging Haydn continued to perform this annual service until his health failed in 1802. Remarkably, the princes continued paying Haydn his full salary after he left the princely court in 1790 to live in Vienna and travel to England. The lines of the family The first prominent member of the family was Ferenc Zerházy (1563–1594), who was elevated to the title of baron of Galántha (an estate his family had held since 1421) and took the name Esterházy.

Family history since this time is described according to three lines of descent, each originating in one of Ferenc's sons: the Fraknó (or Forchtenstein ) line, the Csesznek line, and the Zólyom line. [6] Advertisements The Fraknó (Forchtenstein) line The Fraknó ( Forchtenstein ) line became "the most prominent of the three". [6] In the discussion that follows, Hungarian names are given in brackets. Forchtenstein (Hung. Fraknó, today Austria) Eszterházy-Castle Count Nikolaus [Miklós] (1583–1645) Nikolaus was born in Galanta . Raised as a Protestant , he later converted to Catholicism . Created Count by the Emperor in 1626, he achieved great wealth in part by marrying (twice) into money. In 1625, Nikolaus was elected Palatine of Hungary , the King's chief lieutenant within Royal Hungary . Nikolaus laid out what became the long-term family strategy, allying himself with the Catholic religion and the Habsburg emperor.

He fought against the Protestant champions Gábor Bethlen and György Rákóczi and sought to free Hungary from Turkish domination. [6] Nikolaus Eszterházy (1582–1645) Main article: Paul I, 1st Prince Esterházy of Galántha Paul was the third son of Nicholas, born in Eisenstadt. Elected Palatine in 1681 and created Prince of the Holy Roman Empire (in Hungary the title of Prince did not exist till the 20th century) in 1687 by the Emperor. Paul was a poet, a harpsichordist , and a composer; a number of his cantatas survive; see Harmonia Caelestis . He also wrote a number of religious works. Under Paul the palace in Eisenstadt was rebuilt. Paul served as commander of troops in southern Hungary, during the struggle against the Turks, starting in 1667, [6] and his troops were among the coalition that raised the siege of Vienna in 1683. He also played an important role in suppressing the autonomy of the existing Hungarian nobility.

Prince Paul I The line that descended from Paul, the first Esterházy prince, is given as in the following figure. The sequence of princes that follow him continues below. Family tree of the house of Esterházy. Prince Michael [Mihály] (1671–1721) Son of Paul, he was the first to benefit from a 1712 decree of Emperor Charles VI , which made the title of Prince hereditary among the Esterházys. Under him, the family seat at Eisenstadt evolved into a provincial musical center. He died 24 March 1721. [5] Prince Joseph [József Simon Antal] (1688–1721) Half-brother of Michael, he reigned for only 11 weeks, as he died on 7 June 1721 [5] . As his son Paul Anton was only ten, authority was assigned to two regents: Count Georg Erdödy , [5] and his widow Maria Octavia (ca. 1686-1762). The latter was responsible for introducing the German language to the court.

Prince Paul Anton [Pál Antal] (1711–1762) Main article: Paul II Anton Esterházy Son of Joseph. In his youth he studied in Leyden [5] and also served as a soldier, rising to the rank of Field Marshall. He served as imperial ambassador to Naples from 1750–1752, and traveled extensively. [7] Paul Anton was a musical prince; he played the violin , the flute , and the lute , and compiled a large inventory of musical manuscripts. Paul Anton also played an important role as a patron of music. In 1728, his mother Maria Octavia, "probably at her son's instigation" [5] engaged the composer Gregor Werner to be the family's Kapellmeister (music director), a post in which Werner served for several decades. Much later (1761), Paul Anton engaged Joseph Haydn to be his Vice-Kapellmeister in 1761, taking over most of the aging Werner's duties.

At the same time, he upgraded the court orchestra, hiring several virtuosi who served under Haydn; the composer recognized their ability by writing many solo parts in his early symphonies. [7] Prince Paul Anton [Pál Antal] (1711–1762) Prince Nikolaus "the Magnificent" [Miklós József] (1714–1790) Main article: Nikolaus Esterházy Son of Joseph, in his youth a decorated soldier. He was the primary patron of Haydn and builder of Esterháza (see above). Prince Nikolaus Esterházy I Prince Anton [Antal] (1738–1794) Son of Nikolaus I, married first, in 1763 ,Maria Theresia Gräfin Erdödy de Monyorokerek et Monoszlo (1745-1782), and second, in 1785 Maria Anna Gräfin von Hohenfeld (1768-1848). He was elevated to the status of Prince (Fürst ) in 1783.

He received the Order of St. Stephen in 1777. He was Captain of the Hungarian Noble Life Guard from September 1791 until his death in 1794, and commanded an autonomous corps on the Upper Rhine at the beginning of the War of the First Coalition . His Corps participated in various actions between July and October, 1792, after which he received the Commanders Cross ofthe Order of St. Stephen. His corps was later absorbed into other military formations. He was Colonel and Proprietor (Inhaber) of the 31st Infantry Regiment, from November 1777 to October 1780, and then Proprietor and Colonel of the 34th Infantry Regiment, from September 1780 until his death. He was initiated to the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1790, and also became an imperial Chamberlain . [8] He disbanded the Esterházy musical establishment for the duration of his reign.

Prince Anton [Antal] (1738–1794) Prince Nikolaus II [Miklós Ferdinánd] (1765–1833) Born in Vienna, on 12 December 1765, he was the son of Anton, Graf Esterházy de Galántha and his first wife, Maria Theresia Gräfin Erdödy de Monyorokerek et Monoszlo (1745-1782). In his youth he served as an officer in the Guards and took the Grand Tour . During his Grand Tour, Nikolaus developed a taste for the visual arts, and as Prince, he accumulated a collection of drawings and paintings. His profligacy as a collector caused financial difficulties for the next two generations of the family. In 1783, he married Maria Josepha Prinzessin von und zu Liechtenstein (1768-1845). Later on he served the Empire as a diplomat. [9] A dramatic moment in Nikolaus's career occurred in 1809 when Napoleon made him an offer to become King of an independent Hungary.

Nicholas helped save the Empire by rejecting Napoleon's invitation. Actually, he went further than this, and raised a regiment of volunteers to help defend the Empire, an action he had previously taken in 1797.[citation needed] He was promoted to major general on 13 May 1796, and to Lieutenant Field Marshal in 1803; in 1817, he was promoted to Feldzeugmeister. Like his father, he was also a Captain of the Hungarian Noble Life Guard, from December 1803 until his death in 1833. In 1802, he was appointed Colonel and Proprietor (Inhaber) of the 32nd Infantry Regiment, a position he held also until his death. He received the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Stephen in 1797 and was initiated into the Order of the Golden Fleece on 07 January 1808. He also served as an imperial and royal Chamberlain and Privy Counselor.

In 1829, he received from the Grand Duchy of Baden , the Order of Fidelity in 1829 and the Grand Cross of the Order of the Lion of Zähringen. The Kingdom of Bavaria awarded him the Military Order of St. Hubert and the House of Hannover awarded him the Grand Cross of the Guelphic Order in 1816. He died in Como Italy in 1833. [10] Haydn biographer Karl Geiringer describes Nicolaus II thus: "He was as complete an autocrat as his grandfather had been, but lacked the latter's charm, kindliness, and genuine understanding of music . . . contemporaries described the prince's nature as 'worthy of an Asiatic despot'". [11] Nikolaus II commissioned the six late masses of Haydn noted above, as well as the Mass in C of Ludwig van Beethoven . At the first performance of the Beethoven Mass, the Prince criticized the work, and Beethoven left his house in a rage. The Prince could play the clarinet , or so it would appear from one of the portraits of him.

The splendour of Nikolaus II's reign was greatly diminished by a financial crisis that shook Austria in 1811. Prince Paul Anton III [Pál Antal] (1786–1866) Served Austria in series diplomatic posts, and in 1848 was briefly Foreign Minister.

The family encountered financial trouble during his reign, and (according to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica), "the last years of his life were spent in comparative poverty and isolation, as even the Esterházy-Forchtenstein estates were unequal to the burden of supporting his fabulous extravagance and had to be placed in the hands of curators." Prince Paul Anton III [Pál Antal] (1786–1866) Prince [Miklós Pál] (1817–1894) Prince [Pál Antal Miklós] (1843–1898) Prince [Miklós Pál] (1869–1920) Prince Paul [Pál Maria Alois Antal Miklós Victor] (1901–1989) The lifetime of this prince witnessed momentous, often catastrophic changes for the Esterházy family. At the end of the First World War, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was split up, and the family's land holdings thus came to be located in several different countries.

In 1938, the legal instrument of fideicommiss , allowing to hold family property in foundations owned by the whole family, but governed by the head of the family alone, was abolished in Austria. (Aristocratic families had used this instrument to finance the representative household of the head of the family as well as to maintain palaces anc castles, and to pay allowances to family members without personal wealth.) After the dissolution of the Esterházy fideicommiss, prince Paul became the sole owner of the wealth accumulated therein so far. (This caused anger of poorer family members long after his death.) The Second World War, however, was disastrous: the family was scattered during the war years, and at the end of the war the new Hungarian government carried out a comprehensive land reform , "confiscating the land of gentry with estates of more than 50 hectares" [12] . Only the land in Austria remained in prince Paul's possession. Further, in the years after 1945 Hungary came under the rule of an authoritarian Communist regime sponsored by the Soviet Union. Prince Paul endured a show trial and was sentenced to solitary confinement for 15 years.

Freed in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, he moved to Zurich with his wife, Melinda Ottrubay, whom he had married in Budapest in 1945, and lived in Zurich, from there managing his Austrian domains, until his death. Melinda Esterházy inherited his wealth. Since she has no children, she created several foundations to preserve the cultural and historic heritage of the family with the lavish Schloss Esterházy at Eisenstadt, Burgenland , Austria, as the centre of all activities. Her nephew Stefan Ottrubay acts as a general manager. At Fraknó , Eszterházy-Castle Prince [Anton Rudolf Marie Georg Christoph Hubertus Johannes Karl Aglaë] (born 1936) The heir to the line is Prince Paul-Anton Nikolaus Maximilian, born in Munich in 1986. The title of Prince has no legal standing in Hungary today, as noble titles were abolished in 1947. [13] In Austria, aristocratic titles had been abolished in 1919.

Other members of the Esterházy family A minor member of the Esterházy family was Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy , notorious for his role in the Dreyfus affair . Another was Joseph Eszterházy (nephew to Palatine Paul), the ban of Croatia between 1733 and 1741. Francis Eszterházy also held that title between 1783 and 1785, but he was opposed by Francis Széchenyi . The renowned contemporary Hungarian writer Péter Esterházy is the grandson of count Móric Esterházy (1881–1960), prime minister of Hungary and one of the five biggest landowners of Hungary. After the regime change in 1989, Péter Esterházy refused to accept the return of any land or valuables nationalised by the communists. Márton Esterházy is the younger brother of Péter.

He was an excellent soccer player, playing for the Hungarian national team between 1980–1988 and took part in the world championship of 1986, in Mexico . He obtained 29 caps and scored 11 goals. At the club level, Márton played for Budapest Honvéd and also AEK Athens. Count Paul Oscar Esterházy was an immigration agent, who, in 1886, settled south of the present town of Esterhazy , in Saskatchewan, Canada with 35 Hungarian families from the vicinity of Kaposvár . His claim to the Esterházy name was never recognized by the Esterházy family, although he claimed he had "incontrovertible proof of the legality of my claim and of birth right." See also Magyar Posta Ltd.

- HAYDN MEMORIAL YEAR 2009 HAYDN MEMORIAL YEAR 2009 Date of issue: 2 April 2009 Magyar Posta is commemorating the birth of the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn (Rohrau, 31 March 1732 – Vienna, 31 May 1809), the first great master of Viennese classical music, by issuing a special stamp. Haydn’s musical talent became apparent very early in music-making within the family. His parents, at no little financial sacrifice, had the six-year old boy take music lessons, so he learnt how to write and read music, played on instruments, and his singing improved. His chance came when the choirmaster of Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, who was looking for new choirboys, visited. Hearing the eight-year old child sing, he accepted Haydn as a Cathedral chorister. His career there came to an end when Haydn’s voice started to break. He then made a living from copying scores, organ playing and teaching before turning to composing.

Before long, Haydn went to Baron Fürnberg’s country home, Weinzierl, where he composed his first string quartets. In 1759 he took a position at Count Morzin’s estate in Bohemia, where his first symphony was written. The young musician caught the attention of Prince Paul Esterházy and he was appointed vice-Kapellmeister of the Eisenstadt orchestra in 1761. The Prince died a year later and was followed by his brother, Nikolaus Esterházy the Magnificent, who continued Haydn’s employment. The composer wrote 170 pieces for the Prince, as well as composing for others. When the Kapellmeister died, Haydn succeeded him to the post. By 1766 the Esterházy palace in Fertőd was completed together with the theatre and Music House, where the musicians lodged. Their family members, however, remained in Eisenstadt, which probably led to composing the well-known Farewell Symphony in 1722. In 1790 Nikolaus Esterházy died. His successor dismissed the orchestra and theatre, but continued to pay the composer’s salary.

Haydn’s reputation spread throughout Europe, and a few of his symphonies were even performed in America. In 1791 he travelled to London, where he composed new works. The concerts brought him enormous success and he received an honorary doctorate in Oxford. Meanwhile Nikolaus Esterházy II became the master at Eszterháza, who reorganised musical life on the estate. Haydn was also given a role in this but this connection only extended to writing a few new pieces. He died in 1809, and his ashes were laid to rest in the former chapel of the Esterházy family, in the Haydn Mausoleum in Eisenstadt’s Bergkirche. (Source: )The stamp design is a witty graphic composition using artistic licence to give a new function to the keys of a piano and the notes, thus raising a memorial in an individual visual message on the 200th anniversary of the death of Joseph Haydn (1732-1809). An unusual feature of the stamp issue is that every other row of stamps in the sheet is inverted.

The first day cover for the stamp depicts the lines of the staff and the special postmark shows Joseph Haydn’s name and the years of his birth and death. SO Composer Franz Joseph Haydn - Profile and Biography March 31, 1732  Rohrau, Austria Died: May 31, 1809  Vienna Haydn Quick Facts: Haydn and Mozart were friends. They respected each other's music and occasionally invited one another to their performances. Haydn composed 104 symphonies! Unlike Wagner, Haydn was warm and heartfelt. He was caring, loving, extremely intelligent, and very well controlled. Haydn's Family Background: Haydn was one of three boys born to Mathias Haydn and Anna Maria Koller. His father was a master wheelwright who loved music. He played the harp, while Haydns mother sang the melodies. Anna Maria was a cook for Count Karl Anton Harrach before she married Mathias. Haydns brother, Michael, also composed music and became relatively famous. His youngest brother, Johann Evangelist, sang tenor in the church choir of the Esterhazy Court.

Childhood: Haydn had a spectacular voice and his musicality was precise. Johann Franc, impressed by Haydns voice, insisted that Haydns parents allow Haydn to live with him to study music. continue reading below our video Top 5 Grossing Movies of All Time Franc was a school principal and the choir director of a church in Hainburg. Haydns parents allowed him to go in hopes that he would amount to something very special. Haydn studied mostly music, but also Latin, writing, arithmetic, and religion. Haydn spent most of his childhood singing in church choirs. Teenage Years: Haydn trained his younger brother Michael when he joined the choir school three years later; it was customary for the older choirboys to instruct the younger ones. Although great Haydn's voice was, he lost it when he went through puberty. Michael, who also had a beautiful voice, received the attention Haydn was used to getting. Haydn was dismissed from the school when he was 18. Early Adult Years: Haydn earned a living by becoming a freelance musician, teaching music, and composing.

His first steady job came in 1757, when he was hired as music director for Count Morzin. His name and compositions steadily became recognizable. During his time with Count Morzin, Haydn wrote 15 symphonies , concertos, piano sonatas , and possibly string quartets op.2, nos. 1-2. He married Maria Anna Keller on November 26, 1760. Mid Adult Years: In 1761, Haydn began his lifelong relationship with the wealthiest family among Hungarian nobility, the Esterhazy family. Haydn spent nearly 30 years of his life here. He was hired as vice-Kapellmeister earning 400 gulden a year, and as time went on, his salary increased as well as his ranking within the court. His music became widely popular. Late Adult Years: From 1791, Haydn spent four years in London composing music and experiencing life outside the royal court. His time in London was the high point of his career. He earned nearly 24,000 gulden in a single year (the sum of his combined salary of nearly 20 years as Kapellmeister).

Haydn spent the last years of his life in Vienna composing only vocal pieces such as masses and oratorios. Haydn passed away in the middle of the night from old age. Mozarts Requiem was performed at his funeral. Selected Works by Haydn: Franz Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn "Sonata in D Major" Haydn grew up in a musical family who lived in Rohrau, Austria, where he was born on March 31, 1732. His parents often invited neighbors to their home, where they gave impromptu concerts. When he was 5 years old, Haydn was sent to live with a relative for comprehensive music instruction. When he was 8 years old, Haydn became a chorister at St. Stephen's Cathedral, where he stayed until his voice broke at age 17. After leaving St. Stephen's, Haydn was forced to fend for himself in Vienna, where he taught music and played the violin. In 1752, Haydn met Nicola Porposa, a singing teacher and composer, who gave him singing instruction in return for Haydn serving as his house servant and accompanist.

Through this arrangement, Haydn met some of Vienna's most prominent composers. In 1759, Haydn went to work for Count Ferdinand Maximilian von Morzin, as Kapellmeister, where he created his first symphony. In 1761, he became second Kapellmeister for Prince Paul Anton Esterhazy. Later, he assumed the post of first Kapellmeister, a position he retained for 25 years. Haydn composed a vast number of operas, masses, symphonies, quartets, concertos, and sonatas. In 1781, Haydn met Mozart, and familiarity with his music brought a new technique and style to Haydn's compositions. In 1790, Haydn left his position upon the death of Prince Esterhazy, and went to live in Vienna. He traveled to London in 1790 and again in 1794 to direct concerts that featured his compositions. The 12 London Symphonies are described as the crowning achievement of his vast symphonic output.

In 1797, Haydn was commissioned to write a patriotic hymn, and he produced Gott, erhalte Franz, den Kaiser. Since then the hymn has become the Austrian national anthem. Haydn conducted his last concert in 1803 before his health began to deteriorate. He died on May 31, 1809. ~~~<"((((((><~~~<"((((((><~~~<"((((((><~~~<"((((((><~~~<"((((((><~~~ Austrian composer. The son of a wheelwright, he was trained as a choirboy and taken into the choir at St Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna, where he sang from c1740 to c1750. He then worked as a freelance musician, playing the violin and keyboard instruments, accompanying for singing lessons given by the composer Porpora, who helped and encouraged him. At this time he wrote some sacred works, music for theatre comedies and chamber music.

In c1759 he was appointed music director to Count Morzin; but he soon moved, into service as Vice-Kapellmeister with one of the leading Hungarian families, the Esterhï¿½zys, becoming full Kapellmeister on Werner's death in 1766. He was director of an ensemble of generally some 15-20 musicians, with responsibility for the music and the instruments, and was required to compose as his employer - from 1762, Prince Nikolaus Esterhï¿½zy - might command. At first he lived at Eisenstadt, c30 miles south-east of Vienna; by 1767 the family's chief residence, and Haydn's chief place of work, was at the new palace at Eszterhï¿½za. In his early years Haydn chiefly wrote instrumental music, including symphonies and other pieces for the twice-weekly concerts and the prince's Tafelmusik, and works for the instrument played by the prince, the baryton (a kind of viol), for which he composed c125 trios in ten years. There were also cantatas and a little church music.

After Werner's death church music became more central, and so, after the opening of a new opera house at Eszterhï¿½za in 1768, did opera. Some of the symphonies from c1770 show Haydn expanding his musical horizons from occasional, entertainment music towards larger and more original pieces, for example nos.26, 39, 49, 44 and 52 (many of them in minor keys, and serious in mood, in line with trends in the contemporary symphony in Germany and Austria). Also from 1768-72 come three sets of string quartets, probably not written for the Esterhï¿½zy establishment but for another patron or perhaps for publication (Haydn was allowed to write other than for the Esterhï¿½zys only with permission); op.20 clearly shows the beginnings of a more adventurous and integrated quartet style. Among the operas from this period are Lo speziale (for the opening of the new house), L'infedeltï¿½ delusa (1773) and Il mondo della luna (1777).

Operatic activity became increasingly central from the mid-1770s as regular performances came to be given at the new house. It was part of Haydn's job to prepare the music, adapting or arranging it for the voices of the resident singers. In 1779 the opera house burnt down; Haydn composed La fedeltï¿½ premiata for its reopening in1781. Until then his operas had largely been in a comic genre; his last two for Eszterhï¿½za, Orlando paladino (1782) and Armida (1783), are in mixed or serious genres. Although his operas never attained wider exposure, Haydn's reputation had now grown and was international. Much of his music had been published in all the main European centres; under a revised contract with the Esterhï¿½za his employers no longer had exclusive rights to his music.

His works of the 1780s that carried his name further afield include piano sonatas, piano trios, symphonies (nos.76-81 were published in 1784-5, and nos.82-7 were written on commission for a concert organization in Paris in 1785-6) and string quartets. His influential op.33 quartets, issued in 1782, were said to be ‘in a quite new, special manner’: this is sometimes thought to refer to the use of instruments or the style of thematic development, but could refer to the introduction of scherzos or might simply be an advertising device. More quartets appeared at the end of the decade, op.50 (dedicated to the King of Prussia and often said to be influenced by the quartets Mozart had dedicated to Haydn) and two sets (opp. 54-5 and 64) written for a former Esterhï¿½zy violinist who became a Viennese businessman. All these show an increasing enterprise, originality and freedom of style as well as melodic fluency, command of form, and humour.

Other works that carried Haydn's reputation beyond central Europe include concertos and notturnos for a type of hurdy-gurdy, written on commission for the King of Naples, and The Seven Last Words, commissioned for Holy Week from Cadï¿½z Cathedral and existing not only in its original orchestral form but also for string quartet, for piano and (later) for chorus and orchestra. In 1790, Nikolaus Esterhï¿½zy died; Haydn (unlike most of his musicians) was retained by his son but was free to live in Vienna (which he had many times visited) and to travel. He was invited by the impresario and violinist J P. Salomon to go to London to write an opera, symphonies and other works. In the event he went to London twice, in 1791-2 and 1794-5. He composed his last 12 symphonies for performance there, where they enjoyed great success; he also wrote a symphonie concertante, choral pieces, piano trios, piano sonatas and songs (some to English words) as well as arranging British folksongs for publishers in London and Edinburgh.

But because of intrigues his opera, L'anima del filosofo, on the Orpheus story, remained unperformed. He was honoured (with an Oxford DMus) and fï¿½ted generously, and played, sang and conducted before the royal family. He also heard performances of Handel's music by large choirs in Westminster Abbey. Back in Vienna, he resumed work for Nikolaus Esterhï¿½zy's grandson (whose father had now died); his main duty was to produce masses for the princess's nameday. He wrote six works, firmly in the Austrian mass tradition but strengthened and invigorated by his command of symphonic technique. Other works of these late years include further string quartets (opp. 71 and 74 between the London visits, op.76 and the op.77 pair after them), showing great diversity of style and seriousness of content yet retaining his vitality and fluency of utterance; some have a more public manner, acknowledging the new use of string quartets at concerts as well as in the home.

The most important work, however, is his oratorio The Creation in which his essentially simple-hearted joy in Man, Beast and Nature, and his gratitude to God for his creation of these things to our benefit, are made a part of universal experience by his treatment of them in an oratorio modelled on Handle's, with massive choral writing of a kind he had not essayed before. He followed this with The Seasons, in a similar vein but more a series of attractive episodes than a whole. Haydn died in 1809, after twice dictating his recollections and preparing a catalogue of his works. He was widely revered, even though by then his music was old-fashioned compared with Beethoven's. He was immensely prolific: some of his music remains unpublished and little known. His operas have never succeeded in holding the stage. But he is regarded, with some justice, as father of the symphony and the string quartet: he saw both genres from their beginnings to a high level of sophistication and artistic expression, even if he did not originate them. He brought to them new intellectual weight, and his closely argued style of development laid the foundations for the larger structures of Beethoven and later composers.

~~~<"((((((><~~~<"((((((><~~~<"((((((><~~~<"((((((><~~~<"((((((><~~~ The Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) in his instrumental music, especially the symphonies and string quartets, essentially founded and brought to first mature realization the formal and structural principles of the classical style. Joseph Haydn virtually created the classical formal structures of the string quartet and symphony, which were developed later by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven. He participated in the development of other forms of 18th-century instrumental music, in addition to composing prolifically in the fields of sacred music, opera, and song. Throughout a lifetime of experimentation he developed in the quartet and symphony a fully mature classical tonal idiom, characterized externally by the four-movement structure (allegro, slow movement, minuet and trio, and finale) of the majority of these works and internally by emphasis on thematic and motivic development within a balanced tonal framework.

Haydn evolved a tonal language that exhibited a gradual growth toward contrapuntal complexity and a vast range of expression in comparison to the technical simplicity and expressive triviality of much mid-18th-century instrumental music of the style galant. Haydn was born in Rohrau, Lower Austria, on March 31, 1732. At the age of 8 he became a choirboy at the Cathedral of St. Stephen's in Vienna, remaining there until his dismissal in 1749. By his own account his early years were largely given to self-instruction in music: he developed some facility as a violinist and keyboard player (but he was never a virtuoso performer); he studied briefly with the Italian opera composer and singing master Niccolï¿½ Porpora; and he became thoroughly acquainted with Viennese musical life of the period 1740-1760 and knew its leading figures.

Haydn made his first attempts at composition; as he later described them, "I wrote industriously but not quite correctly." His early works included a Singspiel entitled Der krumme Teufel (1752), a few keyboard sonatas and trios, and his first string quartet, written during the 1750s. This first period of his development concluded with 2 years (1758-1760) in private service in Bohemia, during which he evidently composed his first symphony (generally dated 1759). In Service of Esterhï¿½zy Family In 1761 Haydn entered the private service of the noble Hungarian Esterhï¿½zy family, serving under Prince Paul Esterhï¿½zy and then, on his death in 1762, under Prince Nicholas. Haydn embarked on the longest and most productive period of private service at a single court enjoyed by any major composer of the 18th century and perhaps of the entire epoch of court patronage of musicians. He remained in the Esterhï¿½zy service until 1790.

At first he held the post of vice kapellmeister, or conductor. In 1766 Prince Nicholas opened a new estate at Esterhï¿½zy (the previous one had been at Eisenstadt), and that year, on the death of Gregor Werner, Haydn was promoted to kapellmeister. Haydn was in charge of the musical forces of the court, which included an orchestra of 12 musicians and a group of singers. His duties were to provide two operas and two concerts a week plus a Sunday Mass and whatever additional music might be wanted. Under these conditions his productivity and originality were equally remarkable. As he described it in a famous statement: "As head of an orchestra I could experiment, observe what heightened the effect and what weakened it, and so could improve, expand, cut, take risks; I was cut off from the world, there was no one near me to torment me or make me doubt myself, and so I had to become original." During the 3 decades of his Esterhï¿½zy service Haydn's output was prodigious.

By 1770 he had produced some 40 symphonies, the quartets up to the six of Opus 9 (1769), much chamber music for baryton (an instrument of the viol family, played by Prince Nicholas), several concertos, operas, keyboard music, and his first Masses. During the period 1771-1780 (called by some biographers his "romantic" period) his music deepened in seriousness and elaborative richness, and he struck out in new paths; as one biographer, E.L. Gerber, put it in 1812: "Haydn's finest symphonic period begins with the year 1770 and from then on gains each year in magnificence." From 1771 and 1772 come the 12 quartets of Opus 17 and Opus 20, with special importance attaching to the latter group, several of which have fugal finales; about 30 more symphonies, including the Mourning Symphony, No. 44, and the Farewell, No.

45 (1772); and about 18 keyboard sonatas, 6 operas and other dramatic music, and two Masses. Friendship with Mozart During his last decade in private service, a most important influence on Haydn's music arose from his contact with Mozart. This relationship dates from the time Mozart took up residence in Vienna in 1781; in the next years Haydn came to know him during his trips to Vienna, and they admired each other's music beyond that of any other contemporary. Haydn commented often on Mozart's remarkable gifts and complained bitterly over the lack of recognition and the absence of any permanent post for Mozart comparable to the one Haydn enjoyed. When an official of Prague asked him for an opera in 1787, 2 months after the premiere of Mozart's Don Giovanni there, Haydn declined, saying in part: "It is hardly possible for anyone to stand beside the great Mozart.

For if I could impress Mozart's inimitable works as deeply, and with that musical understanding and keen feeling with which I myself grasp and feel them, upon the soul of every music lover … the nations would compete for the possession of such a jewel within their borders." Haydn's major works of this period seemed to his younger contemporaries to show a considerable influence of Mozart's mature style, and the relationship was openly reciprocal. In this decade Haydn produced about 20 symphonies, including the 6 Paris Symphonies, Nos. 82-87 (1786), and the Oxford Symphony, No. 92 (1788). He also produced the 25 quartets constituting Opus 33 (1781), "written in a new and special manner"; Opus 42 (1785); Opus 50 (1787); Opus 54 and Opus 55 (1789); and Opus 64 (1790). His reputation had by now spread throughout Europe, despite his isolation, owing in part to his being regularly published by a leading Viennese music publisher, Artaria.

Last Years In 1791 the death of Prince Nicholas freed Haydn from private service, and he embarked on the last and most international phase of his career. He made his first visit to England, at the invitation of the impresario J. P. Salomon, to give concerts of his own works. This visit was a triumph in every respect: Haydn was awarded a degree by Oxford University, met and was honored by members of English society, and gave a highly successful series of concerts. In 1792 he returned to the Continent, passing through Bonn, where he met the young Beethoven, who became his pupil in Vienna. In 1794 he returned to London for another successful tour, then in 1795 settled in Vienna for good. In these years of his travels to England, Haydn, already in his sixties, produced many of his finest late works: his 12 last and greatest symphonies, Nos. 93-104, called the London Symphonies, and the last of his piano trios and piano sonatas.

In 1795-1800, on his return to the Continent, Haydn not only continued his extraordinary productivity but turned once again in a new and progressive direction as a composer. The quartets of Opus 71 belong to 1793; the six of Opus 76 (including the Emperor and Sunrise Quartets) were composed as late as 1797-1798; and the final quartets of Opus 77, Nos. 1 and 2, and the unfinished Opus 103 come from 1799 and 1803. In 1797 Haydn wrote the "Kaiser-Hymn" as a deliberately patriotic gesture in time of war, and it became, as he intended that it should, the Austrian national anthem. In 1796-1798 he set to work on the first of his two final major works - the oratorios The Creation and The Seasons.

The Oratorios The Creation was based on a German translation by Baron Gottfried van Swieten of an anonymous English oratorio libretto that had been prepared for George Frederick Handel and was based on John Milton's Paradise Lost. With this work Haydn produced a work deliberately planned on the grand scale, based on a religious subject but freely developed in content, for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra. The work as a whole set him at once in the great tradition of oratorio that he had come to know in Handel's works during his visits to England. Although the strain of writing The Creation virtually exhausted him, Haydn in 1800 set to work on another oratorio of similar magnitude: The Seasons, again with libretto by Van Swieten based on James Thomson's poem. In these oratorios Haydn came as close as he was ever to come to matching Mozart's sense of dramatic action articulated through music. Neither oratorio is truly a stage work, but both have strong elements of the dramatic and the pictorial, and at times have musicodramatic moments of the highest order.

Among these is the entire first part of The Creation, beginning with a representation of "Chaos" as orchestral introduction, and then narrating the creation of the world. After the first recitative the chorus enters sotto voce with the words "And the spirit of God moved upon the waters; and God said, 'Let there be light."' The arrival of the chorus at a fortissimo climax on the word "light" electrified the audiences of Haydn's time, and at his last appearance in public before his death in Vienna on May 31, 1809, at a performance of The Creation in 1808 given as a tribute to him, he rose at this point and attributed, in effect, all his creative ability to divine power. Enormous Output Haydn's output was so large that at the end of his life he himself could not be absolutely sure how many works he had written. The problems of compiling an accurate catalog of his works, sorting out spurious compositions, and producing an accurate and complete edition have still not been solved.

For example, the six string quartets of Opus 3 have been attributed on good grounds to a minor contemporary named Hoffstetter, whose name appeared on the title page of the original edition but was effaced and replaced with that of Haydn. But the essential mass of Haydn's output remains unshakable in its attribution to him, and it is of formidable proportions: 104 symphonies; 78 string quartets (omitting Opus 3 and counting as separate items the seven movements of The Seven Last Words of Christ as arranged for quartet); numerous concertos for keyboard, violin, and violoncello; over 125 baryton trios; numerous divertimenti for winds and for mixed ensembles; 52 keyboard sonatas; over 30 piano trios; 12 Masses and a number of other sacred works; approximately 13 operas; and arias and songs.

Question: Which composer became Vice-Kapellmeister to the House of Esterházy in 1761, then Kapellmeister five years later?
Answer: JOSEPH HAYDN