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110-515: Haydn spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Esterházy family at their Eszterháza Castle. Until the later part of his life, this isolated him from other composers and trends in music so that he was, as he put it, "forced to become original". Yet his music circulated widely, and for much of his career he was the most celebrated composer in Europe. The melody of his patriotic "Emperor's Hymn" " Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser ", (1797)

220-554: A "happy and naturally cheerful temperament", but in his later life, there is evidence for periods of depression, notably in the correspondence with Mrs. Genzinger and in Dies's biography, based on visits made in Haydn's old age. Haydn was a devout Catholic who often turned to his rosary when he had trouble composing, a practice that he usually found to be effective. He normally began the manuscript of each composition with In nomine Domini [in

330-558: A "house officer" in the Esterházy establishment, Haydn wore livery and followed the family as they moved among their various palaces, most importantly the family's ancestral seat Schloss Esterházy in Eisenstadt and later on Esterháza , a grand new palace built in rural Hungary in the 1760s. Haydn had a huge range of responsibilities, including composition, running the orchestra, playing chamber music for and with his patrons, and eventually

440-466: A 1000-florin pension from Nikolaus. Since Anton had little need of Haydn's services, he was willing to let him travel, and the composer accepted a lucrative offer from Johann Peter Salomon , a German violinist and impresario , to visit England and conduct new symphonies with a large orchestra. The choice was a sensible one because Haydn was already a very popular composer there. Since the death of Johann Christian Bach in 1782, Haydn's music had dominated

550-558: A catalyst in the next stage in Haydn's career, the achievement of international popularity. By 1790 Haydn was in the paradoxical position ... of being Europe's leading composer, but someone who spent his time as a duty-bound Kapellmeister in a remote palace in the Hungarian countryside." The new publication campaign resulted in the composition of a great number of new string quartets (the six-quartet sets of Op. 33 , 50 , 54/55, and 64 ). Haydn also composed in response to commissions from abroad:

660-605: A conductor was a charity performance of The Seven Last Words on 26 December 1803. As debility set in, he made largely futile efforts at composition, attempting to revise a rediscovered Missa brevis from his teenage years and complete his final string quartet . The former project was abandoned for good in 1805, and the quartet was published with just two movements. Haydn was well cared for by his servants, and he received many visitors and public honors during his last years, but they could not have been very happy years for him. During his illness, Haydn often found solace by sitting at

770-457: A cook in the palace of Aloys Thomas Raimund, Count von Harrach , the presiding aristocrat of Rohrau. Neither parent could read music; however, Mathias was an enthusiastic folk musician , who during the journeyman period of his career had taught himself to play the harp. According to Haydn's later reminiscences, his family was extremely musical, and they frequently sang together and with their neighbours. Haydn's parents had noticed that their son

880-725: A different journey; it was stolen by phrenologists shortly after burial, and the skull was reunited with the other remains only in 1954, now interred in a tomb in the north tower of the Bergkirche . James Webster writes of Haydn's public character thus: "Haydn's public life exemplified the Enlightenment ideal of the honnête homme ( honest man ): the man whose good character and worldly success enable and justify each other. His modesty and probity were everywhere acknowledged. These traits were not only prerequisites to his success as Kapellmeister , entrepreneur and public figure, but also aided

990-593: A familiar figure on the London concert scene. The 1794 season was dominated by Salomon's ensemble, as the Professional Concerts had abandoned their efforts. The concerts included the premieres of the 99th, 100th, and 101st symphonies. For 1795, Salomon had abandoned his own series, citing difficulty in obtaining "vocal performers of the first rank from abroad", and Haydn joined forces with the Opera Concerts, headed by

1100-548: A few months. Haydn immediately began his pursuit of a career as a freelance musician. Haydn struggled at first, working at many different jobs: as a music teacher, as a street serenader, and eventually, in 1752, as valet-accompanist for the Italian composer Nicola Porpora , from whom he later said he learned "the true fundamentals of composition". He was also briefly in Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Haugwitz 's employ, playing

1210-553: A gifted young poet, Metastasio , the beginning of a long, though interrupted, collaboration. In 1722 his operatic successes encouraged him to lay down his conservatory commitments. After a rebuff from the court of Charles VI at Vienna in 1725, Porpora settled mostly in Venice , composing and teaching regularly in the schools of La Pietà and the Incurabili. In 1729 the anti- Handel clique invited him to London to set up an opera company as

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1320-422: A great deal simply by serving as a professional musician there. Like Frankh before him, Reutter did not always bother to make sure Haydn was properly fed. As he later told his biographer Albert Christoph Dies , Haydn was motivated to sing well, in hopes of gaining more invitations to perform before aristocratic audiences, where the singers were usually served refreshments. By 1749, Haydn had matured physically to

1430-437: A great deal to Emanuel Bach, that I understood him and have studied him with diligence." According to Griesinger and Dies, in the 1750s Haydn studied an encyclopedic treatise by Johann Mattheson , a German composer. As his skills increased, Haydn began to acquire a public reputation, first as the composer of an opera, Der krumme Teufel , "The Limping Devil", written for the comic actor Joseph Felix von Kurz, whose stage name

1540-579: A license to permit opera performances in the theatre he directed, the King's Theatre . Haydn was well paid for the opera (£300) but much time was wasted. Thus only two new symphonies, no. 95 and no. 96 Miracle , could be premiered in the 12 concerts of Salomon's spring concert series in 1791. Another problem arose from the jealously competitive efforts of a senior, rival orchestra, the Professional Concerts , who recruited Haydn's old pupil Ignaz Pleyel as

1650-618: A new world to him". Haydn returned to Vienna in 1795. Prince Anton had died, and his successor Nikolaus II proposed that the Esterházy musical establishment be revived with Haydn serving again as Kapellmeister. Haydn took up the position on a part-time basis. He spent his summers with the Esterházys in Eisenstadt, and over the course of several years wrote six masses for them including the Lord Nelson mass in 1798. By this time Haydn had become

1760-399: A patron of music. In 1728, his mother Maria Octavia, "probably at her son's instigation" 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

1870-497: A public figure in Vienna. He spent most of his time in his home, a large house in the suburb of Windmühle, and wrote works for public performance. In collaboration with his librettist and mentor Gottfried van Swieten , and with funding from van Swieten's Gesellschaft der Associierten , he composed his two great oratorios, The Creation (1798) and The Seasons (1801). Both were enthusiastically received. Haydn frequently appeared before

1980-450: A result of having been underfed throughout most of his youth. He was not handsome, and like many in his day he was a survivor of smallpox ; his face was pitted with the scars of this disease. His biographer Dies wrote: "he couldn't understand how it happened that in his life he had been loved by many a pretty woman. 'They couldn't have been led to it by my beauty. ' " Haydn had a dark complexion and black eyes. His nose, large and aquiline,

2090-599: 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, Antal Pál (Hungarian) was the same person as Paul Anton (German), and József Miklós

2200-544: A richness and profusion of material, and a disciplined yet varied expression." In 1760, with the security of a Kapellmeister position, Haydn married. His wife was the former Maria Anna Theresia Keller (1729–1800), the sister of Therese (b. 1733), with whom Haydn had previously been in love. Haydn and his wife had a completely unhappy marriage, from which time permitted no escape. They produced no children, and both took lovers. Count Morzin soon suffered financial reverses that forced him to dismiss his musical establishment, but Haydn

2310-660: A rival to Handel's, without success, and in the 1733–1734 season, even the presence of his pupil, the great Farinelli, failed to save the dramatic company in Lincoln's Inn Fields (the " Opera of the Nobility ") from bankruptcy. An interval as Kapellmeister at the Dresden court of the Elector of Saxony and Polish King Augustus from 1748 ended in strained relations with his rival in Venice and Rome,

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2420-457: A rival visiting composer; the two composers, refusing to play along with the concocted rivalry, dined together and put each other's symphonies on their concert programs. The end of Salomon's series in June gave Haydn a rare period of relative leisure. He spent some of the time in the country ( Hertingfordbury ), but also had time to travel, notably to Oxford, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate by

2530-659: Is a Hungarian noble family with origins in the Middle Ages . From the 17th century, the Esterházys were the greatest landowner magnates of the Kingdom of Hungary , during the time that it was part of the Habsburg monarchy and later Austria-Hungary . During the history of the Habsburg Empire, the Esterházy family were consistently loyal to the Habsburg rulers. The Esterházys received

2640-492: Is known for its humor. The most famous example is the sudden loud chord in the slow movement of his "Surprise" symphony ; Haydn's many other musical jokes include numerous false endings (e.g., in the quartets Op. 33 No. 2 and Op. 50 No. 3 ), and the remarkable rhythmic illusion placed in the trio section of the third movement of Op. 50 No. 1 . Esterh%C3%A1zy The House of Esterházy , also spelled Eszterházy ( Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈɛstɛrhaːzi] ),

2750-610: Is today the national anthem of Germany. (Modern Austria uses a different anthem .) During the later years of this successful period, Haydn faced incipient old age and fluctuating health, and he had to struggle to complete his final works. His last major work, from 1802, was the sixth mass for the Esterházys, the Harmoniemesse . By the end of 1803, Haydn's condition had declined to the point that he became physically unable to compose. He suffered from weakness, dizziness, inability to concentrate and painfully swollen legs. Since diagnosis

2860-515: The Surprise , Military , Drumroll and London symphonies; the Rider quartet; and the "Gypsy Rondo" piano trio. The great success of the overall enterprise does not mean that the journeys were free of trouble. Notably, his first project, the commissioned opera L'anima del filosofo was duly written during the early stages of the trip, but the opera's impresario John Gallini was unable to obtain

2970-480: The Paris symphonies (1785–1786) and the original orchestral version of The Seven Last Words of Christ (1786), a commission from Cádiz , Spain. The remoteness of Eszterháza , which was farther from Vienna than Eisenstadt, led Haydn gradually to feel more isolated and lonely. He longed to visit Vienna because of his friendships there. Of these, a particularly important one was with Maria Anna von Genzinger (1754–1793),

3080-555: The Roman Catholic Church and the Habsburg Emperor, the latter factor being 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 World War I . The Esterházy princes were consistently loyal to the Habsburg monarchy, on several occasions rendered vital services to it in times of crisis. These included

3190-418: The coat of arms and title of his mother and the full surname of the family became Eszterházy de Galántha , Galanta being a small town east of Bratislava ( Hungarian : Pozsony , German : Pressburg ), 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,

3300-421: The siege of Vienna in 1683. He also played an important role in suppressing the autonomy of the existing Hungarian nobility. 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. 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

3410-512: 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, and his troops were among the coalition that raised

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3520-599: The Commanders Cross of the 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 . He disbanded

3630-758: The English Channel on New Year's Day of 1791. It was the first time that the 58-year-old composer had seen the sea. Arriving in London, Haydn stayed with Salomon in Great Pulteney Street (London, near Piccadilly Circus ) working in a borrowed studio at the Broadwood piano firm nearby. It was the start of a very auspicious period for Haydn: both the 1791–1792 journey, along with a repeat visit in 1794–1795, were greatly successful. Audiences flocked to Haydn's concerts; he augmented his fame and made large profits, thus becoming financially secure. Charles Burney reviewed

3740-628: 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 , which had allowed families to hold 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

3850-494: The Esterházy musical establishment for the duration of his reign. Born in Vienna, on 12 December 1765, he was the son of Anton and his first wife Maria Theresia. He became reigning Prince on the death of his father in 1794. Like several of his predecessors Nikolaus II pursued a military career. He is remembered for his amassing a large art collection, for his musical patronage of Haydn and Beethoven , for his sexual debauchery, and for his high expenditures. Ultimately these led to

3960-631: The Esterházy-Forchtenstein estates were unequal to the burden of supporting his fabulous extravagance and had to be placed in the hands of curators." Owing to financial trouble, Nikolaus III sold the family art collection "on generous terms" to the Austro-Hungarian state in 1870. The collection is, as a result, on public view today in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest. The reign of Nikolaus IV

4070-450: The Esterházys was Kismarton (today Eisenstadt , Austria ), 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

4180-421: The Esterházys. Under him, the family seat at Eisenstadt evolved into a provincial musical center. He died 24 March 1721. Half-brother of Michael, he reigned for only 11 weeks, as he died on 7 June 1721. As his son Paul Anton was only ten, authority was assigned to two regents: Count Georg Erdödy , and his widow Maria Octavia von Gilleis (c. 1686 – 1762). The latter was responsible for introducing

4290-474: The Frankh household was not easy for Haydn, who later remembered being frequently hungry and humiliated by the filthy state of his clothing. He began his musical training there, and could soon play both harpsichord and violin. He also sang treble parts in the church choir . There is reason to think that Haydn's singing impressed those who heard him, because in 1739 he was brought to the attention of Georg Reutter

4400-538: The German language to the court. The eldest son of Joseph. In his youth he studied in Leyden and also served as a soldier, rising to the rank of Field Marshal. He served as imperial ambassador to Naples from 1750 to 1752, and traveled extensively. 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

4510-523: The King in London, in 1797 Haydn wrote a patriotic "Emperor's Hymn" " Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser ", ("God Save Emperor Francis"). This achieved great success and became "the enduring emblem of Austrian identity right up to the First World War" (Jones). The melody was used for von Fallersleben's Deutschlandlied (1841), which was written as part of the German unification movement and whose third stanza

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4620-607: The Portuguese ambassador at Rome, for composing operas alone did not yet make a viable career. However, his enduring fame rests chiefly upon his unequalled power of teaching singing. At the Neapolitan Conservatorio di Sant'Onofrio and with the Poveri di Gesù Cristo he trained Farinelli , Caffarelli , Salimbeni , and other celebrated vocalists, during the period 1715 to 1721. In 1720 and 1721 he wrote two serenades to libretti by

4730-591: The Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683, and the occupation of Vienna by Napoleon in 1809. The family acquired its property in three principal ways: redistribution of lands taken from Protestants in the Counter-Reformation , redistribution of lands conquered from the Ottoman Empire , and felicitous marriages. Most of these lands were situated in present-day Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. The family ultimately became

4840-556: The Younger , the director of music in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, who happened to be visiting Hainburg and was looking for new choirboys. Haydn passed his audition with Reutter, and after several months of further training moved to Vienna (1740), where he worked for the next nine years as a chorister. Haydn lived in the Kapellhaus next to the cathedral, along with Reutter, Reutter's family, and

4950-552: The ambassador of Venice to the Austrian Empire, Pietro Correr . Porpora returned in 1759 to Naples. From this time Porpora's career was a series of misfortunes: his florid style was becoming old-fashioned, his last opera, Camilla , failed, his pension from Dresden stopped, and he became so poor that the expenses of his funeral were paid by a subscription concert. Yet at the moment of his death, Farinelli and Caffarelli were living in splendid retirement on fortunes largely based on

5060-491: The composer wrote his first string quartets. Of them, Philip G. Downs said "they abound in novel effects and instrumental combinations that can only be the result of humorous intent". Their enthusiastic reception encouraged Haydn to write more. It was a turning point in his career. As a result of the performances, he became in great demand both as a performer and a teacher. Fürnberg later recommended Haydn to Count Morzin , who, in 1757, became his first full-time employer. His salary

5170-685: The concert scene in London; "hardly a concert did not feature a work by him". Haydn's work was widely distributed by publishers in London, including Forster (who had their own contract with Haydn) and Longman & Broderip (who served as agent in England for Haydn's Vienna publisher Artaria ). Efforts to bring Haydn to London had been made since 1782, though Haydn's loyalty to Prince Nikolaus had prevented him from accepting. After fond farewells from Mozart and other friends, Haydn departed from Vienna with Salomon on 15 December 1790, arriving in Calais in time to cross

5280-552: The court orchestra, hiring several virtuosi who served under Haydn; the composer recognized their ability by writing many solo parts in his early symphonies. The second son of Joseph and brother of Paul II, in his youth a decorated soldier. He was the primary patron of Haydn and builder of Esterháza (see above). Son of Nikolaus I, married first, in 1763, Maria Theresia Gräfin Erdödy e Monyorokerek et Monoszlo (1745–1782), and second, in 1785 Maria Anna Gräfin von Hohenfeld (1768–1848). He

5390-419: The esteem in his "Haydn" quartets . In 1785 Haydn was admitted to the same Masonic lodge as Mozart, the " Zur wahren Eintracht " in Vienna. In 1790, Prince Nikolaus died and was succeeded as prince by his son Anton . Following a trend of the time, Anton sought to economize by dismissing most of the court musicians. Haydn retained a nominal appointment with Anton, at a reduced salary of 400 florins, as well as

5500-632: The excellence of the old maestro's teaching. A good linguist, who was admired for the idiomatic fluency of his recitatives, and a man of considerable literary culture, Porpora was also celebrated for his conversational wit. He was well-read in Latin and Italian literature, wrote poetry and spoke French , German , and English . Besides some four dozen operas, there are oratorios, solo cantatas with keyboard accompaniment, motets and vocal serenades. Among his larger works, his 1720 opera Orlando , oratorio Gedeone (1737), one mass , his Venetian Vespers, and

5610-571: The experience and had to depart at intermission. Haydn lived on for 14 more months. His final days were hardly serene, as in May 1809 the French army under Napoleon launched an attack on Vienna and on 10 May bombarded his neighborhood. According to Griesinger, "Four case shots fell, rattling the windows and doors of his house. He called out in a loud voice to his alarmed and frightened people, 'Don't be afraid, children, where Haydn is, no harm can reach you!'. But

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5720-482: The family being placed under a sequestration order, roughly the equivalent of bankruptcy. Served Austria in a series of diplomatic posts, and in 1848 was briefly Foreign Minister. The family encountered financial trouble during his reign, and (according to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition , ), "the last years of his life were spent in comparative poverty and isolation, as even

5830-432: The family name, Estoras , in 2009 is used to label fine Esterházy wines. The Esterházy family is known for its association with the composer Joseph Haydn (1732–1809), who served as their Kapellmeister . Haydn was hired by Prince Paul Anton in 1761, and from 1762 to 1790 served under Paul Anton's successor Nikolaus . During the following reign, that of Prince Anton (1790–1794), the Esterházy family mostly did without

5940-482: The family split into four main family lines: In 1626 the Esterházys were granted the title of Count and in 1712, the older Forchtenstein line received the title of (Ruling) Prince from the Holy Roman Emperor. They had a Sovereign State when they obtained the former Edelstetten Abbey as an Imperial Principality in 1804. The success of the family arose from the steady accumulation of land, and loyalty both to

6050-598: 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 (or Zvolen ) line. The Fraknó ( Forchtenstein ) line became "the most prominent of

6160-1032: The family, with the historic family seat Schloss Esterházy in Eisenstadt as the centre of all activities. Her nephew Stefan Ottrubay acts as general manager. Prince Paul-Anton Nikolaus Maximilian , the heir to the line, born in Munich in 1986. The title of Prince has no legal standing in Hungary today, as noble titles were abolished in 1947 (for details see Hungarian nobility ). In Austria, aristocratic titles were abolished in 1919 . (1635-1713) Kingdom of Hungary , Palatine of Hungary (1671-1721) Royal Court Master Imperial and Royal Chamberlain Imperial and Royal Councillor (1688-1721) (1711-1762) (1714-1790) (1738-1794) (1786-1866) (1817-1894) (1843-1898) (1869-1920) Nicola Porpora Nicola (or Niccolò ) Antonio Giacinto Porpora (17 August 1686 – 3 March 1768)

6270-473: The favorable reception of his music." Haydn was especially respected by the Esterházy court musicians whom he supervised, as he maintained a cordial working atmosphere and effectively represented the musicians' interests with their employer; see Papa Haydn and the tale of the "Farewell" Symphony . Haydn had a robust sense of humor, evident in his love of practical jokes and often apparent in his music, and he had many friends. For much of his life he benefited from

6380-618: The financial precariousness of musical life made him astute and even sharp in his business dealings. Some contemporaries (usually, it has to be said, wealthy ones) were surprised and even shocked at this. Webster writes: "As regards money, Haydn…always attempted to maximize his income, whether by negotiating the right to sell his music outside the Esterházy court, driving hard bargains with publishers or selling his works three and four times over [to publishers in different countries]; he regularly engaged in 'sharp practice'" which nowadays might be regarded as plain fraud. But those were days when copyright

6490-453: The first concert thus: "Haydn himself presided at the piano-forte; and the sight of that renowned composer so electrified the audience, as to excite an attention and a pleasure superior to any that had ever been caused by instrumental music in England." Haydn made many new friends and, for a time, was involved in a romantic relationship with Rebecca Schroeter . Musically, Haydn's visits to England generated some of his best-known work, including

6600-454: The hugely successful opera composer Johann Adolph Hasse and his wife, the prima donna Faustina , and resulted in Porpora's departure in 1752. As his accompanist and valet he hired the youthful Joseph Haydn , who was making his way in Vienna as a struggling freelancer. Haydn later remembered Porpora thus: "There was no lack of Asino , Coglione , Birbante [ass, cullion, rascal], and pokes in

6710-591: The imperial children during carnival season, and as supplementary singers in the imperial chapel (the Hofkapelle ) in Lent and Holy Week. With the increase in his reputation, Haydn eventually obtained aristocratic patronage, crucial for the career of a composer in his day. Countess Thun, having seen one of Haydn's compositions, summoned him and engaged him as her singing and keyboard teacher. In 1756, Baron Carl Josef Fürnberg employed Haydn at his country estate, Weinzierl , where

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6820-583: The largest landowners in the Habsburg Empire, and their income sometimes exceeded that of the Emperor. The family derived its name from the settlement Esterháza, Kingdom of Hungary . 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 have been the owners of a property in Galánta . The most important seat of

6930-575: 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. 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

7040-418: The most notable of which are the 126 baryton trios . Around 1775, the prince abandoned the baryton and took up a new hobby: opera productions, previously a sporadic event for special occasions, became the focus of musical life at court, and the opera theater the prince had built at Esterháza came to host a major season, with multiple productions each year. Haydn served as company director, recruiting and training

7150-496: The mounting of operatic productions. Despite this backbreaking workload, the job was in artistic terms a superb opportunity for Haydn. The Esterházy princes (Paul Anton, then from 1762 to 1790 Nikolaus I ) were musical connoisseurs who appreciated his work and gave him daily access to his own small orchestra. During the nearly thirty years that Haydn worked at the Esterházy court, he produced a flood of compositions, and his musical style continued to develop. Much of Haydn's activity at

7260-461: The name of the Lord] and ended with Laus Deo [praise be to God]. He retained this practice even in his secular works; he frequently only uses the initials "L. D.", "S. D. G." [ soli Deo gloria ], or Laus Deo et B. V. M. [... and to Beatae Virgini Mariae ] and sometimes adds, "et om si " ( et omnibus sanctis – and all saints) Haydn's early years of poverty and awareness of

7370-525: The new Hungarian government carried out a comprehensive land reform , "confiscating the land of gentry with estates of more than 50 hectares". Only the land in Austria remained in prince Paul's possession. Further, in the years after 1945 Hungary came under the rule of the Hungarian People's Republic , an authoritarian Communist regime sponsored by the Soviet Union . Prince Paul endured a show trial and

7480-495: The order of themes compared to the exposition and uses extensive thematic development . Haydn's formal inventiveness also led him to integrate the fugue into the classical style and to enrich the rondo form with more cohesive tonal logic (see sonata rondo form ). Haydn was also the principal exponent of the double variation form—variations on two alternating themes, which are often major- and minor-mode versions of each other. Perhaps more than any other composer's, Haydn's music

7590-688: The organ in the Bohemian Chancellery chapel at the Judenplatz . While a chorister, Haydn had not received any systematic training in music theory and composition. As a remedy, he worked his way through the counterpoint exercises in the text Gradus ad Parnassum by Johann Joseph Fux and carefully studied the work of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach , whom he later acknowledged as an important influence. He said of CPE Bach's first six keyboard sonatas, "I did not leave my clavier till I played them through, and whoever knows me thoroughly must discover that I owe

7700-473: The other four choirboys, which after 1745 included his younger brother Michael . The choirboys were instructed in Latin and other school subjects as well as voice, violin, and keyboard. Reutter was of little help to Haydn in the areas of music theory and composition, giving him only two lessons in his entire time as chorister. However, since St. Stephen's was one of the leading musical centres in Europe, Haydn learned

7810-412: The piano and playing his " Emperor's Hymn ". A final triumph occurred on 27 March 1808 when a performance of The Creation was organized in his honour. The very frail composer was brought into the hall on an armchair to the sound of trumpets and drums and was greeted by Beethoven, Salieri (who led the performance) and by other musicians and members of the aristocracy. Haydn was both moved and exhausted by

7920-406: The point of torture, I cannot escape them, they stand like walls before me. If it's an allegro that pursues me, my pulse keeps beating faster, I can get no sleep. If it's an adagio , then I notice my pulse beating slowly. My imagination plays on me as if I were a clavier." Haydn smiled, the blood rushed to his face, and he said "I am really just a living clavier." The winding down of Haydn's career

8030-484: The point that he was no longer able to sing high choral parts. Empress Maria Theresa herself complained to Reutter about his singing, calling it "crowing". One day, Haydn carried out a prank, snipping off the pigtail of a fellow chorister. This was enough for Reutter: Haydn was first caned , then summarily dismissed and sent into the streets. He had the good fortune to be taken in by a friend, Johann Michael Spangler, who shared his family's crowded garret room with Haydn for

8140-451: The public, often leading performances of The Creation and The Seasons for charity benefits, including Tonkünstler-Societät programs with massed musical forces. He also composed instrumental music: the popular Trumpet Concerto , and the last nine in his long series of string quartets, including the Fifths , Emperor , and Sunrise . Directly inspired by hearing audiences sing God Save

8250-599: 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.) The Esterházys maintained a number of other residences throughout the Kingdom of Hungary , including Transylvania (today part of Romania ), and those Esterházy princes who preferred

8360-403: The representative household of the head of the family as well as to maintain palaces and castles, and to pay allowances to family members without personal wealth.) After the dissolution of the Esterházy trust, prince Paul became the sole owner of the wealth accumulated therein so far. The Second World War proved disastrous: the family was scattered during the war years, and at the end of the war

8470-406: The ribs, but I put up with it all, for I profited greatly from Porpora in singing, in composition, and in the Italian language." He also said that he had learned from the maestro "the true fundamentals of composition". In 1753 Porpora spent three summer months, with Haydn in tow, at the spa town Mannersdorf am Leithagebirge . His function there was to continue the singing lessons of the mistress of

8580-468: The same evening he collapsed and was taken to what proved to be to his deathbed. He died peacefully in his own home at 12:40 a.m. on 31 May 1809, aged 77. On 15 June, a memorial service was held in the Schottenkirche at which Mozart's Requiem was performed. Haydn's remains were interred in the local Hundsturm cemetery until 1820, when they were moved to Eisenstadt by Prince Nikolaus. His head took

8690-541: 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 worked for the family on a part-time basis. He spent his summers in Eisenstadt and annually composed a mass for the name day of the Prince's wife (and Haydn's friend), Princess Maria Josepha Hermenegild (1768–1845). Haydn continued to perform these duties until his health failed in 1802. The first prominent member of

8800-626: The singers and preparing and leading the performances. He wrote several of the operas performed and wrote substitution arias to insert into the operas of other composers. 1779 was a watershed year for Haydn, as his contract was renegotiated: whereas previously all his compositions were the property of the Esterházy family, he now was permitted to write for others and sell his work to publishers. Haydn soon shifted his emphasis in composition to reflect this (fewer operas, and more quartets and symphonies) and he negotiated with multiple publishers, both Austrian and foreign. His new employment contract "acted as

8910-450: The spirit was stronger than the flesh, for he had hardly uttered the brave words when his whole body began to tremble." More bombardments followed until the city fell to the French on 13 May. Haydn, was, however, deeply moved and appreciative when on 17 May a French cavalry officer named Sulémy came to pay his respects and sang, skillfully, an aria from The Creation . On 26 May Haydn played his "Emperor's Hymn" with unusual gusto three times;

9020-446: The string quartet; no other composer approaches his combination of productivity, quality and historical importance in these genres. A central characteristic of Haydn's music is the development of larger structures out of very short, simple musical motifs , often derived from standard accompanying figures. The music is often quite formally concentrated, and the important musical events of a movement can unfold rather quickly. Haydn's work

9130-528: 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 , Hungary. It was built on the site of a former hunting lodge. Today this is the most admired of the Esterházy homes, often called the "Hungarian Versailles ." The main line of the Esterházy family were generally bilingual, in Hungarian (as

9240-524: The three". In the discussion that follows, Hungarian names are given in brackets. 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

9350-407: The time followed the musical taste of his patron Prince Nikolaus. In about 1765, the prince obtained and began to learn to play the baryton , an uncommon musical instrument similar to the bass viol , but with a set of plucked sympathetic strings . Haydn was commanded to provide music for the prince to play, and over the next ten years produced about 200 works for this instrument in various ensembles,

9460-599: The title of Graf (Count) in 1626, and the Forchtenstein line received the title of Fürst (Prince) from the Holy Roman Emperor in 1712. The Esterházys arose among the minor nobility of the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary (today's southwest Slovakia), originally a branch of the Salamon clan ( de genere Salamon ) by the name Zerházi ( de Zerhásház / de Zyrház / de Zyrhas ). Their first known ancestor

9570-484: The university. The symphony performed for the occasion, no. 92 has since come to be known as the Oxford Symphony , although it had been written two years before, in 1789. Four further new symphonies (Nos. 93 , 94 , 97 and 98 ) were performed in early 1792. While traveling to London in 1790, Haydn had met the young Ludwig van Beethoven in his native city of Bonn . On Haydn's return, Beethoven came to Vienna and

9680-427: The violinist Giovanni Battista Viotti . These were the venue of the last three symphonies, 102, 103, and 104. The final benefit concert for Haydn ("Dr. Haydn's night") at the end of the 1795 season was a great success and was perhaps the peak of his English career. Haydn's biographer Griesinger wrote that Haydn "considered the days spent in England the happiest of his life. He was everywhere appreciated there; it opened

9790-518: The wife of Prince Nikolaus's personal physician in Vienna, who began a close, platonic relationship with the composer in 1789. Haydn wrote to Mrs. Genzinger often, expressing his loneliness at Esterháza and his happiness for the few occasions on which he was able to visit her in Vienna. Later on, Haydn wrote to her frequently from London. Her premature death in 1793 was a blow to Haydn, and his F minor variations for piano, Hob. XVII:6, may have been written in response to her death. Another friend in Vienna

9900-415: The world of business, in his dealings, for example, with relatives, musicians and servants, and in volunteering his services for charitable concerts, Haydn was a generous man – e.g., offering to teach the two infant sons of Mozart for free after their father's death. When Haydn died he was certainly comfortably off, but by middle class rather than aristocratic standards. Haydn was short in stature, perhaps as

10010-450: Was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , whom Haydn had met sometime around 1784. According to later testimony by Michael Kelly and others, the two composers occasionally played in string quartets with Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (second violin) and Johann Baptist Wanhal (cello) for small gatherings attended by Giovanni Paisiello and Giovanni Battista Casti . Impressed by Mozart's work, Haydn praised it unstintingly to others. Mozart returned

10120-446: Was "Bernardon". The work was premiered successfully in 1753, but was soon closed down by the censors due to "offensive remarks". Haydn also noticed, apparently without annoyance, that works he had simply given away were being published and sold in local music shops. Between 1754 and 1756 Haydn also worked freelance for the court in Vienna. He was among several musicians who were paid for services as supplementary musicians at balls given for

10230-473: Was Haydn's pupil up until the second London journey. Haydn took Beethoven with him to Eisenstadt for the summer, where Haydn had little to do, and taught Beethoven some counterpoint . While in Vienna, Haydn purchased a house for himself and his wife in the suburbs and started remodeling it. He also arranged for the performance of some of his London symphonies in local concerts. By the time he arrived on his second journey to England (1794–1795), Haydn had become

10340-572: Was Mokud (Mocud) from the Salamon clan, who was a military serviceman and landowner in the Csallóköz region of Western Hungary (today Žitný ostrov in southwestern Slovakia), and Pristaldus , a judicial office-holder in the court of Béla III of Hungary . The name Esterházy was first used by Benedict Zerhas de Zerhashaz (1508–1553), who in 1539 took over the wealth of his wife, Ilona Bessenyei de Galántha. Their son, Ferenc Esterházy (1533–1604) inherited

10450-465: Was a respectable 200 florins a year, plus free board and lodging. Haydn's job title under Count Morzin was Kapellmeister , that is, music director. He led the count's small orchestra in Unterlukawitz and wrote his first symphonies for this ensemble – perhaps numbering in the double figures. Philip Downs comments of these first symphonies: "the seeds of the future are there, his works already exhibit

10560-484: Was a time of revival for the Esterházy family fortunes. The family estates were made into flourishing businesses, including a "traditional welfare net, providing security for employees." With the resulting improvement in the family finances, the family properties were finally released from decades of sequestration. In addition, the family palaces—including the long-abandoned Esterháza —were restored and provided with modern plumbing and electricity. In these efforts Nikolaus

10670-498: Was an Italian composer and teacher of singing of the Baroque era, whose most famous singing students were the castrati Farinelli and Caffarelli . Other students included composers Johann Adolph Hasse , Matteo Capranica and Joseph Haydn . Porpora was born in Naples , Italy. He graduated from the music conservatory Poveri di Gesù Cristo of his native city, where the civic opera scene

10780-509: Was central to the development of what came to be called sonata form . His practice, however, differed in some ways from that of Mozart and Beethoven , his younger contemporaries who likewise excelled in this form of composition. Haydn was particularly fond of the so-called monothematic exposition , in which the music that establishes the dominant key is similar or identical to the opening theme. Haydn also differs from Mozart and Beethoven in his recapitulation sections, where he often rearranges

10890-432: Was disfigured by the polyps he suffered during much of his adult life, an agonizing and debilitating disease that at times prevented him from writing music. James Webster summarizes Haydn's role in the history of classical music as follows: He excelled in every musical genre. [...] He is familiarly known as the "father of the symphony" because he composed 107 symphonies, and could with greater justice be thus regarded for

11000-471: Was dominated by Alessandro Scarlatti . Porpora's first opera, Agrippina , was successfully performed at the Neapolitan court in 1708. His second, Berenice , was performed at Rome. In a long career, he followed these up by many further operas, supported as maestro di cappella in the households of aristocratic patrons, such as the commander of military forces at Naples, prince Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt , or of

11110-675: 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

11220-403: Was gradual. The Esterházy family kept him on as Kapellmeister to the very end (much as they had with his predecessor Werner long before), but they appointed new staff to lead their musical establishment: Johann Michael Fuchs in 1802 as Vice-Kapellmeister and Johann Nepomuk Hummel as Konzertmeister in 1804. Haydn's last summer in Eisenstadt was in 1803, and his last appearance before the public as

11330-648: Was greatly assisted by his wife, Princess Margit (1874–1910), née Countess Cziráky. Prince Nikolaus IV, his wife Margit , their son Anton († 1944) and other family members are buried in the Esterházy family cemetery in Fertőd , which is located in a small park around two kilometers northeast of the Eszterháza Palace (position: 47°38′08.1″N 16°53′04.8″E  /  47.635583°N 16.884667°E  / 47.635583; 16.884667  ( Esterházy family cemetery, Fertőd ) ). The lifetime of this prince witnessed momentous, often catastrophic changes for

11440-410: Was in its infancy, and the pirating of musical works was common. Publishers had few qualms about attaching Haydn's name to popular works by lesser composers, an arrangement that effectively robbed the lesser musician of livelihood. Webster notes that Haydn's ruthlessness in business might be viewed more sympathetically in light of his struggles with poverty during his years as a freelancer—and that outside

11550-557: Was musically gifted and knew that in Rohrau he would have no chance to obtain serious musical training. It was for this reason that, around the time Haydn turned six, they accepted a proposal from their relative Johann Matthias Frankh, the schoolmaster and choirmaster in Hainburg , that Haydn be apprenticed to Frankh in his home to train as a musician. Haydn therefore went off with Frankh to Hainburg and he never again lived with his parents. Life in

11660-408: Was quickly offered a similar job (1761) by Prince Paul Anton , head of the immensely wealthy Esterházy family . Haydn's job title was only Vice-Kapellmeister, but he was immediately placed in charge of most of the Esterházy musical establishment, with the old Kapellmeister Gregor Werner retaining authority only for church music. When Werner died in 1766, Haydn was elevated to full Kapellmeister. As

11770-544: 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. Paul's wealth was inherited by his wife Melinda . Since she had no children, she created several foundations to preserve the cultural and historic heritage of

11880-498: 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

11990-422: Was uncertain in Haydn's time, it is unlikely that the precise illness can ever be identified, though Jones suggests arteriosclerosis . The illness was especially hard for Haydn because the flow of fresh musical ideas continued unabated, although he could no longer work them out as compositions. His biographer Dies reported Haydn saying in 1806: I must have something to do—usually musical ideas are pursuing me, to

12100-555: Was used for von Fallersleben's Deutschlandlied (1841), whose third stanza is today the national anthem of Germany. He was a friend and mentor of Mozart , a tutor of Beethoven , and the elder brother of composer Michael Haydn . Joseph Haydn was born in Rohrau , Austria, a village that at that time stood on the border with Hungary. His father was Mathias Haydn , a wheelwright who also served as "Marktrichter", or marketplace supervisor. Haydn's mother Maria, née Koller, had worked as

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