Haydn Essay Research Paper Joseph Haydn was

Haydn Essay, Research Paper

Joseph Haydn was without a doubt one of the greatest composers of his day. He was

loved very much as both a man and a musician, and unlike many other composers when he died

in 1809. he was one of the most celebrated composers in the world.

Haydn once said, “Young people can see from my example that something can still come

from nothing, but what I am is the result of dire necessity.” And it was very true. The story of

Haydn was a classic story of “rags to riches.” His father, Mathias Haydn (1699-1763), was a

wheelwright who after traveling through Germany settled in Rohrau, a village in Austria near the

border of Hungary. A year later, Mathias married Anna Maria Koller (1707-1754), and on April

1, 1732, Franz Joseph Haydn was born. He was the eldest of twelve children, six of whom never

lived past infancy. They lived in a quiet, modest home, which was always kept neat and tidy.

Music played a big role in the Haydn home. Mathias, through years of travel, learned how to play

the harp and would come home after work and practice. He and his wife would sing Austrian

folk songs along to the music, and the children quickly caught on. This was a nightly ritual and

one night a distant cousin named Johann Mathias Franck visited the Haydn family in Rohrau.

Franck was the school rector from Haimburg and was responsible for the music there. When he

saw the family singing after dinner, he took particular notice to the young Joseph Haydn who

was strumming his arm with a stick, pretending he was playing the violin. It was clear that

Joseph had a natural talent for music, since he kept time and pitch perfectly without ever having

any musical training. As a result, Franck offered to take Joseph back to Haimburg with him and

give him an education in music, which would most definitely lead him to becoming a clergyman.

Because his parents had a great deal of respect for the clergy, they jumped at the opportunity,

and when he was only six years old he left for Haimburg. There he was under a very strict

schedule which included lessons in reading, writing, and catechism, followed by Mass in the

church, and of course instruction in singing and playing almost all wind and string instruments.

Joseph also learned to play the timpani, and did so in a Holy Week procession. He had a deep

love for music and was very grateful for his stay at Haimburg. He once said, “I shall owe it to

that man [Franck] even in my grave that he taught me so many things, though in the process I

have received more thrashings than food.”

In 1740, Karl Georg Reutter, the music director of St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna

came to Hainburg in search of new, young boys to replace the older ones whose voices broke.

Haydn was immediately recommended, and after singing a few pieces for Reutter, the badly

nourished boy was taken in as a new student to the Choir School at St. Stephen’s Cathedral,

where he would remain for the next nine years.

Haydn loved Vienna and was impressed greatly by all the fine music surrounding the city.

his life in the Cathedral was hard, however, and the schedule once again was rigorous. There

were lessons in Latin, math, and all the academic studies, as well as classes in singing, violin,

and percussion. However, there was no teaching of composition or theory, and Haydn often

claimed that he never had a proper teacher. As a matter of fact, it was often the older boys

teaching the younger boys. This meant Joseph was often the teacher of his younger brother,

Michael, who joined the choir a few years later. His other brother, Johann Evangelist, also joined

the choir and together the boys had a great time. There were many concerts outside the cathedral,

which were looked forward to with great excitement. This was because the amount of food at the

Cathedral was very limited and during concerts the boys were often treated to fine meals.

All of the fun soon ended when Haydn’s voice broke and he was expelled from the school.

He was left virtually alone in Vienna with no money and no place to go. He began composing

and arranging music as well as giving lessons in music. This earned him enough money to pay

rent for a small apartment and afford all the living expenses.

It was at this point in his life that he began studying the first six sonatas of Carl Philipp

Emanuel Bach, which fascinated him. Haydn once said, “I did not leave the clavier until I had

played them through…I owe a great deal to Emanuel Bach, that I understood him and have

studied him with diligence. Emanuel Bach once paid me a compliment on [the sonatas] himself.”

It was from this time in his life that Haydn wrote his earliest composition, a Missa Brevis in

F. After that came the first string quartets and for the first time in Haydn’s life he was being

recognized for his work, as well as living and eating well.

Haydn’s first orchestral compositions came out in 1758 when he became the conductor of

<

Внимание, отключите Adblock

Вы посетили наш сайт со включенным блокировщиком рекламы!
Ссылка для скачивания станет доступной сразу после отключения Adblock!

Скачать