Joseph Haydn. Brief overview and biography. History of the creation of the piano

Composer Franz Joseph Haydn is called the founder of the modern orchestra, the “father of the symphony,” and the founder of the classical instrumental genre.

Composer Franz Joseph Haydn called the founder of the modern orchestra, the “father of the symphony,” the founder of the classical instrumental genre.

Haydn was born in 1732. His father was a carriage maker, his mother served as a cook. House in the town Rorau on the river bank Leiths, where little Joseph spent his childhood, has survived to this day.

Craftsman's Children Matthias Haydn loved music very much. Franz Joseph was a gifted child - from birth he was given a ringing melodic voice and absolute pitch; he had a great sense of rhythm. The boy sang in the local church choir and tried to learn to play the violin and clavichord. As always happens with teenagers, young Haydn lost his voice during adolescence. He was immediately fired from the choir.

For eight years, the young man earned money by giving private music lessons, constantly improved himself through independent studies, and tried to compose works.

Life brought Joseph together with a Viennese comedian and popular actor - Johann Joseph Kurtz. It was luck. Kurtz ordered music from Haydn for his own libretto for the opera The Crooked Demon. The comic work was successful - it ran on the theater stage for two years. However, critics were quick to accuse the young composer of frivolity and “buffoonery.” (This stamp was later repeatedly transferred by retrogrades to other works of the composer.)

Meet the composer Nicola Antonio Porporoi gave Haydn a lot in terms of creative mastery. He served the famous maestro, was an accompanist in his lessons, and gradually studied himself. Under the roof of a house, in a cold attic, Joseph Haydn tried to compose music on an old clavichord. In his works, the influence of the work of famous composers and folk music was noticeable: Hungarian, Czech, Tyrolean motifs.

In 1750, Franz Joseph Haydn composed the Mass in F major, and in 1755 he wrote the first string quartet. From that time on, there was a turning point in the composer’s fate. Joseph received unexpected financial support from the landowner Carl Furnberg. The patron recommended the young composer to a count from the Czech Republic - Josef Franz Morzin- Viennese aristocrat. Until 1760, Haydn served as Morzin's bandmaster, had a table, shelter and salary, and could seriously study music.

Since 1759, Haydn has created four symphonies. At this time, the young composer got married - it happened impromptu, unexpectedly for him. However, marriage to a 32-year-old Anna Aloysia Keller was concluded. Haydn was only 28, he never loved Anna.

Haydn died at his home in 1809. First, the maestro was buried in the Hundsturmer cemetery. Since 1820, his remains were transferred to the temple of the city of Eisenstadt.

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The entire complex world of classical music, which cannot be covered at one glance, is conventionally divided into eras or styles (this applies to all classical art, but today we are talking specifically about music). One of the central stages in the development of music is the era of musical classicism. This era gave world music three names that probably anyone who has heard at least a little about classical music can name: Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven. Since the lives of these three composers were in one way or another connected with Vienna in the 18th century, the style of their music, as well as the brilliant constellation of their names itself, was called Viennese classicism. These composers themselves are called Viennese classics.

"Papa Haydn" - whose papa?

The oldest of the three composers, and therefore the founder of the style of their music, is Franz Joseph Haydn, whose biography you will read in this article (1732-1809) - “Papa Haydn” (they say that the great Mozart himself called Joseph that way, who, by the way, , was several decades younger than Haydn).

Anyone would put on airs! And Father Haydn? Not at all. He gets up at first light and works, writes his music. And he is dressed as if he were not a famous composer, but an inconspicuous musician. He is simple both in food and in conversation. He called all the boys from the street and allowed them to eat wonderful apples in his garden. It is immediately clear that his father was a poor man and that there were many children in the family - seventeen! If not for chance, maybe Haydn, like his father, would have become a master of carriage making.

Early childhood

The small village of Rohrau, lost in Lower Austria, is a huge family, headed by an ordinary worker, a carriage maker, whose responsibility is not the mastery of sound, but carts and wheels. But Joseph’s father also had a good command of sound. Villagers often gathered in the poor but hospitable Haydn house. They sang and danced. Austria is generally very musical, but perhaps the main subject of their interest was the owner of the house himself. Not knowing how to read music, he nevertheless sang well and accompanied himself on the harp, choosing the accompaniment by ear.

First successes

Little Joseph was more clearly affected by his father's musical abilities than all the other children. Already at the age of five, he stood out among his peers with his beautiful, ringing voice and excellent sense of rhythm. With such musical abilities, it was simply destined for him not to grow up in his own family.

At that time, church choirs were in dire need of high voices - female voices: sopranos, altos. Women, according to the structure of patriarchal society, did not sing in the choir, so their voices, so necessary for a full and harmonious sound, were replaced by the voices of very young boys. Before the onset of mutation (that is, the restructuring of the voice, which is part of the changes in the body during adolescence), boys with good musical abilities could well replace women in the choir.

So very little Joseph was taken into the choir of the church of Hainburg, a small town on the banks of the Danube. For his parents, this must have been a huge relief - at such an early age (Josef was about seven) no one in their family had yet become self-sufficient.

The town of Hainburg generally played an important role in Joseph’s fate - here he began to study music professionally. And soon Georg Reuther, a prominent musician from Vienna, visited the Hainburg church. He traveled around the country with the same goal - to find capable, vocal boys to sing in the choir of the Cathedral of St. Stefan. This name hardly tells us anything, but for Haydn it was a great honor. St. Stephen's Cathedral! Symbol of Austria, symbol of Vienna! A huge example of Gothic architecture with echoing vaults. But Haydn had to pay more than that for singing in such a place. Long solemn services and court festivities, which also required a choir, took up a huge part of his free time. But you still had to study at the school at the cathedral! This had to be done in fits and starts. The director of the choir, the same Georg Reuther, had little interest in what was going on in the minds and hearts of his charges, and did not notice that one of them was taking his first, perhaps clumsy, but independent steps in the world of composing music. The work of Joseph Haydn then still bore the stamp of amateurism and the very first attempts. For Haydn, the conservatory was replaced by a choir. Often he had to learn brilliant examples of choral music from previous eras, and Joseph along the way drew conclusions for himself about the techniques used by composers and extracted the knowledge and skills he needed from the musical text.

The boy had to do work that was completely unrelated to music, for example, serving at the court table and serving dishes. But this also turned out to be beneficial for the development of the future composer! The fact is that the nobles at court ate only to high symphonic music. And the little footman, who was not even noticed by the important nobles, while serving the dishes, made to himself the conclusions he needed about the structure of the musical form or the most colorful harmonies. Of course, interesting facts from the life of Joseph Haydn include the very fact of his musical self-education.

The situation at school was harsh: boys were punished petty and severely. No further prospects were foreseen: as soon as the voice began to break and was no longer as high and sonorous as before, its owner was mercilessly thrown out into the street.

Minor start to independent life

Haydn suffered the same fate. He was already 18 years old. After wandering the streets of Vienna for several days, he met an old school friend, and he helped him find an apartment, or rather, a small room right under the attic. It is not for nothing that Vienna is called the music capital of the world. Even then, not yet glorified by the names of the Viennese classics, it was the most musical city in Europe: the melodies of songs and dances floated through the streets, and in the little room under the very roof in which Haydn settled, there was a real treasure - an old, broken clavichord (a musical instrument, one of forerunners of the piano). However, I didn't have to play it much. Most of my time was spent looking for work. In Vienna it is possible to obtain only a few private lessons, the income from which barely allows one to meet the necessary needs. Desperate to find work in Vienna, Haydn begins to wander around nearby cities and villages.

Niccolo Porpora

This time - Haydn's youth - was overshadowed by acute need and constant search for work. Until 1761, he managed to find work only temporarily. Describing this period of his life, it should be noted that he worked as an accompanist for the Italian composer, as well as vocalist and teacher Niccolo Porpora. Haydn got a job with him specifically to learn music theory. It was possible to learn while performing the duties of a footman: Haydn had to not only accompany.

Count Morcin

From 1759, for two years, Haydn lived and worked in the Czech Republic, on the estate of Count Morcin, who had an orchestral chapel. Haydn is the conductor, that is, the manager of this chapel. Here he writes a lot of music, music, of course, very good, but exactly the kind that the count demands from him. It is worth noting that most of Haydn’s musical works were written while performing official duties.

Under the leadership of Prince Esterhazy

In 1761, Haydn began serving in the chapel of the Hungarian Prince Esterhazy. Remember this surname: the elder Esterhazy will die, the estate will pass to the department of his son, and Haydn will still serve. He would serve as Esterhazy's bandmaster for thirty years.

At that time, Austria was a huge feudal state. It included both Hungary and the Czech Republic. Feudal lords - nobles, princes, counts - considered it good form to have an orchestral and choir chapel at court. You've probably heard something about serf orchestras in Russia, but maybe you don't know that things weren't going well in Europe either. A musician - even the most talented one, even the leader of a choir - was in the position of a servant. At the time when Haydn was just beginning to serve with Esterházy, in another Austrian city, Salzburg, little Mozart was growing up, who, while in the service of the count, would have to dine in the people's room, sitting above the footmen, but below the cooks.

Haydn had to carry out many large and small responsibilities - from writing music for holidays and celebrations and learning it with the choir and orchestra of the chapel to discipline in the chapel, costume features and the preservation of notes and musical instruments.

The Esterhazy estate was located in the Hungarian town of Eisenstadt. After the death of the elder Esterhazy, his son took over the estate. Prone to luxury and celebrations, he built a country residence - Eszterhaz. Guests were often invited to the palace, which consisted of one hundred and twenty-six rooms, and, of course, music had to be played for the guests. Prince Esterhazy went to the country palace for all the summer months and took all his musicians there.

Musician or servant?

A long period of service at the Esterhazy estate became the time of birth of many new works by Haydn. At the request of his master, he writes major works in various genres. Operas, quartets, sonatas, and other works come from his pen. But Joseph Haydn especially loves the symphony. This is a large, usually four-movement work for symphony orchestra. It was under Haydn’s pen that a classical symphony appeared, that is, an example of this genre on which other composers would later rely. During his life, Haydn wrote about one hundred and four symphonies (the exact number is unknown). And, of course, most of them were created by the bandmaster of Prince Esterhazy.

Over time, Haydn's position reached a paradox (unfortunately, the same thing would later happen to Mozart): they know him, they listen to his music, they talk about him in different European countries, but he himself cannot even go anywhere without the permission of his owner. The humiliation that Haydn experiences from such an attitude of the prince towards him sometimes slips into letters to friends: “Am I a bandmaster or a bandmaster?” (Chapel - servant).

Joseph Haydn's Farewell Symphony

It is rare for a composer to be able to escape from the circle of official duties, visit Vienna, and see friends. By the way, for some time fate brings him together with Mozart. Haydn was one of those who unconditionally recognized not only the phenomenal virtuosity of Mozart, but precisely his deep talent, which allowed Wolfgang to look into the future.

However, these absences were rare. More often than not, Haydn and the choir musicians had to linger in Eszterhaza. The prince sometimes did not want to let the chapel go to the city even at the beginning of autumn. In the biography of Joseph Haydn, interesting facts undoubtedly include the history of the creation of his 45th, so-called Farewell Symphony. The prince once again detained the musicians for a long time in the summer residence. The cold had long set in, the musicians had not seen their family members for a long time, and the swamps surrounding Eszterhaz were not conducive to good health. The musicians turned to their bandmaster with a request to ask the prince about them. A direct request would hardly help, so Haydn writes a symphony, which he performs by candlelight. The symphony consists not of four, but of five movements, and during the last one the musicians take turns standing up, putting down their instruments and leaving the hall. Thus, Haydn reminded the prince that it was time to take the chapel to the city. The legend says that the prince took the hint, and the summer holiday was finally over.

Last years of life. London

The life of the composer Joseph Haydn developed like a path in the mountains. It's hard to climb, but at the end - the top! The culmination of both his creativity and his fame came at the very end of his life. Haydn's works reached their final maturity in the 1980s. XVIII century. Examples of the style of the 80s include six so-called Parisian symphonies.

The composer's difficult life was marked by a triumphant conclusion. In 1791, Prince Esterhazy dies, and his heir dissolves the chapel. Haydn, already a well-known composer throughout Europe, becomes an honorary citizen of Vienna. He receives a house in this city and a lifelong pension. The last years of Haydn's life are very radiant. He visits London twice - as a result of these trips, twelve London symphonies appeared - his last works in this genre. In London, he gets acquainted with the work of Handel and, impressed by this acquaintance, for the first time tries himself in the oratorio genre - Handel's favorite genre. In his declining years, Haydn created two oratorios that are still known today: “The Seasons” and “The Creation of the World.” Joseph Haydn wrote music until his death.

Conclusion

We examined the main stages of the life of the father of the classical style in music. Optimism, the triumph of good over evil, reason over chaos and light over darkness, these are the characteristic features of the musical works of Joseph Haydn.

"FATHER" OF THE SYMPHONY JOSEPH HAYDN

This composer created with the hope that his works would help people become at least a little happier and serve as a source of cheerfulness and inspiration. With such thoughts, he began his favorite pastime. became the “father” of the symphony, the discoverer of other musical genres, he was the first to write secular oratorios in German, and his masses became the pinnacle of the Viennese classical school.

The carriage maker's son

He was awarded many honorary titles, became a member of music academies and societies, and the fame that came to him was deserved. No one could have imagined that the son of a carriage maker from Austria would achieve such honors. Born in 1732 in the small Austrian village of Rohrau. His father had no musical education, but independently mastered playing the harp, not indifferent The mother of the future composer was also interested in music. From early childhood, Joseph's parents discovered that Joseph had good vocal abilities and hearing. Already at the age of five, he loudly sang along with his father, and then learned to play the violin and clavier and came to the church choir to perform masses.

The far-sighted father sent young Joseph to a neighboring town to visit his relative Johann Matthias Frank, the rector of the school. He taught children not only grammar and mathematics, but also gave them lessons in singing and playing the violin. There, Haydn mastered string and wind instruments and learned to play the timpani, retaining his gratitude to his teacher throughout his life.

Hard work, perseverance and a naturally beautiful treble made young Joseph famous in the city. One day, the Viennese composer Georg von Reuter came there to select young singers for his choir. made an impression on him and at the age of 8 he joined the choir of the largest cathedral in Vienna. For eight years, young Haydn learned the art of singing, the subtleties of composition, and even tried to compose spiritual works for several voices.

Heavy bread

The most difficult period for Haydn began in 1749, when he had to earn a living by giving lessons, singing in various church choirs, and accompanying singers and play in ensembles. At the same time, the young man never became discouraged and did not lose his desire to comprehend everything new. He took lessons from the composer Nicolo Porpora, and paid him by accompanying his young students. Haydn studied books on composition and analyzed keyboard sonatas, and diligently composed music of various genres until late at night. And in 1951, Haydn’s singspiel entitled “The Lame Demon” was staged in one of the suburban Viennese theaters. In 1755 he produced his first string quartet, and four years later his first symphony. These genres in the future will become the most important in the entire work of the composer.

The Strange Union of Joseph Haydn

The fame gained in Vienna helped the young musician get a job with Count Morcin. It was for his chapel that he wrote the first five symphonies. By the way, in less than two years of working with Mortsin, the composer managed to tie the knot. 28-year-old Joseph had tender feelings for the youngest daughter of the court hairdresser, and unexpectedly for everyone she went to a monastery. Then Haydn, either in revenge or for some other reasons, married her sister Maria Keller, who was 4 years older than Joseph. Their family union was not happy. The composer's wife was grumpy and wasteful; she did not at all appreciate her husband's talent; she folded his manuscripts into paper curlers or used them instead of baking paper. But, surprisingly, their family life, in the absence of love, desired children and home comfort, lasted about 40 years.

In the service of the prince

The turning point in the creative life of Joseph Haydn came in 1761, when he signed a work contract with Prince Paul Esterhazy. For 30 long years, the composer held the post of court conductor of an aristocratic family. The prince and his relatives lived in Vienna only in the winter, and spent the rest of the time at his residence in the town of Eisenstadt or at his estate in Esterhazy. Therefore, Joseph had to leave the capital for 6 years. When Prince Paul died, his brother Nikolaus expanded the chapel to 16 people. There were two theaters on the family estate: one was intended for the performance of operas and dramas, and the second for puppet shows.

Of course, Haydn's position was highly dependent, but for that time it was considered completely natural. The composer valued his now comfortable life and always remembered his youthful years of need. Sometimes he was overcome by melancholy and a desire to throw off these shackles. According to the contract, he was obliged to compose those works that the prince desired. The composer had no right to show them to anyone, make copies or write for someone else. He had to be with Esterhazy all the time. Because of this, Joseph Haydn never had the opportunity to visit the homeland of classical music in Italy.

But such a life also had a second side. Haydn did not experience material or everyday difficulties, so he could calmly engage in creativity. The entire orchestra was at his complete disposal, thanks to which the composer had an excellent opportunity to experiment and perform his works at almost any time.

Late love

Castle Theater of Prince Esterhazy

He devoted four decades to symphonies. He wrote more than a hundred works in this genre. He staged 90 operas at the Prince Esterhazy Theater. And in the Italian troupe of this theater the composer found late love. The young Neapolitan singer Luigia Polzelli charmed Haydn. Josef, passionately in love, achieved an extension of the contract with her, simplified the vocal parts especially for her, perfectly understanding her capabilities. But Luigia did not bring him real happiness - she was too selfish. Therefore, even after the death of his wife, Haydn wisely did not marry her and even in the last version of his will he reduced the amount initially allotted to her by half, noting that there were more needy people.

Fame and male friendship

The time has finally come when glory Joseph Haydn went beyond the borders of his native Austria. Commissioned by the Paris Concert Society, he wrote six symphonies, then received orders from the capital of Spain. His works began to be published in Naples and London, and the competing entrepreneurs of Tumanny Albion invited him on tour. The most amazing event was the performance of two symphonies by Joseph Haydn in New York.

At the same time, the life of the great composer was illuminated by friendship with. It should be noted that their relationship was never marred by the slightest rivalry or envy. Mozart claimed that it was from Joseph that he first learned how to create string quartets, so he dedicated several works to “Papa Haydn.” Joseph himself considered Wolfgang Amadeus the greatest of contemporary composers.

Pan-European triumph

After 50 years, the usual way of life Joseph Haydn changed dramatically. He received his freedom, although he continued to be listed as a court bandmaster with the heirs of Prince Esterhazy. The chapel itself was dissolved by the prince's descendants, and the composer left for Vienna. In 1791 he was invited to go on tour to England. The terms of the contract included the creation of six symphonies and their performance in London, as well as the writing of an opera and twenty other works. Haydn was given one of the best orchestras at his disposal, which employed 40 musicians. The year and a half spent in London became triumphant for Joseph. The second English tour was no less successful and turned out to be the pinnacle of creativity for him. During these two trips to England, the composer composed almost 280 works and became a Doctor of Music at Oxford University, the oldest educational institution in England. The king even invited the composer to stay in London, but he refused and returned to his native Austria.

By that time, the first lifetime monument to him had been erected in his homeland near the village of Rorau, and an evening was organized in the capital at which Haydn’s new symphonies and a piano concert performed by the maestro’s student were performed. They first met in Bonn when Haydn was traveling to London. The lessons were tense at first, but Wolfgang always treated the elderly composer with the greatest respect, and then dedicated piano sonatas to him.

In recent years I have become interested in choral music. This interest arose after visiting a grand festival in honor of George Frideric Handel, organized at Westminster Cathedral. Haydn then created several masses, as well as the oratorios “The Seasons” and “The Creation of the World.” The composer's 76th birthday was celebrated with a performance of the latter at the University of Vienna.

Musical protest

At the beginning of 1809, the maestro’s health condition completely deteriorated, he became almost disabled. The last days of his life were also turbulent. Vienna was captured by Napoleon's troops, a shell fell near Haydn's house and the sick composer had to calm down his servants. After the surrender In the city, Napoleon gave the order to place a sentry near Haydn’s house so that no one would disturb the dying man. There is still a legend in Vienna that the weakened composer played the Austrian anthem almost every day in protest against the French invaders.

gone Joseph Haydn the same year. A few years later, the descendants of Prince Esterhazy decided to rebury the maestro in the church of the city of Eisenstadt. When the coffin was opened, a skull was not found under the preserved wig. It turned out that Haydn’s friends secretly removed it before burial. Until 1954, the skull was in the museum of the Vienna Society of Music Lovers and only in the middle of the 20th century was it connected with the remains.

DATA

The musicians of Prince Esterhazy's chapel often remained separated from their families for long periods of time. One day they turned to Haydn so that he voiced to the prince their desire to see their relatives. The maestro figured out how to do this. The guests came to listen to his new symphony. Candles were lit on music stands and sheet music was open. After the first sounds, the horn player played part of his part, put down the instrument, put out the candle and left. One for to others, all the musicians did this. The guests just looked at each other in bewilderment. The moment came when the last sound died down and all the lights went out. The prince understood Haydn's original hint and gave the musicians the opportunity to take a break from continuous service.

I suffered from nasal polyps most of my life. One day, his surgeon friend suggested removing them and saving the composer from suffering. He initially agreed, went into the operating room, saw several healthy orderlies who were supposed to hold the maestro, and was so scared that he ran out of the room screaming, leaving him with polyps.

Updated: March 22, 2017 by: Elena

Haydn is rightly considered the father of the symphony and quartet, the great founder of classical instrumental music, and the founder of the modern orchestra.

Franz Joseph Haydn was born on March 31, 1732 in Lower Austria, in the small town of Rohrau, located on the left bank of the Leita River, between the towns of Bruck and Hainburg, near the Hungarian border. Haydn's ancestors were hereditary Austro-German peasant artisans. The composer's father, Matthias, was engaged in carriage business. Mother - nee Anna Maria Koller - served as a cook.

The father's musicality and love of music were inherited by his children. Little Joseph already attracted the attention of musicians at the age of five. He had excellent hearing, memory, and a sense of rhythm. His ringing silver voice delighted everyone.

Thanks to his outstanding musical abilities, the boy first joined the church choir of the small town of Gainburg, and then the choir chapel at the Cathedral (main) St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. This was a significant event in Haydn's life. After all, he had no other opportunity to receive a musical education.

Singing in a choir was a very good, but only school for Haydn. The boy's abilities quickly developed, and he was assigned difficult solo parts. The church choir often performed at city festivals, weddings, and funerals. The choir was also invited to participate in court celebrations. How much time did it take to perform in the church itself, for rehearsals? All this was a heavy load for the little singers.

Josef was understanding and quickly accepted everything new. He even found time to play the violin and clavichord and achieved significant success. Only his attempts to compose music did not meet with support. During his nine years in the choir, he received only two lessons from its director!

However, the lessons did not appear immediately. Before that, I had to go through a desperate time of searching for income. Little by little I managed to find some work, which, although it did not provide any support, still allowed me not to die of hunger. Haydn began giving singing and music lessons, playing the violin at festive evenings, and sometimes just on the highways. By order, he composed several of his first works. But all these earnings were random. Haydn understood: to become a composer, you need to study a lot and hard. He began to study theoretical works, in particular the books of I. Matteson and I. Fuchs.

The collaboration with the Viennese comedian Johann Joseph Kurz turned out to be useful. Kurtz was at that time very popular in Vienna as a talented actor and author of a number of farces.

Kurtz, having met Haydn, immediately appreciated his talent and offered to compose music for the libretto of the comic opera “The Crooked Demon” that he compiled. Haydn wrote music that, unfortunately, has not reached us. We only know that “The Crooked Demon” was performed in the winter of 1751-1752 in the theater at the Carinthian Gate and was a success. “Haydn received 25 ducats for it and considered himself very rich.”

The bold debut of a young, still little-known composer on the theater stage in 1751 immediately brought him popularity in democratic circles and... very bad reviews from adherents of old musical traditions. Reproaches of “buffoonery,” “frivolity,” and other sins were later transferred by various zealots of the “sublime” to the rest of Haydn’s work, starting with his symphonies and ending with his masses.

The last stage of Haydn's creative youth - before he embarked on an independent path as a composer - were classes with Nicola Antonio Porpora, an Italian composer and conductor, a representative of the Neapolitan school.

Porpora reviewed Haydn's compositional experiments and gave him instructions. Haydn, in order to reward the teacher, was an accompanist in his singing lessons and even served as his servant.

Under the roof, in the cold attic where Haydn huddled, on an old broken clavichord, he studied the works of famous composers. And folk songs! He listened to so many of them, wandering day and night through the streets of Vienna. Here and there a variety of folk tunes sounded: Austrian, Hungarian, Czech, Ukrainian, Croatian, Tyrolean. Therefore, Haydn’s works are permeated with these wonderful melodies, most of them cheerful and cheerful.

A turning point was gradually brewing in Haydn's life and work. His financial situation began to improve little by little and his position in life became stronger. At the same time, his great creative talent bore its first significant fruits.

Around 1750, Haydn wrote a small mass (in F major), showing in it not only a talented assimilation of modern techniques of this genre, but also an obvious inclination towards composing “cheerful” church music. A more important fact is that the composer composed his first string quartet in 1755.

The impetus was an acquaintance with a music lover, landowner Karl Furnberg. Encouraged by Fürnberg's attention and financial support, Haydn first wrote a series of string trios, and then the first string quartet, which was soon followed by about two dozen others. In 1756, Haydn composed the Concerto in C major. Haydn's patron also took care of strengthening his financial position. He recommended the composer to the Czech Viennese aristocrat and music lover Count Joseph Franz Morzin. Morcin spent the winter in Vienna, and in the summer he lived on his estate Lukavec near Pilsen. In the service of Morcin, as a composer and conductor, Haydn received free accommodation, food and salary.

This service turned out to be short-lived (1759-1760), but still helped Haydn take further steps in composition. In 1759, Haydn created his first symphony, followed by four others in the coming years.

Both in the field of the string quartet and in the field of the symphony, Haydn was to define and crystallize the genres of a new musical era: composing quartets, creating symphonies, he showed himself to be a bold, decisive innovator.

While in the service of Count Morzin, Haydn fell in love with the youngest daughter of his friend, the Viennese hairdresser Johann Peter Keller, Teresa, and was seriously planning to marry her. However, the girl, for reasons that remained unknown, left her parental home, and her father did not find anything better than to say: “Haydn, you should marry my eldest daughter.” It is unknown what prompted Haydn to respond positively. One way or another, Haydn agreed. He was 28 years old, his bride, Maria Anna Aloysia Apollonia Keller, was 32. The marriage took place on November 26, 1760, and Haydn became... an unhappy husband for many decades.

His wife soon proved herself to be an extremely narrow-minded, stupid and quarrelsome woman. She absolutely did not understand or appreciate the great talent of her husband. “She didn’t care,” Haydn once said in his old age, “whether her husband was a shoemaker or an artist.”

Maria Anna mercilessly destroyed a number of Haydn's music manuscripts, using them for curlers and linings for pates. Moreover, she was very wasteful and demanding.

Having married, Haydn violated the terms of service with Count Morcin - the latter accepted only single men into his chapel. However, he did not have to hide the change in his personal life for long. The financial shock forced Count Morcin to abandon musical pleasures and dissolve the chapel. Haydn faced the threat of again being left without a permanent income.

But then he received an offer from a new, more powerful patron of the arts - the richest and very influential Hungarian magnate - Prince Pavel Anton Esterhazy. Paying attention to Haydn in Morcin Castle, Esterhazy appreciated his talent.

Not far from Vienna, in the small Hungarian town of Eisenstadt, and in the summer in the Eszterhaz country palace, Haydn spent thirty years as a conductor. The duties of the bandmaster included directing the orchestra and singers. Haydn also had to compose symphonies, operas, quartets and other works at the prince's request. Often the capricious prince ordered a new essay to be written by the next day! Haydn’s talent and extraordinary hard work helped him here too. One after another, operas appeared, as well as symphonies, including “The Bear”, “Children’s Room”, “School Teacher”.

While directing the chapel, the composer could listen to live performances of the works he created. This made it possible to correct everything that did not sound good enough, and to remember what turned out to be especially successful.

During his service with Prince Esterhazy, Haydn wrote most of his operas, quartets and symphonies. In total, Haydn created 104 symphonies!

In his symphonies, Haydn did not set himself the task of individualizing the plot. The composer’s programming is most often based on individual associations and visual “sketches.” Even where it is more integral and consistent - purely emotionally, as in the “Farewell Symphony” (1772), or genre-wise, as in the “War Symphony” (1794), it still lacks clear plot foundations.

The enormous value of Haydn's symphonic concepts, for all their comparative simplicity and unpretentiousness, is in a very organic reflection and implementation of the unity of the spiritual and physical world of man.

This opinion is expressed, and very poetically, by E.T.A. Hoffman:

“Haydn’s works are dominated by the expression of a childish, joyful soul; his symphonies lead us into vast green groves, into a cheerful, motley crowd of happy people, boys and girls rush in front of us in choral dances; Laughing children hide behind trees, behind rose bushes, playfully throwing flowers. A life full of love, full of bliss and eternal youth, as before the Fall; no suffering, no sorrow - only a sweetly elegiac desire for the beloved image, which floats in the distance, in the pink flicker of the evening, neither approaching nor disappearing, and while it is there, night does not come, for he himself is the evening dawn burning above mountain and over the grove."

Haydn's skill has reached perfection over the years. His music invariably aroused the admiration of Esterhazy's many guests. The composer's name became widely known outside his homeland - in England, France, and Russia. The six symphonies performed in Paris in 1786 were called "Parisian". But Haydn had no right to go anywhere outside the prince’s estate, print his works, or simply give them as a gift without the consent of the prince. And the prince did not like the absences of “his” bandmaster. He was accustomed to Haydn, along with other servants, waiting for his orders in the hallway at a certain time. At such moments, the composer felt his dependence especially acutely. “Am I the bandmaster or the conductor?” - he exclaimed bitterly in letters to friends. One day he managed to escape and visit Vienna, see acquaintances and friends. How much joy it brought him to meet his beloved Mozart! Fascinating conversations were followed by performances of quartets, with Haydn playing the violin and Mozart playing the viola. Mozart took particular pleasure in performing quartets written by Haydn. In this genre, the great composer considered himself his student. But such meetings were extremely rare.

Haydn had a chance to experience other joys - the joys of love. On March 26, 1779, the Polzelli spouses were received into the Esterhazy Chapel. Antonio, the violinist, was no longer young. His wife, singer Luiga, a Moorish woman from Naples, was only nineteen years old. She was very attractive. Luigia lived unhappily with her husband, just like Haydn. Exhausted by the company of his grumpy and quarrelsome wife, he fell in love with Luigia. This passion lasted, gradually weakening and dimming, until the composer’s old age. Apparently, Luigia reciprocated Haydn’s feelings, but still, more self-interest than sincerity appeared in her attitude. In any case, she steadily and very persistently extorted money from Haydn.

Rumor even called (it is not known whether correctly) Luigi's son Antonio the son of Haydn. Her eldest son Pietro became the composer’s favorite: Haydn took care of him like a father and took an active part in his training and upbringing.

Despite his dependent position, Haydn could not leave the service. At that time, a musician had the opportunity to work only in court chapels or lead a church choir. Before Haydn, no composer had ever dared to exist independently. Haydn also did not dare to part with his permanent job.

In 1791, when Haydn was already about 60 years old, the old Prince Esterhazy died. His heir, who did not have much love for music, dissolved the chapel. But he was also flattered that the composer, who had become famous, was listed as his bandmaster. This forced the young Esterhazy to grant Haydn a pension sufficient to prevent “his servant” from entering a new service.

Haydn was happy! Finally he is free and independent! He agreed to the offer to go to England for concerts. While traveling on a ship, Haydn saw the sea for the first time. And how many times did he dream about it, trying to imagine the boundless water element, the movement of the waves, the beauty and variability of the color of the water. Once in his youth, Haydn even tried to convey in music the picture of a raging sea.

Life in England was also unusual for Haydn. The concerts in which he conducted his works were a triumphant success. This was the first open mass recognition of his music. The University of Oxford elected him as an honorary member.

Haydn visited England twice. Over the years, the composer wrote his famous twelve London Symphonies. The London Symphonies complete the evolution of Haydn's symphony. His talent reached its peak. The music sounded deeper and more expressive, the content became more serious, and the colors of the orchestra became richer and more varied.

Despite being extremely busy, Haydn managed to listen to new music. He was especially impressed by the oratorios of the German composer Handel, his senior contemporary. The impression of Handel's music was so great that, returning to Vienna, Haydn wrote two oratorios - “The Creation of the World” and “The Seasons”.

The plot of “The Creation of the World” is extremely simple and naive. The first two parts of the oratorio tell about the emergence of the world according to the will of God. The third and last part is about the heavenly life of Adam and Eve before the Fall.

A number of judgments of contemporaries and immediate descendants about Haydn’s “Creation of the World” are typical. This oratorio was a huge success during the composer’s lifetime and greatly increased his fame. Nevertheless, critical voices were also heard. Naturally, the visual imagery of Haydn’s music shocked philosophers and aestheticians who were in a “sublime” mood. Serov wrote enthusiastically about “The Creation of the World”:

“What a gigantic creation this oratorio is! There is, by the way, one aria depicting the creation of birds - this is absolutely the highest triumph of onomatopoeic music, and, moreover, “what energy, what simplicity, what simple-minded grace!” “This is absolutely beyond any comparison.” The oratorio “The Seasons” should be recognized as an even more significant work of Haydn than “The Creation of the World”. The text of the oratorio “The Seasons,” like the text of “The Creation of the World,” was written by van Swieten. The second of Haydn's great oratorios is more diverse and deeply human not only in content, but also in form. This is a whole philosopheme, an encyclopedia of pictures of nature and Haydn’s patriarchal peasant morality, glorifying work, love of nature, the delights of village life and the purity of naive souls. In addition, the plot allowed Haydn to create a very harmonious and complete, harmonious musical concept of the whole.

Composing the enormous score of “The Four Seasons” was not easy for the decrepit Haydn, costing him many worries and sleepless nights. Towards the end he was tormented by headaches and the obsession with musical performances.

The London Symphonies and oratorios were the pinnacle of Haydn's work. After the oratorios he wrote almost nothing. Life has been too stressful. His strength was exhausted. The composer spent his last years on the outskirts of Vienna, in a small house. The quiet and secluded home was visited by admirers of the composer's talent. The conversations concerned the past. Haydn especially loved to remember his youth - hard, laborious, but full of bold, persistent searches.

Haydn died in 1809 and was buried in Vienna. Subsequently, his remains were transferred to Eisenstadt, where he spent so many years of his life.

Introduction

Franz Joseph Haydn (German) Franz Joseph Haydn, April 1, 1732 - May 31, 1809) - Austrian composer, representative of the Viennese classical school, one of the founders of such musical genres as the symphony and string quartet. The creator of the melody, which later formed the basis of the anthems of Germany and Austria-Hungary.

1. Biography

1.1. Youth

Joseph Haydn (the composer himself never called himself Franz) was born on April 1, 1732 in the Lower Austrian village of Rohrau, near the border with Hungary, in the family of Matthias Haydn (1699-1763). His parents, who were seriously interested in vocals and amateur music-making, discovered musical abilities in the boy and in 1737 sent him to relatives in the city of Hainburg an der Donau, where Joseph began to study choral singing and music. In 1740, Joseph was noticed by Georg von Reutter, director of the chapel of the Vienna Cathedral of St. Stefan. Reutter took the talented boy to the choir, and he sang in the choir for nine years (including several years with his younger brothers). Singing in a choir was a good, but only school for Haydn. As his abilities developed, he was assigned difficult solo parts. Together with the choir, Haydn often performed at city festivals, weddings, funerals, and took part in court celebrations.

In 1749, Joseph's voice began to break and he was kicked out of the choir. The subsequent ten-year period was very difficult for him. Josef took on various jobs, including being a servant to the Italian composer Nicola Porpora, from whom he also took composition lessons. Haydn tried to fill the gaps in his musical education by diligently studying the works of Emmanuel Bach and the theory of composition. The harpsichord sonatas he wrote at this time were published and attracted attention. His first major works were two brevis masses, F-dur and G-dur, written by Haydn in 1749 even before he left the chapel of St. Stefan; opera “The Lame Demon” (not preserved); about a dozen quartets (1755), the first symphony (1759).

In 1759, the composer received the position of bandmaster at the court of Count Karl von Morzin, where Haydn was under the leadership of a small orchestra, for which the composer composed his first symphonies. However, soon von Mortsin begins to experience financial difficulties and ceases his musical project.

In 1760 Haydn married Maria Anna Keller. They did not have children, which the composer greatly regretted.

1.2. Service with Esterhazy

In 1761, a fateful event occurred in Haydn's life - he was taken as the second bandmaster at the court of the Esterhazy princes, one of the most influential and powerful aristocratic families of Austria-Hungary. The duties of the conductor include composing music, leading the orchestra, playing chamber music for the patron and staging operas.

During his almost thirty-year career at the Esterházy court, the composer composed a large number of works, and his fame grew. In 1781, while staying in Vienna, Haydn met and became friends with Mozart. He gives music lessons to Sigismund von Neukom, who later became his close friend.

Throughout the 18th century, in a number of countries (Italy, Germany, Austria, France and others), processes of formation of new genres and forms of instrumental music took place, which finally took shape and reached their peak in the so-called “Viennese classical school” - in the works of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven . Instead of polyphonic texture, homophonic-harmonic texture acquired great importance, but at the same time, polyphonic episodes were often included in large instrumental works, dynamizing the musical fabric.

1.3. Free musician again

In 1790, Nikolaus Esterházy died, and his successor, Prince Anton, not being a music lover, dissolved the orchestra. In 1791, Haydn received a contract to work in England. Subsequently, he works extensively in Austria and Great Britain. Two trips to London, where he wrote his best symphonies for Solomon's concerts, further strengthened Haydn's fame.

Haydn then settled in Vienna, where he wrote his two famous oratorios: “The Creation of the World” and “The Seasons.”

Passing through Bonn in 1792, he meets the young Beethoven and takes him on as a student.

Haydn tried his hand at all types of musical composition, but not in all genres his creativity manifested itself with equal force. In the field of instrumental music, he is rightly considered one of the greatest composers of the second half of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Haydn's greatness as a composer was most manifested in his two final works: the great oratorios “The Creation of the World” (1798) and “The Seasons” (1801). The oratorio “The Seasons” can serve as an exemplary standard of musical classicism. Towards the end of his life, Haydn enjoyed enormous popularity.

Work on oratorios undermined the composer's strength. His last works were “Harmoniemesse” (1802) and the unfinished string quartet op. 103 (1803). The last sketches date back to 1806; after this date, Haydn did not write anything else. The composer died in Vienna on May 31, 1809.

The composer's creative heritage includes 104 symphonies, 83 quartets, 52 piano sonatas, oratorios (The Creation of the World and The Seasons), 14 masses, and operas.

A crater on Mercury is named after Haydn.

2. List of essays

2.1. Chamber music

8 sonatas for violin and piano (including sonata in E minor, sonata in D major)

83 string quartets for two violins, viola and cello

6 duets for violin and viola

41 trios for piano, violin (or flute) and cello

21 trios for 2 violins and cello

126 trio for baritone, viola (violin) and cello

11 trios for mixed winds and strings

2.2. Concerts

35 concertos for one or more instruments with orchestra, including:

four concertos for violin and orchestra

two concertos for cello and orchestra

two concertos for horn and orchestra

11 concertos for piano and orchestra

6 organ concerts

5 concertos for two-wheeled lyres

4 concertos for baritone and orchestra

concert for double bass and orchestra

concerto for flute and orchestra

concerto for trumpet and orchestra

13 divertimentos with clavier

2.3. Vocal works

There are 24 operas in total, including:

“The Lame Demon” (Der krumme Teufel), 1751

"True Constancy"

"Orpheus and Eurydice, or the Soul of a Philosopher", 1791

"Asmodeus, or the New Lame Demon"

"Pharmacist"

"Acis and Galatea", 1762

"The Desert Island" (L'lsola disabitata)

"Armida", 1783

“Fisherwomen” (Le Pescatrici), 1769

"Deceived Infidelity" (L'Infedelta delusa)

“An Unforeseen Meeting” (L’Incontro improviso), 1775

"The Lunar World" (II Mondo della luna), 1777

"True Constancy" (La Vera costanza), 1776

"Loyalty Rewarded" (La Fedelta premiata)

heroic-comic opera “Roland the Paladin” (Orlando Рaladino, based on the poem “The Furious Roland” by Ariosto)

Oratorios

14 oratorios, including:

"World creation"

"Seasons"

"Seven Words of the Savior on the Cross"

"The Return of Tobias"

Allegorical cantata-oratorio “Applause”

oratorio hymn Stabat Mater

14 masses, including:

small mass (Missa brevis, F-dur, around 1750)

great organ mass Es-dur (1766)

Mass in honor of St. Nicholas (Missa in honorem Sancti Nicolai, G-dur, 1772)

Mass of St. Caeciliae (Missa Sanctae Caeciliae, c-moll, between 1769 and 1773)

small organ mass (B major, 1778)

Mariazellermesse, C-dur, 1782

Mass with timpani, or Mass during the war (Paukenmesse, C-dur, 1796)

Mass Heiligmesse (B major, 1796)

Nelson-Messe, d-moll, 1798

Mass Theresa (Theresienmesse, B-dur, 1799)

Mass with theme from the oratorio “The Creation of the World” (Schopfungsmesse, B-dur, 1801)

mass with wind instruments (Harmoniemesse, B-dur, 1802)

2.4. Symphonic music

A total of 104 symphonies, including:

"Farewell Symphony"

"Oxford Symphony"

"Funeral Symphony"

6 Paris Symphonies (1785-1786)

12 London Symphonies (1791-1792, 1794-1795), including Symphony No. 103 “With tremolo timpani”

66 divertissements and cassations

2.5. Works for piano

Fantasies, variations

52 piano sonatas

Joseph Haydn in fiction George Sand “Consuelo” References:

German name pronunciation (info)

There is no reliable information about the composer’s date of birth; official data only speaks of Haydn’s baptism, which occurred on April 1, 1732. Reports by Haydn himself and his relatives about the date of his birth vary - it could be March 31 or April 1, 1732.