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Joseph Haydn
(1732-1809)
He was the most pleasant, cheerful guy you could ever hope to meet. He was constantly playing little jokes on people, making fun of things, and making fun of himself. And his music shows it.
Haydn ("HIE-din") grew up in a part of rural Austria that bordered on Croatia, Slovakia, and Hungary. As a boy, he heard lots of peasant folk music making, and he came firmly to the conclusion that music was to be enjoyed. He had a beautiful singing voice, and at the age of eight, he was selected to go to Vienna and join the choir of St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Note: More on this at the very bottom
In Vienna, Haydn became acquainted with all the musical masterpieces of the day and decided to become a composer. Like so many composers before him, Haydn’s primary income was serving s royal court musician. His longest job was working at the castle of Prince Esterhazy ("ESS-ter-HAH-zee"), which literally means "Easter Bunny" in German.
"Servant" was Haydn’s official job description-but he was treated like a king. He had his own maid and his own footman, plus a great salary. He spent his days writing new music and performing it for (or sometimes with) the prince, who was no slouch of a musician himself.
The job afforded Haydn the perfect opportunity to experiment with various musical forms. During the 30 years that he spent at Esterhazy, Haydn practically single-handedly standardizes the structures of the symphony and the string quartet. That’s why he’s known as the father of the symphony, and that’s why Beethoven and others called him "Papa." To this day, music writers refer to the composer as "Papa Haydn."
But, Haydn’s job came to an end after Prince Esterhazy died. Haydn moved back to Vienna and was based there for the rest of this life.
The Surprise symphony (no. 94) is one of Haydn’s best pieces, and it’s a perfect example of Haydn’s style. There’s a great story behind it, too: Haydn, working in London, had noticed that his after-diner audience tended to fall asleep when the music was slow or quiet. For revenge, he wrote a movement that was slow and quiet and grew more so as the piece went on. Sure enough, many in the audience fell asleep - just in time for the deafening, full orchestral crash. Exactly as he had mischievously hoped, the huge chord woke and embarrassed everyone in the room.
NOTE: As a young boy, Joseph Haydn was a prized boy soprano at the St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. As he grew older, his teacher told him that he would be able to retain his beautiful high voice forever if he were to have a "very simple little operation." Having been spared the specifics; young Joseph Haydn was eager for this miracle. He was all ready to go in for the operation when – just hours before the surgery – his father found out and prevented it.
Imagine what would have happened if Haydn had had the operation! Sure, he would have kept hid beautiful high voice. But he may never have been hired a s a composer by Prince Esterhazy. He may never have had the opportunity to use the court orchestra as a crucible for his musical experiments. He may never have developed the string quartet and the symphony, as we know them. And nobody – not even Beethoven – would ever have called him "Papa."
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