Franz Joseph Haydn

Let us tackle our first composer from the Classical period.

Franz Joseph Haydn was born in 1732 in Rohrau, Austria, a small town near the Hungarian border.  Haydn’s beginnings were quite humble.  He was the second of twelve children born to Mathias Haydn, a wheelwright and amateur folk musician, and Maria Haydn, who had worked as a cook in the employ of Count Harrach of Rohrau.  Although his father was known as a master craftsman, he was neither particularly wealthy nor particularly well educated.  

Haydn’s musical talents and appreciation for music were made known to his parents as a toddler, when he would sing along with his father and pretend to play violin.  Recognizing Haydn’s talent, and knowing that they had no financial means to help Haydn develop his talent and secure his career as a musician, Haydn’s parents apprenticed him to a relative, Johann Matthias Frankh, the schoolmaster and choirmaster in Hainburg, when Haydn was only six years old.  For Haydn, life with Frankh was little better than life with his parents.  As a child, he was frequently ill-fed, ill-clothed, and made fun of by the other children for his poverty.  Later in life, Haydn remarked of his stay in the custody of Frankh that he often received more beatings than food.  

It was under Frankh, however, that Haydn began his musical training, learning to play harpsichord and violin, and singing treble in the church choir.  His voice was sufficiently good to attract attention, and in 1739 he was accepted by Kapellmeister Reutter of the Cathedral of St. Stephen in Vienna as a choirboy.  Life continued to be extremely rough for the young Haydn.  As before, he was poorly fed; Haydn found himself singing on the streets frequently to beg for pennies to buy food.  In 1749, when Haydn was 17, life got even more difficult for him.  His voice had changed, and was no longer capable of singing the treble parts in choir.  A prank in which Haydn cut off the pigtail of a fellow choirister was the final straw.  Out Haydn went onto the street without a penny to his name.

Haydn worked odd jobs at first, giving private lessons and performing as a street performer, all the while continuing his study of composition.  Two years later, he had built himself enough of a reputation to earn a commission to write an opera (now lost).  In 1754, Haydn got his big break: he became an accompanist and manservant to composer and singing teacher Nicola Porpora. Although Porpora was just as stingy and just as abusive as his previous employers had been, Porpora had the connections with the nobility that Haydn needed to advance his career.  In 1759, Haydn became music director under Count Morzin; when Morzin went broke two years later in 1761, Haydn was snapped up by Hungarian Prince Paul Esterházy to become Vice-Kapellmeister in his court.  Although Prince Paul Esterházy died the next year, his successor, Prince Nicholas Esterházy was sufficiently impressed by Haydn to retain his services. Finally, Haydn had made it big.

To say that Haydn was prolific is a gross understatement.  Haydn is often called “Father of the Symphony” for good reason.  Not only was he one of the first symphony writers (the symphony being a musical form born out of the Classical era), but his sheer output of symphonies blows every other composer clean out of the water.  During his lifetime, Haydn wrote no fewer than 106 symphonies - the earliest in 1759, the latest, his “London” symphony, in 1795.  (Although the “London” symphony is referred to as Symphony 104, two other symphonies, usually referred to as “A” and “B”, were discovered during the 20th century, bringing the total number up to 106.) Haydn also wrote 68 string quartets, fourteen Masses, several operas, fifteen piano trios, numerous concerti and piano compositions, and two oratorios: Die Schöpfung (The Creation) and Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons).

As a composer, Haydn is known as “the father of the symphony”, and “the father of the string quartet”. But during his lifetime, Haydn was known for two things. While he was Kapellmeister at the Esterházy court, he was known as “Papa” by the musicians under his employ.  It wasn’t just that he was the boss - he was a genuinely nice guy who frequently interceded with Prince Esterházy to ensure his musicians were treated fairly.  One prominent example is found in Haydn’s Farewell Symphony (#45), written in 1772.  The Farewell Symphony is an airance of grievances.  During the summer of 1772, Haydn and the Esterházy court orchestra were lodged in the Prince’s summer palace in Esterháza. Most of the musicians’ wives were left back home in Eisenstadt, and the prince’s stay in Esterháza was lasting much longer than expected. Papa Haydn, acting on behalf of his musicians, wanted to suggest to the Prince that perhaps it was time to let the musicians go home to be with their families.  Of course, Haydn couldn’t just tell the Prince; he had to be more subtle.

Haydn - Farewell Symphony (no. 45) - 4th mvt: Presto - Adagio

The final movement of the Farewell Symphony starts out much like any other final movement of a Classical-era symphony might.  The tempo is fast, and the theme is presented by the strings and echoed by the full orchestra.  But then, something unexpected happens.  About three minutes into the piece, the tempo slows way down.  One by one, the musicians in the orchestra stop playing, snuff out the candles which have been lighting their scores, and walk off the stage.  In the end, the full orchestra dwindles down to merely two violins, who play a short duet - and then the piece is over.

Prince Esterházy got the hint.  The day after Haydn presented his Farewell Symphony to the prince, he decided that perhaps it would be a good idea to depart for Eisenstadt after all.

Haydn was also known as a practical joker.  The final movement of his String Quartet in E flat, op. 33 no. 2 ends with a musical joke.  The movement is set in what’s called rondo form.  A rondo is something like a song with a chorus.  It features one main theme, the rondo theme, which is repeated numerous times throughtout the piece.  In between repetitions of the rondo theme, other musical ideas are presented and developed, each one in the end returning back to the rondo theme.  The rondo theme is like the chorus of a song, the glue that holds the whole movement together.  Because it is repeated numerous times throughout the piece, it serves as both a point of departure and a point of return.  A rondo typically ends with a concluding section, called a coda, that puts an end to the process of departure and return and provides a satisfying end to the piece.

Haydn - String Quartet in E-flat, Op. 33 No. 2 - Rondo

The finale of the String Quartet op. 33 no. 2 certainly starts out as a typical rondo.  But then Haydn decides to pull a fast one.  At 2:30, after playing the rondo theme, the piece just stops.  Just as you’re about to think, “what the hey, is this the end of the piece already, or what?” Haydn continues on with something that sounds like it might be a coda, but sounds way too tentative to be convincing.  Haydn gives the audience a few seconds of silence, to think that the piece may have just ended … and then restates the rondo theme yet again!  Whenever I listen to the piece, I hear the audience laughing at this point: ah, how droll, Maestro Haydn!  You pulled one off on us, what a splendid joke!    

Haydn milks the joke for all it’s worth, parcelling out the rondo theme one little bit at a time. But he’s not done yet.  The music gets quieter and quieter, drawing the audience in closer and closer.  Then, after a few seconds of silence, he repeats the first motif from the rondo theme… and this time, the piece actually *is* over.  Certainly, Haydn wouldn’t just leave us hanging there, waiting for the end of the theme, would he?  

Actually, yes he would.

Haydn was also a pious man.  A staunch Catholic, he would often pray the rosary when confronted with a difficult case of writer’s block.  At the beginning of each of his compositions, he would usually write “in nomine Domini”, and end with “laus Deo”.  Haydn’s sacred works include the oratorio Die Schöpfung (The Creation) and fourteen masses.  The most famous of his masses, the Missa in Anguistis, also known as the Lord Nelson Mass, was composed for the Esterházy family in 1798.  

Haydn - Missa in Anguistis (Lord Nelson Mass): Kyrie, Gloria

1798 was a particularly dark year - hence the title Missa in Anguistis, or Mass for Troubled Times.  In 1792, France under Napoleon had declared war against the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  To try to contain the threat of populist revolt, most of the remaining monarchies in Europe, including Prussia, Britain, Spain, Naples, and the Netherlands, declared war against France.  By 1797, Napoleon had forced Spain and the Netherlands to sign peace treaties, and had won a series of major battles against Austria on Austrian soil.  Austria was forced to sign a treaty with France that gave them Belgium, the Rhineland, and much of Italy.  Although in 1798 Austria was no longer at war, tensions remained high.

It was against this backdrop that Haydn composed the Missa in Anguistis.  The Kyrie starts out in the dark, brooding key of D minor.  Typically the tone of the Kyrie in a mass is submissive, humble, even guilty.  But in this mass, the Kyrie has a tone of fear, anguish, and deep uncertainty.  This is not a plea for God to save us from some intangible evil, but from the very real fear of war and forced surrender.  In contrast, the Gloria, set in D major, is exultant, putting all fear of war aside.  Though war may rage, God still reigns over His creation, and His creation, let us never forget, is good!

Finally, a bit of ear candy. Haydn didn’t write many concertos, and quite a few of the concertos he did write are now lost.  One concerto that has survived is his Trumpet Concerto in E flat, written in 1796.  It was written for Haydn’s friend Anton Weidinger, who invented a keyed trumpet that, unlike the regular trumpets of the day, was capable of playing pitches in the lower registers of the instrument.  The virtuosity that Weidinger’s trumpet made possible would have amazed audiences in Haydn’s day. Although his trumpet was later abandoned in favor of the modern valved trumpet, Haydn’s Concerto for Trumpet remains a perennial favorite and standard piece of the concert repertoire.

Haydn - Trumpet Concerto (1796) - 3. Finale - Allegro