Biography and life path of Haydn. Joseph Haydn: interesting data and facts from life. Personal life and further service

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 and constantly improved with the help of 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. Comic work was successful - it took two years to complete theater stage. However, critics were quick to blame young composer in 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 the house, in the cold attic Joseph Haydn I tried to compose music on old clavichords. In his works the influence of the works of famous composers and folk music: 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.

20 shillings, 1982, Austria, Haydn

After his marriage, Josef lost his position with Morcin and was left without income. He was lucky again - he received an invitation from an influential Prince Paul Esterhazy, who was able to appreciate his talent.

Haydn served as conductor for thirty years. His responsibility was to lead the orchestra and manage the choir. At the prince's request, the composer composed operas, symphonies, and instrumental plays. He could write music and listen to it performed live right there. During his service with Esterhazy, he created many works - one hundred and four symphonies alone were written in those years!

Haydn's symphonic concepts were unpretentious, simple and organic for the average listener. Storyteller Hoffman once called Haydn's works "the expression of a childishly joyful soul."

The composer's skill has reached perfection. The name Haydn was known to many outside Austria - he was known in England and France, in Russia. However, the famous maestro had no right to perform or sell works without Esterhazy's consent. In today’s language, the prince owned the “copyright” to all of Haydn’s works. Even long trips without the knowledge of the “master” were prohibited for Haydn.

Once, while in Vienna, Haydn met Mozart. The two brilliant musicians talked a lot and performed quartets together. Unfortunately, the Austrian composer had few such opportunities.

Joseph also had a lover - a singer Luigia, a Moorish woman from Naples, is a charming but selfish woman.

The composer could not leave the service and become independent. In 1791 old prince Esterhazy died. Haydn was 60 years old. The prince's heir dissolved the chapel and assigned the conductor a pension so that he would not have to earn a living. At last Franz Joseph Haydn became a free man! He went on a sea voyage and visited England twice. During these years, the already middle-aged composer wrote many works - among them twelve “London Symphonies”, the oratorio “The Seasons” and “The Creation of the World”. The work “Seasons” became the apotheosis of his creative path.

Large-scale musical works were not easy for the aging composer, but he was happy. The oratorios became the peak of Haydn's work - he wrote nothing else. Recent years the composer lived in a small secluded house on the outskirts of Vienna. Fans visited him - he loved to talk with them, remembering his youth, full of creative searches and hardships.

Sarcophagus where Haydn's remains are buried

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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 everything classical art, but today we are talking about music). One of the central stages in the development of music is the era musical classicism. This era gave world music three names, which, probably, any person 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, received the name 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) - “father 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's dressed like he's not 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. Without knowing musical notation, he nevertheless sang well and accompanied himself on the harp, selecting the accompaniment by ear.

First successes

Little Joseph was more clearly affected than all the other children. musical abilities father. 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 - women's voices: soprano, altach. 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 - in such a early age(Joseph was about seven) no one in their family had yet become self-sufficient.

Cathedral of St. Stefan

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 specimen with echoing arches gothic architecture. 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 happening 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. I often had to learn brilliant samples choral music of previous eras, and Joseph along the way drew conclusions for himself about the techniques used by composers, 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 at high symphonic music. And the little footman, whom the important nobles did not even notice, while serving the dishes, made to himself the necessary conclusions about the structure 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’s not called Vienna for nothing musical capital peace. 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 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 the majority musical works Haydn was written precisely in the performance of 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 Esterházy will die, the estate will pass into 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 in good form to have an orchestral and choir chapel. You've probably heard something about serf orchestras in Russia, but maybe you don't know that this was also not the case in Europe. in the best possible way. 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 Esterhazy, in another Austrian city, Salzburg, he was growing up little Mozart, who still has to, being in the service of the count, dine in the people's room, sitting above the footmen, but below the cooks.

Haydn had to fulfill 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, the peculiarities of the costume 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 especially loves Haydn symphony. This is a large, usually four-part 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. For my life of Haydn wrote about one hundred and four symphonies ( exact figure unknown). And, of course, them most was created precisely 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, and he himself cannot even go somewhere without the permission of his owner. The humiliation that Haydn experiences from similar attitude the prince to him, sometimes slips in letters to friends: “Am I a bandmaster or a conductor?” (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 Esterházy died, and his heir dissolved 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 looked at the main stages of a father's life classic style in music. Optimism, the triumph of good over evil, reason - over chaos and light - over darkness, here characteristic features musical works of Joseph Haydn.

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The creative path of J. Haydn - the great Austrian composer, senior contemporary of W. A. ​​Mozart and L. Beethoven - lasted about fifty years, crossed the historical boundary of the 18th-19th centuries, and covered all stages of the development of the Viennese classical school- from its origins in the 1760s. until the flowering of Beethoven's work at the beginning of the new century. The intensity of the creative process, the wealth of imagination, the freshness of perception, the harmonious and integral sense of life were preserved in Haydn's art until the very last years of his life.

Son carriage maker Haydn discovered rare musical abilities. At the age of six he moved to Hainburg, sang in the church choir, learned to play the violin and harpsichord, and from 1740 he lived in Vienna, where he served as a choirmaster in the chapel of St. Stephen's Cathedral ( cathedral Vienna). However, in the chapel they valued only the boy’s voice - a treble of rare purity, and entrusted him with the performance of solo parts; and the composer's inclinations, awakened in childhood, remained unnoticed. When his voice began to break, Haydn was forced to leave the chapel. The first years of independent life in Vienna were especially difficult - he was poor, hungry, wandering without a permanent shelter; Only occasionally was it possible to find private lessons or play the violin in a traveling ensemble. However, despite the vicissitudes of fate, Haydn retained his openness of character, his sense of humor, which never betrayed him, and the seriousness of his professional aspirations - he studies the keyboard works of F. E. Bach, independently studies counterpoint, gets acquainted with the works of the greatest German theorists, takes composition lessons from N. . Porpora - famous Italian opera composer and teacher.

In 1759, Haydn received the position of bandmaster from Count I. Mortsin. The first instrumental works (symphonies, quartets, clavier sonatas) were written for his court chapel. When Morcin dissolved the chapel in 1761, Haydn entered into a contract with P. Esterhazy, the richest Hungarian magnate and patron of the arts. The duties of the vice-kapellmeister, and after 5 years the princely chief-kapellmeister, included not only composing music. Haydn had to conduct rehearsals, maintain order in the chapel, be responsible for the safety of notes and instruments, etc. All of Haydn’s works were the property of Esterhazy; the composer did not have the right to write music commissioned by others, and could not freely leave the prince’s possessions. (Haydn lived on the Esterhazy estates - Eisenstadt and Esterhaz, occasionally visiting Vienna.)

However, many advantages and, above all, the opportunity to dispose of an excellent orchestra that performed all the composer’s works, as well as relative material and everyday security, persuaded Haydn to accept Esterhazy’s offer. Haydn remained in court service for almost 30 years. In the humiliating position of a princely servant, he retained his dignity, inner independence and desire for continuous creative improvement. Living far from the light, with almost no contact with the wide musical world, during his service with Esterhazy he became the greatest master of European scale. Haydn's works were successfully performed in major musical capitals.

So, in the mid-1780s. The French public became acquainted with six symphonies, called “Parisian”. Over time, the composites became increasingly burdened by their dependent position and felt loneliness more acutely.

The minor symphonies - “Mourning”, “Suffering”, “Farewell” - are colored with dramatic, anxious moods. Lots of reasons to different interpretations- autobiographical, humorous, lyrical and philosophical - gave the finale to “Farewell” - during this endlessly lasting Adagio, the musicians leave the orchestra one after another until two violinists remain on stage, finishing the melody, quiet and gentle...

However, a harmonious and clear view of the world always dominates both in Haydn’s music and in his sense of life. Haydn found sources of joy everywhere - in nature, in the lives of peasants, in his works, in communication with loved ones. Thus, acquaintance with Mozart, who arrived in Vienna in 1781, grew into true friendship. These relationships, based on deep kinship, understanding and mutual respect, have had a beneficial effect on creative development both composers.

In 1790, A. Esterhazy, the heir of the deceased Prince P. Esterhazy, dissolved the chapel. Haydn, who was completely freed from service and retained only the title of bandmaster, began to receive a lifelong pension in accordance with the will of the old prince. Soon the opportunity arose to fulfill a long-time dream - to travel outside of Austria. In the 1790s. Haydn made two tours to London (1791-92, 1794-95). The 12 “London” symphonies written on this occasion completed the development of this genre in Haydn’s work and confirmed the maturity of the Viennese classical symphony(somewhat earlier, in the late 1780s, Mozart’s last 3 symphonies appeared) and remained the pinnacle phenomena in the history of symphonic music. London symphonies were performed in unusual and extremely attractive conditions for the composer. Accustomed to the more closed atmosphere of the court salon, Haydn performed for the first time in public concerts and felt the reaction of a typical democratic audience. At his disposal were big orchestras, similar in composition to modern symphonies. The English public enthusiastically received Haydn's music. At Oxfood he was awarded the title of Doctor of Music. Under the impression of G. F. Handel’s oratorios heard in London, 2 secular oratorios were created - “The Creation of the World” (1798) and “The Seasons” (1801). These monumental, epic-philosophical works, affirming the classical ideals of beauty and harmony of life, the unity of man and nature, worthily crowned creative path composer.

The last years of Haydn's life were spent in Vienna and its suburb of Gumpendorf. The composer was still cheerful, sociable, objective and friendly in his attitude towards people, and still worked hard. Haydn passed away at an alarming time, in the midst of Napoleonic campaigns, when French troops had already occupied the capital of Austria. During the siege of Vienna, Haydn consoled his loved ones: “Don’t be afraid, children, where Haydn is, nothing bad can happen.”

Haydn left a huge creative heritage- about 1000 works in all genres and forms that existed in the music of that time (symphonies, sonatas, chamber ensembles, concerts, operas, oratorios, masses, songs, etc.). Large cyclic forms (104 symphonies, 83 quartets, 52 keyboard sonatas) constitute the main, most precious part of the composer’s work and determine his historical place. On the exceptional significance of Haydn's works in evolution instrumental music wrote P. Tchaikovsky: “Haydn immortalized himself, if not by inventing, then by improving that excellent, ideally balanced form of sonata and symphony, which Mozart and Beethoven later brought to the last degree of completeness and beauty.”

The symphony in Haydn's work passed big way: from early samples close to the genres of household and chamber music(serenade, divertissement, quartet), to the “Paris” and “London” symphonies, in which the classical patterns of the genre were established (the relationship and order of the parts of the cycle - sonata Allegro, slow movement, minuet, fast finale), characteristic types of thematism and development techniques etc. Haydn’s symphony takes on the meaning of a generalized “picture of the world”, in which different aspects of life - serious, dramatic, lyrical-philosophical, humorous - are brought to unity and balance. The rich and complex world of Haydn's symphonies has the remarkable qualities of openness, sociability, and focus on the listener. Their main source musical language- genre-everyday, song and dance intonations, sometimes directly borrowed from folklore sources. Included in the complex process of symphonic development, they discover new imaginative, dynamic possibilities. Complete, perfectly balanced and logically arranged forms of parts symphonic cycle(sonata, variation, rondo, etc.) include elements of improvisation, remarkable deviations and surprises heighten interest in the very process of development of thought, which is always fascinating and filled with events. Haydn’s favorite “surprises” and “practical jokes” helped the perception of the most serious genre of instrumental music, giving rise to specific associations among listeners that were fixed in the names of the symphonies (“Bear”, “Chicken”, “Clock”, “Hunting”, “ School teacher", etc.). Forming the typical patterns of the genre, Haydn also reveals the wealth of possibilities for their manifestation, outlining different paths of evolution of the symphony in the 19th-20th centuries. In Haydn's mature symphonies, the classical composition of the orchestra is established, including all groups of instruments (strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion). The composition of the quartet is also stabilized, in which all instruments (two violins, viola, cello) become full members of the ensemble. Of great interest are Haydn's keyboard sonatas, in which the composer's truly inexhaustible imagination each time opens up new options for constructing a cycle, original ways of designing and developing the material. The last sonatas written in the 1790s. clearly focused on the expressive capabilities of the new instrument - the piano.

All his life art was for Haydn main support and a constant source of inner harmony, peace of mind and health, He hoped that it would remain so for future listeners. “There are so few joyful and contented people in this world,” wrote the seventy-year-old composer, “everywhere they are haunted by grief and worries; Perhaps your work will sometimes serve as a source from which a person full of worries and burdened with affairs will draw moments of peace and relaxation.”

Joseph Haydn is known as Austrian composer 18th century. He gained worldwide recognition thanks to the discovery of such musical genres as the symphony and string quartet, as well as thanks to the creation of the melody that formed the basis of the German and Autro-Hungarian anthems.

Childhood years.

Joseph was born on March 31, 1732 in a place located near the border with Hungary. This was the village of Rohrau. Already at the age of 5, little Joseph’s parents discovered that he had a penchant for music. Then his uncle took the boy to the city of Hainburg an der Donau. There he studied choral singing and music in general. After 3 years of studying, Joseph was noticed by the director of the St. Stephen's Chapel, who took the student to his place for further music training. Over the next 9 years, he sang in the chapel choir and learned to play the musical instruments.

Youth and young adult years.

The next stage in the life of Joseph Haydn was by no means an easy road of 10 years. He had to work in different places to ensure your life. Qualitative music education Joseph did not receive it, but succeeded by studying the works of Matteson, Fuchs and other musical performers.

Haynd brought fame to his works written in the 50s of the 18th century. Among his works, “The Lame Demon” and Symphony No. 1 in D major were popular.

Soon Joseph Haydn got married, but the marriage could not be called happy. There were no children in the family, which served as a reason for the composer’s mental torment. The wife did not support her husband in his work as music, as she did not like his activities.

In 1761, Haydn began working for Prince Esterhazy. Over the course of 5 years, he rises in rank from vice-bandmaster to chief bandmaster and begins to organize the orchestra full-time.

The period of work at Esterhazy was marked by prosperity creative activity Haydn. During this time, he created many works, for example the “Farewell” symphony, which gained considerable popularity.

Recent years.

The composers' last works were not completed due to a sharp deterioration in health and well-being. Haydn died at the age of 77, and during the farewell to the body of the deceased, Mozart’s “Requiem” was performed.

Biography more details

Childhood and youth

Franz Joseph Haydn was born on March 31, 1732 in Austria, in the village of Rohrau. The family did not live well, since Franz's father was a wheelwright and his mother was a cook. The love of music was instilled in young Haydn by his father, who was fond of vocals. As a young man, Franz's father taught himself to play the harp. At the age of 6, the father notices that the boy has perfect pitch and a talent for music and sends Joseph to the nearby city of Gainburg to a relative, the rector of the school. There, young Haydn studied exact sciences and language, but also played musical instruments, vocals, and sang in the church choir.

His hard work and naturally melodious voice helped him become famous in the local areas. One day, a composer from Vienna, Georg von Reuter, came to Haydn’s native village to find new voices for his chapel. Eight-year-old Haydn made a huge impression on the composer, who took him into the choir of one of the largest cathedrals in Vienna. There Joseph learned the intricacies of singing, the skill of composition, and composed church works.

In 1749, a difficult stage in Haydn's life began. At the age of 17, he is kicked out of the choir due to his difficult character. During this same period, his voice begins to break. At this time, Haydn was left without a livelihood. He has to take on any job. Josef gives music lessons, plays in various ensembles string instruments. He had to be a servant to Nikolai Porpora, a singing teacher from Vienna. But despite this, Haydn does not forget about music. He really wanted to take lessons from Nikolai Porpora, but his classes cost a lot of money. Through his love of music, Joseph Haydn found a way out. He agreed with the teacher that he would sit quietly behind the curtain during his lessons. Franz Haydn tried to restore the knowledge that he had lost. He studied the theory of music and composition with interest.

Personal life and further service.

From 1754 to 1756 Joseph Haydn served at the court in Vienna as a creative musician. In 1759 he began to direct music at the court of Count Karl von Morzin. Haydn was given small orchestra under his own direction and wrote the first classical works for orchestra. But soon the count had problems with money and he stopped the existence of the orchestra.

In 1760, Joseph Haydn married Maria Anne Keller. She did not respect his profession and mocked his work in every possible way, using his sheet music as stands for pate.

Service at the court of Esterhazy

After the collapse of Karl von Morzin's orchestra, Josef was offered a similar position, but with the very rich Esterhazy family. Josef immediately gained access to the management of the family's musical institutions. For long time spent at the court of Esterhazy Haydn composes large number works: quartets, operas, symphonies.

In 1781, Joseph Haydn met Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who began to become part of his circle of close friends. In 1792 he met young Beethoven, who becomes his student.

Last years of life.

In Vienna, Josef composes his famous works: “Creation” and “Seasons”.

The life of Franz Joseph Haydn was too difficult and stressful. Their last days The composer spends his time in a small house in Vienna.

Biography by dates and interesting facts. The most important.

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Joseph Haydn - famous German composer, born in the village of Rohrau (in Austria) on March 31, 1732, died in Vienna on May 31, 1809. Haydn was the second of twelve children of a poor coachmaker. As a child, he showed extraordinary musical abilities and was first sent to be trained by a relative-musician, and then at the age of eight he ended up as a singer in Vienna, in the chapel at the Church of St. Stefan. There he received school education, and also studied singing and playing the piano and violin. It was there that he made his first experiments in composing music. As Haydn began to grow up, his voice began to change; Instead, his younger brother Mikhail, who entered the same chapel, began singing treble solos, and finally, at the age of 18, Haydn was forced to leave the chapel. I had to live in the attic, give lessons, accompany, etc.

Joseph Haydn. Wax sculpture F. Teyler, approx. 1800

Little by little his first works became widespread (in manuscripts): piano sonatas, quartets, etc. In 1759, Haydn finally received a position as conductor with Count Morcin in Lukawiec, where, by the way, he wrote his first symphony. At the same time, Haydn married the daughter of the Viennese hairdresser Keller, who was grumpy, quarrelsome and did not understand anything about music. He lived with her for 40 years; they had no children. In 1761, Haydn became the second bandmaster in the chapel of Count Esterhazy in Eisenstadt. Subsequently, the Esterhazy orchestra was increased from 16 people to 30, and Haydn, after the death of the first conductor, took his place. Here he created most of his works, usually written for holidays and special days for performance in the Esterhazy house.

Joseph Haydn. Best works

In 1790, the chapel was dissolved, Haydn lost his job, but was provided with a pension of 1,400 florins by the Counts of Esterhazy and could thus devote himself to free and independent creativity. It was during this era that Haydn wrote his best works, which have highest value and in our time. In the same year, he was invited to London: for 700 pounds sterling, he undertook to conduct his new six symphonies there, specially written for this purpose (“English”). The success was enormous, and Haydn lived in London for two years. The cult of Haydn grew terribly in England during this time; at Oxford he was proclaimed Doctor of Music. This journey and stay abroad had special significance in Haydn’s life also because until then he had never left his native country.

Returning to Vienna, Haydn met with an honorable reception everywhere along the way; in Bonn he met the young Beethoven, who soon became his student. In 1794, following a second invitation from London, he went there and stayed there for two seasons. Returning again to Vienna, Haydn, who was then already over 65 years old, wrote his two famous oratorios, “The Creation of the World,” to the words of Lidley (according to Milton), and “The Seasons,” to the words of Thomson. Both English texts were translated for Haydn by van Swieten. Gradually, however, the infirmity of old age began to overcome Haydn. A particularly severe blow was dealt to him by the French invasion of Vienna; a few days after this he died.