InfoHatter.com

by Brian Vuyk

Franz Joseph Haydn was one of the most influential and remarkable musicians of the Classical era. Haydn’s life is the story of how the son of a wheelwright from a little Austrian town rose to become one of the most prolific composers the world has ever seen. Haydn not only wrote a lot of music, including 104 symphonies and 68 string quartets, but he wrote them well. He was known largely for his symphonies, but also for his other works, and most notably for his master piece, the three-act oratorio entitled “The Creation.” Early Life

The birth of Franz Joseph Haydn is shrouded in some mystery, as his official birth date, according to the family register, was April 1, 1732. However, his brother Michael claims that he was actually born on March 31, 1732, as “he did not want people to say I [Haydn] had come into the world as an April fool.” (Butterworth, 1987) Regardless of the actual date, Haydn was born in Rohrau, Lower Austria. His father, a wheelwright and a magistrate, was Haydn’s first musical influence, as he played folk songs on his harp. Early in life it became apparent that Haydn was a gifted vocalist, as well as having a desire to play the violin. His uncle, Johann Mathias Frank, realized the potential of young Haydn and encouraged his parents to let the boy study under his care in Hainburg. After two long and brutal years under his uncle, the eight-year-old Haydn moved to Vienna, to study under Karl Georg Reutter at St. Stephen’s Cathedral. He sang in the choir at St. Stephen’s until his early teens, when his voice broke and when his playful antics got him kicked out of the choir and onto the street. After living with a fellow musician, he received a sum of money from a friend of his father’s and proceeded to make it on his own. He made money by teaching children, singing in a choir, and performing violin at services and parties. (Thompson, 1991) At this time he also studied a great deal of music theory and wrote a great many sonatas, trios, and dances. He learned a great deal from Carl Philipp Emmanuel, Bach’s son, and from Niccolò Porpora, about whom he admired for: “I learned so much from him in singing, composition, and Italian.” (Hughes, 1978)