Christopher Moriarty takes a look at the life of Haydn, one of the greatest composers of classical music and a devout Catholic.
The ‘father of the symphony’, Joseph Haydn, enjoyed a long life and, for the greater part of it, renown, popularity and material comfort. His exceptional abilities as a composer were evident from his twenties, and remained with him all his life, so that some of his finest works, above all the oratorios ‘The Creation’ and ‘The Seasons’ were the fruits of his old age, written in his late sixties.
Employment as a court musician for thirty years provided him with an income and with ample time to compose. He used his time well, producing no fewer than 118 symphonies, in addition to Masses and other religious music, and very many chamber and instrumental pieces.
Family background
The family background is remarkable. Haydn’s great-grandfather settled in 1650 in a village on the banks of the Danube, not far from Rohrau, where the composer would be born in 1732. One of his sons, Thomas, Haydn’s grandfather, was a master wheelwright, and four of his sons followed the trade, including Matthias, Haydn’s father.
It is not known when music began in the family, but the craft of making wooden wheels is a highly skilled one, requiring a great ability in handwork and demanding high precision at all times. Perhaps there is something akin to musical performance in the profession. At any rate, Matthias Haydn was a musician. He had learnt the harp as a boy, and liked to play and sing in his spare time. So Franz Joseph and his younger brother, Michael, were both reared to a background of music in a happy home.
Musical talent
By the age of six, Franz Joseph was known in his village for his fine singing voice. His parents hoped he would enter the priesthood and, as a step in that direction, sent him to a local choir school. There his abilities came to the attention of the distinguished musician, Georg Reutter, who was Kappellmeister at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna.
When Haydn was eight years old, Reutter took him to the cathedral choir school, and there he stayed and studied until his voice broke. Stories are told of his sense of fun. Indeed, there is a tradition that he was finally thrown out of the school for some undefined practical joke. Whatever the cause, he was left to fend for himself in his late teens.
Impoverished artist
By this time, he had already begun to compose music, but not with enough success to earn an income. He survived by giving music lessons as a church musician and as a singer. Life was not easy at this stage, and he wrote of living in penury in a cold garret. But music poured forth all the time.
G. A. Griesinger, who knew Haydn personally and who published a biography in 1809, wrote of his busy Sundays: playing the violin in one church at eight o’clock in the morning, playing the organ in a chapel at ten, singing in St. Stephen’s at eleven, and out serenading in the evening with a group of friends.
A change of fortune
All this time his reputation was growing, and a turning point came when Haydn, aged twenty-one, was engaged as accompanist to the established composer and singer, Nicola Porpora. As he said himself, ‘I wrote diligently, but not quite soundly, until at last I had the privilege of learning the true fundamentals of composition from the celebrated Herr Porpora’.
Porpora’s circle included many of the leading musicians of the time, and the young Haydn came to be known and respected by them. Employment by wealthy patrons followed, leading ultimately to his appointment in 1761 as Vice-Kappellmeister to the nobleman, Prince Paul Anton Esterhazy. This entailed leaving Vienna for the prince’s country seat at Einstadt, and involved an element of isolation from the leading musicians and from the joys of life in the imperial capital.
Happy life
It also gave him security and recognition amongst the wide circle of visitors to one of the greatest country estates of Europe. Haydn directed a resident choir and orchestra, performing daily in the afternoon and evening. That left him complete freedom to compose in the mornings.
It also provided opportunities for his favourite sports of fishing and shooting: he was known as a skilled marksman. He was appointed Kapellmeister in 1766, and he led a very happy life there for no fewer than thirty years. The end came when his second patron at Einstadt, Prince Anton Esterhazy, died, and was succeeded by a relative who had little interest in music.
From Vienna to London
Haydn, now aged fifty-eight, returned to Vienna, a wealthy man and a renowned musician. He had probably planned to remain in the city, which was then, as now, one of the great capitals of music. But he yielded to an even greater temptation. The story goes that the violinist and impresario, J. P. Salomon, called at Haydn’s house and said, ‘I am Salomon from London and have come to fetch you. Tomorrow, we shall conclude an agreement’. They did, and set off with very little delay to land in England on New Year’s Day, 1791.
The contract was to compose six symphonies, an opera and twenty other pieces, and to direct their performance. The visit was a triumph, and Haydn excelled himself, composing no fewer than twelve, rather than six, symphonies. He was also a noted social success. Mozart, twenty-four years younger than Haydn, was greatly influenced by his compositions. The two became good friends, each unstinting in his admiration for the other’s works. They had collaborated in concert performances, and their friendship ended only with Mozart’s death in 1791, the year of Haydn’s first London triumphs.
Final masterpieces
The composer’s last years were spent in Vienna, where he died in 1809. These years were marked in particular by the two great religious oratorios. A devout Catholic throughout his life, Haydn was almost overwhelmed by these undertakings. He wrote of working on The Creation, ‘Never was I so pious as when I was composing this work; I knelt down daily and prayed God to strengthen me for it’. His prayers were answered.
This article first appeared in The Messenger (July 2005), a publication of the Irish Jesuits.
