City in England where haydn became honorary. Vienna Classical School: Haydn

This is real music! This is what should be enjoyed, this is what should be sucked in by everyone who wants to cultivate a healthy musical feeling, a healthy taste.
A. Serov

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 border of the 18th-19th centuries, covered all stages of the development of the Viennese classical school - from its inception in 1760 -s. until the heyday of Beethoven's work at the beginning of the new century. The intensity of the creative process, the richness 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.

The son of a carriage maker, Haydn discovered a rare musical ability. 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 chorister in the chapel of St. Stephen's Cathedral (Vienna Cathedral). However, in the chapel only the boy's voice was appreciated - a rare treble purity, they entrusted him with the performance of solo parts; and the composer's inclinations awakened in childhood went unnoticed. When the voice began to break, Haydn was forced to leave the chapel. The first years of independent life in Vienna were especially difficult - he was in poverty, starved, wandered without a permanent shelter; only occasionally did they manage to find private lessons or play the violin in a traveling band. However, despite the vicissitudes of fate, Haydn retained both the openness of character, and the sense of humor that never betrayed him, and the seriousness of his professional aspirations - he studies the clavier work of F. E. Bach, independently studies counterpoint, gets acquainted with the works of the largest German theorists, takes composition lessons from N Porpora - a famous Italian opera composer and teacher.

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

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

So, in the mid-1780s. the French public got acquainted with six symphonies, called "Paris". Over time, composites became more and more burdened by their dependent position, more acutely felt loneliness.

Dramatic, disturbing moods are painted in minor symphonies - "Funeral", "Suffering", "Farewell". Many reasons for different interpretations - autobiographical, humorous, lyric-philosophical - were given by the finale of "Farewell" - during this endlessly lasting Adagio, the musicians leave the orchestra one by one, until two violinists remain on the stage, finishing the melody, quiet and tender...

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 life of peasants, in his work, in communication with loved ones. So, acquaintance with Mozart, who arrived in Vienna in 1781, grew into a real friendship. These relations, based on deep inner kinship, understanding and mutual respect, had a beneficial effect on the creative development of both composers.

In 1790, A. Esterhazy, heir to the deceased Prince P. Esterhazy, dissolved the chapel. Haydn, who was completely freed from service and retained only the title of Kapellmeister, began to receive a lifetime pension in accordance with the will of the old prince. Soon there was an opportunity to fulfill an old 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 the work of Haydn, approved the maturity of the Viennese classical symphony (a little earlier, in the late 1780s, Mozart's last 3 symphonies appeared) and remained the pinnacle of phenomena in the history of symphonic music. The London symphonies were performed in unusual and extremely attractive conditions for the composer. Accustomed to the more closed atmosphere of the court salon, Haydn first performed in public concerts, felt the reaction of a typical democratic audience. At his disposal were large orchestras, similar in composition to modern symphony ones. The English public was enthusiastic about Haydn's music. At Oxford, he was awarded the title of Doctor of Music. Impressed by the oratorios of G. F. Handel 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, adequately crowned the composer's creative path.

The last years of Haydn's life were spent in Vienna and its suburb Gumpendorf. The composer was still cheerful, sociable, objective and friendly towards people, he still worked hard. Haydn passed away at a troubled time, in the midst of the Napoleonic campaigns, when the French troops had already occupied the capital of Austria. During the siege of Vienna, Haydn consoled his loved ones: "Do not 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, concertos, operas, oratorios, masses, songs, etc.). Large cyclic forms (104 symphonies, 83 quartets, 52 clavier sonatas) constitute the main, most precious part of the composer's work, determine his historical place. P. Tchaikovsky wrote about the exceptional significance of Haydn's works in the evolution of instrumental music: "Haydn immortalized himself, if not by inventing, then by improving that excellent, perfectly balanced form of the sonata and symphony, which Mozart and Beethoven later brought to the last degree of completeness and beauty."

The symphony in Haydn's work has come a long way: from early examples, close to the genres of everyday and chamber music (serenade, divertissement, quartet), to the "Paris" and "London" symphonies, in which the classical laws of the genre were established (the ratio and order of the parts of the cycle - sonata Allegro, slow movement, minuet, fast finale), characteristic types of thematics and development techniques, etc. Haydn's symphony acquires the meaning of a generalized "picture of the world", in which different aspects of life - serious, dramatic, lyrical-philosophical, humorous - brought to unity and balance. The rich and complex world of Haydn's symphonies possesses remarkable qualities of openness, sociability, and focus on the listener. The main source of their musical language is genre-everyday, song and dance intonations, sometimes directly borrowed from folklore sources. Included in the complex process of symphonic development, they discover new figurative, dynamic possibilities. Completed, perfectly balanced and logically built forms of parts of the symphonic cycle (sonata, variation, rondo, etc.) include elements of improvisation, remarkable deviations and surprises sharpen interest in the very process of thought development, always fascinating, filled with events. Haydn's favorite "surprises" and "pranks" helped the perception of the most serious genre of instrumental music, gave rise to specific associations among listeners, which were fixed in the names of symphonies ("Bear", "Chicken", "Clock", "Hunt", "School teacher", etc. . P.). Forming the typical patterns of the genre, Haydn also reveals the richness of the possibilities for their manifestation, outlining different paths for the 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 stabilizing, in which all instruments (two violins, viola, cello) become full members of the ensemble. Of great interest are Haydn's clavier sonatas, in which the composer's imagination, truly inexhaustible, each time opens up new options for building a cycle, original ways of arranging and developing the material. The last sonatas written in the 1790s. clearly focused on the expressive possibilities of a new instrument - the pianoforte.

All his life, art was for Haydn the 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,” the seventy-year-old composer wrote, “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 business will draw his peace and rest for minutes.

We will end our story about the Vienna troika with a biography of Haydn. All of them - Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn - are connected in one way or another. Beethoven was younger than all of them, inspired by creativity and studied with Haydn. But we have already talked about it in other articles.

Now we have a slightly different task - to briefly talk about the Vienna troika. Later we will tell you more about it, but for now ... back to our topic.

Franz Joseph Haydn is a great Austrian composer, founder of classical instrumental music and founder of the modern orchestra. Many consider Haydn the father of the symphony and quartet.

Joseph Haydn was born on March 31, 1732 in the small town of Rorau, Lower Austria, in the family of a wheelsmith. The composer's mother was a cook. The love of music was instilled in little Joseph by his father, who was seriously fond of vocals. The boy had excellent hearing and a sense of rhythm, and thanks to these musical abilities, he was accepted into the church choir in the small town of Gainburg. Later he will move to Vienna, where he will sing in the choir at the Cathedral of St. Stephen.

Haydn had a wayward character, and at the age of 16 he was expelled from the choir - at a time when his voice began to break. He is left without a livelihood. In such a hopeless situation, the young man takes on various jobs. He even has to be a servant of the Italian singing teacher Nikolai Porpora. But even while working as a servant, Haydn does not abandon music, but takes lessons from the composer.

Seeing the young man's love for music, Porpora offers him the position of companion valet. He has held this position for about ten years. As payment for his work, Haydn receives lessons in musical theory, from which he learns a lot about music and composition. Gradually, the financial situation of the young man improves, and musical works are crowned with success. Haydn is looking for a rich patron, which becomes the imperial prince Pal Antal Esterhazy. Already in 1759, the young genius composed his first symphonies.

Haydn married quite late, at the age of 28, to Anna Maria Kller, and, as it turned out, unsuccessfully. Anna Maria often showed disrespect for her husband's profession. There were no children, which also played an important role, bringing additional contention to the family. But despite all this, Haydn was faithful to his wife for 20 years. But after so many years, he suddenly fell in love with 19-year-old Luigia Polzelli, an Italian opera singer, and even promised to marry her, but soon this passionate affection passed.

In 1761, Haydn became the second Kapellmeister at the court of the Esterhazy princes, one of the most influential families in Austria. For a rather long career at the court of Esterhazy, he composed a huge number of operas, quartets and symphonies (104 in total). His music is admired by many listeners, and his skill reaches perfection. He becomes famous not only in his homeland, but also in England, France, Russia. In 1781, Haydn met with, who became his close friend. In 1792 he met the young man and took him as a student.

Upon arrival in Vienna, Haydn wrote two of his famous oratorios: The Creation of the World and The Seasons. The composition of the oratorio "The Seasons" is not easy, he is tormented by headaches and insomnia. After writing oratorios, he writes almost nothing.

Life has passed too tensely, and the forces gradually leave the composer. Haydn spends his last years in Vienna, in a small secluded house.

The great composer died on May 31, 1809. Later, the remains were transferred to Eisenstadt, where many years of his life passed.

104 symphonies, 83 quartets, 52 piano sonatas, 2 oratorios, 14 masses and 24 operas.

Vocal works:

operas

• "The Lame Demon", 1751
• "Orpheus and Eurydice, or the Soul of the Philosopher", 1791
• "Pharmacist"
• "Lunar Peace", 1777

oratorios

• "World creation"
• "Seasons"

Symphonic music

• "Farewell Symphony"
• "Oxford Symphony"
• "Funeral Symphony"

Biography

Youth

Joseph Haydn (the composer himself never named himself Franz) was born on March 31, 1732 on the estate of the counts of Harrach - the Lower Austrian village of Rorau, not far from the border with Hungary, in the family of Matthias Haydn (1699-1763). Parents, who were seriously fond of vocals and amateur music-making, discovered musical abilities in the boy and in 1737 sent him to relatives in the city of Hainburg an der Donau, where Josef began to study choral singing and music. In 1740, Joseph was noticed by Georg von Reutter, director of the chapel of the Vienna Cathedral of St. Stephen. Reutter took the talented boy to the chapel, and he sang in the choir for nine years (including several years with his younger brothers).

Singing in the choir was good for Haydn, but the only school. As his abilities developed, he was assigned difficult solo parts. Together with the choir, Haydn often performed at city festivities, weddings, funerals, took part in court celebrations. One such event was the funeral of Antonio Vivaldi in 1741.

Service at Esterhazy

The composer's creative heritage includes 104 symphonies, 83 quartets, 52 piano sonatas, oratorios ("Creation of the World" and "The Seasons"), 14 masses, 26 operas.

List of compositions

Chamber music

• 12 sonatas for violin and piano (including sonata in E minor, sonata in D major)
• 83 string quartets for two violins, viola and cello
• 7 duets for violin and viola
• 40 trios for piano, violin (or flute) and cello
• 21 trios for 2 violins and cello
• 126 trios for baritone, viola (violin) and cello
• 11 trios for mixed wind and string instruments

Concerts

35 concertos for one or more instruments with orchestra, including:

• four concertos for violin and orchestra
• two concertos for cello and orchestra
• two concertos for horn and orchestra
• 11 Piano Concertos
• 6 organ concerts
• 5 concertos for two-wheeled lyres
• 4 concertos for baritone and orchestra
• concerto for double bass and orchestra
• concerto for flute and orchestra
• concerto for trumpet and orchestra

Vocal works

There are 24 operas in total, including:

• The Lame Demon (Der krumme Teufel), 1751
• "True Constancy"
• Orpheus and Eurydice, or the Soul of a Philosopher, 1791
• "Asmodeus, or the New Lame Imp"
• Acis and Galatea, 1762
• "Desert Island" (L'lsola disabitata)
• "Armida", 1783
• Fisherwomen (Le Pescatrici), 1769
• "Deceived infidelity" (L'Infedelta delusa)
• "An Unforeseen Meeting" (L'Incontro improviso), 1775
• Lunar World (II Mondo della luna), 1777
• "True Constancy" (La Vera costanza), 1776
• Loyalty Rewarded (La Fedelta premiata)
• "Roland the Paladin" (Orlando Raladino), a heroic-comic opera based on the plot of Ariosto's poem "Furious Roland"

14 oratorios, including:

• "World creation"
• "Seasons"
• "Seven Words of the Savior on the Cross"
• "The Return of Tobiah"
• Allegorical cantata-oratorio "Applause"
• oratorio hymn Stabat Mater

14 masses, including:

• small mass (Missa brevis, F-dur, circa 1750)
• great organ mass Es-dur (1766)
• Mass in honor of St. Nicholas (Missa in honorem Sancti Nicolai, G-dur, 1772)
• mass of st. Caecilians (Missa Sanctae Caeciliae, c-moll, between 1769 and 1773)
• small organ mass (B-dur, 1778)
• Mariazelle Masse (Mariazellermesse, C-dur, 1782)
• Mass with timpani, or Mass during the war (Paukenmesse, C-dur, 1796)
• Mass Heiligmesse (B-dur, 1796)
• Nelson-Messe (Nelson-Messe, d-moll, 1798)
• Mass Teresa (Theresienmesse, B-dur, 1799)
• mass with a theme from the oratorio "The Creation" (Schopfungsmesse, B-dur, 1801)
• mass with wind instruments (Harmoniemesse, B-dur, 1802)

Symphonic music

104 symphonies in total, including:

• "Oxford Symphony"
• "Funeral Symphony"
• 6 Paris Symphonies (1785-1786)
• 12 London Symphonies (1791-1792, 1794-1795), including Symphony No. 103 "Timpani Tremolo"
• 66 divertissements and cassations

Works for piano

• Fantasies, variations

Memory

• A crater on the planet Mercury is named after Haydn.

In fiction

• Stendhal published biographies of Haydn, Mozart, Rossini and Metastasio in letters.

In numismatics and philately

Literature

• // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
• Alshvang A. A. Joseph Haydn. - M.-L. , 1947.
• Kremlev Yu. A. Joseph Haydn. Essay on life and creativity. - M., 1972.
• Novak L. Joseph Haydn. Life, creativity, historical significance. - M., 1973.
• Butterworth N. Haydn. - Chelyabinsk, 1999.
• J. Haydn - I. Kotlyarevsky: the art of optimism. Problems of interrelationship between science, pedagogy and theory and practice: Collection of scientific practices / Ed. - L. V. Rusakova. Vip. 27. - Kharkiv, 2009. - 298 p. - ISBN 978-966-8661-55-6. (ukr.)
• Dies. Haydn's Biographie. - Vienna, 1810. (German)
• Ludwig. Joseph Hayden. Ein Lebensbild. - Nordg., 1867. (German)
• Pohl. Mozart and Haydn in London. - Vienna, 1867. (German)
• Pohl. Joseph Hayden. - Berlin, 1875. (German)
• Lutz Gorner Joseph Hayden. Sein Leben, seine Musik. 3 CDs mit viel Musik nach der Biographie von Hans-Josef Irmen. KKM Weimar 2008. - ISBN 978-3-89816-285-2
• Arnold Werner-Jensen. Joseph Hayden. - München: Verlag C. H. Beck, 2009. - ISBN 978-3-406-56268-6. (German)
• H. C. Robbins Landon. The Symphonies of Joseph Haydn. - Universal Edition and Rockliff, 1955. (English)
• Landon, H. C. Robbins; Jones, David Wyn. Haydn: His Life and Music. - Indiana University Press, 1988. - ISBN 978-0-253-37265-9. (English)
• Webster, James; Feder, George(2001). Joseph Haydn. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Published separately as a book: (2002) The New Grove Haydn. New York: Macmillan. 2002. ISBN 0-19-516904-2

Notes

Links

Franz Joseph Haydn. Born March 31, 1732 - died May 31, 1809. Austrian composer, representative of the Viennese classical school, one of the founders of such musical genres as the symphony and string quartet. The creator of the melody, which later formed the basis of the anthems of Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Joseph Haydn was born on March 31, 1732, on the estate of the counts of Harrach, the Lower Austrian village of Rorau, not far from the border with Hungary, in the family of the carriage master Matthias Haydn (1699-1763).

Parents, who were seriously fond of vocals and amateur music-making, discovered musical abilities in the boy and in 1737 sent him to relatives in the city of Hainburg-on-the-Danube, where Josef began to study choral singing and music. In 1740, Joseph was noticed by Georg von Reutter, the director of the chapel of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. Reitter took a talented boy to the chapel, and for nine years (from 1740 to 1749) he sang in the choir (including several years with his younger brothers) of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, where he also studied playing instruments.

The chapel was the only school for little Haydn. As his abilities developed, he was assigned difficult solo parts. Together with the choir, Haydn often performed at city festivities, weddings, funerals, took part in court celebrations. One such event was the funeral of Antonio Vivaldi in 1741.

In 1749, Josef's voice began to break, and he was kicked out of the choir. The ten years that followed were very difficult for him. Josef took on various jobs, including being a servant and briefly being an accompanist for the Italian composer and singing teacher Nicola Porpora, from whom he also took composition lessons. Haydn tried to fill in the gaps in his musical education, diligently studying the works of Emmanuel Bach and the theory of composition. The study of the musical works of the predecessors and theoretical works of J. Fuchs, J. Mattheson and others made up for the lack of a systematic musical education for Joseph Haydn. The sonatas for harpsichord written by him at that time were published and attracted attention. His first major compositions were two masses brevis, F-dur and G-dur, written by Haydn in 1749 before he left the chapel of St. Stephen's Cathedral.

In the 50s of the XVIII century, Joseph wrote a number of works that marked the beginning of his fame as a composer: the singspiel (opera) "The New Lame Demon" (staged in 1752, Vienna and other cities of Austria - has not survived to this day), divertissements and serenades , string quartets for the musical circle of Baron Furnberg, about a dozen quartets (1755), first symphony (1759).

In the period from 1754 to 1756 Haydn worked at the Vienna court as a free artist. In 1759, the composer received the position of bandmaster (music director) at the court of Count Karl von Morzin, where Haydn had a small orchestra under his command, for which the composer composed his first symphonies. However, von Morzin soon began to experience financial difficulties and stopped the activities of his musical project.

In 1760 Haydn married Marie-Anne Keller. They had no children, which the composer was very sorry about. His wife treated his professional activities very coldly, using his scores for papillottes and pate stands. It was an extremely unhappy marriage, and the laws of that time did not allow them to disperse. Both took lovers.

After the disbandment of the musical project of the financially collapsed Count von Morzin (1761), Joseph Haydn was offered a similar job with Prince Paul Anton Esterhazy, head of the extremely wealthy Esterhazy family. At first, Haydn held the position of vice-kapellmeister, but he was immediately admitted to the leadership of most of Esterhazy's musical institutions, along with the old Kapellmeister Gregor Werner, who retained absolute authority only for church music.

In 1766, a fateful event occurred in Haydn's life - after the death of Gregor Werner, he was elevated to Kapellmeister at the court of the Esterhazy princes, one of the most influential and powerful aristocratic families of Austria. The responsibilities of the bandmaster included composing music, directing the orchestra, playing chamber music in front of the patron and staging operas.

1779 becomes a turning point in the career of Joseph Haydn - his contract was revised: while previously all his compositions were the property of the Esterhazy family, now he was allowed to write for others and sell his works to publishers.

Soon, taking into account this circumstance, Haydn shifts the emphasis in his composing activity: he writes less operas and creates more quartets and symphonies. In addition, he is negotiating with several publishers, both Austrian and foreign. Of Haydn's new employment contract, Jones writes: "This document acted as a catalyst for the next phase of Haydn's career - the achievement of international popularity. By 1790, Haydn was in the paradoxical, if not bizarre, position of being Europe's leading composer, but bound by the action of a previously signed contract, was spending his time as bandmaster in a remote palace in the Hungarian countryside.

During his almost thirty-year career at the court of Esterhazy, the composer composed a large number of works, his fame is growing. In 1781, while in Vienna, Haydn met and became friends with. He gave music lessons to Sigismund von Neukom, who later became his close friend.

On February 11, 1785, Haydn was initiated into the Masonic lodge "To True Harmony" ("Zur wahren Eintracht"). Mozart was unable to attend the dedication as he was at a concert by his father Leopold.

During the XVIII century in a number of countries (Italy, Germany, Austria, France and others) there were processes of formation of new genres and forms of instrumental music, which finally took shape and reached their peak in the so-called "Viennese classical school" - in the works of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven . Instead of polyphonic texture, homophonic-harmonic texture acquired great importance, but at the same time, large instrumental works often included polyphonic episodes that dynamized the musical fabric.

Thus, the years of service (1761-1790) with the Hungarian princes Esterhazy contributed to the flourishing of Haydn's creative activity, the peak of which falls on the 80-90s of the 18th century, when mature quartets were created (starting with opus 33), 6 Paris (1785- 86) symphonies, oratorios, masses and other works. The whims of the philanthropist often forced Josef to give up creative freedom. At the same time, work with the orchestra and choir led by him had a beneficial effect on his development as a composer. For the chapel and home theater Esterhazy wrote most of the symphonies (including the widely known "Farewell", (1772)) and operas of the composer. Haydn's trips to Vienna allowed him to communicate with the most prominent of his contemporaries, in particular with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

In 1790, Prince Nicholas Esterhazy died, and his son and successor, Prince Anton Esterhazy, not being a music lover, disbanded the orchestra. In 1791 Haydn received a contract to work in England. Subsequently, he worked extensively in Austria and Great Britain. Two trips to London (1791-1792 and 1794-1795) at the invitation of the organizer of the "Subscription Concerts" violinist I.P. Zalomon, where he wrote his best symphonies for Zalomon's concerts (12 London (1791-1792, 1794-1795) symphonies) , expanded their horizons, further strengthened their fame and contributed to the growth of Haydn's popularity. In London, Haydn gathered huge audiences: Haydn's concerts attracted a huge number of listeners, which increased his fame, contributed to the collection of large profits, and, ultimately, allowed him to become financially secure. In 1791, Joseph Haydn was awarded an honorary doctorate from Oxford University.

Passing through Bonn in 1792, he met the young Beethoven and took him on as an apprentice.

Haydn returned and settled in Vienna in 1795. By that time, Prince Anton had died and his successor, Nicholas II, proposed to revive Esterhazy's musical institutions under the leadership of Haydn, who again acted as bandmaster. Haydn accepted the offer and took the offered vacancy, albeit on a part-time basis. He spent his summers with Esterhazy in the city of Eisenstadt, and over the course of several years wrote six masses. But by this time Haydn had become a public figure in Vienna and spent most of his time in his own large house in Gumpendorf (German: Gumpendorf), where he wrote several works for public performance. Among other things, Haydn wrote two of his famous oratorios in Vienna: The Creation of the World (1798) and The Seasons (1801), in which the composer developed the traditions of H. F. Handel's lyric-epic oratorios. Joseph Haydn's oratorios are marked by a new for this genre juicy everyday character, a colorful embodiment of natural phenomena, they reveal the composer's skill as a colorist.

Haydn tried his hand at all kinds of musical composition, but not all genres of his work manifested itself with the same force. In the field of instrumental music, he is rightly considered one of the greatest composers of the second half of the 18th and early 19th centuries. The greatness of Joseph Haydn as a composer was manifested to the maximum in his two final works: large oratorios - The Creation of the World (1798) and The Seasons (1801). The oratorio "The Seasons" can serve as an exemplary standard of musical classicism. Towards the end of his life, Haydn enjoyed enormous popularity. In subsequent years, this successful period for Haydn's work is faced with the onset of old age and failing health - now the composer must fight to complete his work. Work on oratorios undermined the strength of the composer. His last works were the Harmoniemesse (1802) and the unfinished string quartet opus 103 (1802). By about 1802, his condition had deteriorated to the point where he was physically unable to compose. The last sketches date back to 1806, after which date Haydn did not write anything.

The composer died in Vienna. He died at the age of 77 on May 31, 1809, shortly after the attack on Vienna by the French army led by Napoleon. Among his last words was an attempt to calm his servants when a cannonball fell in the vicinity of the house: "Do not be afraid, my children, for where Haydn is, no harm can be." Two weeks later, on June 15, 1809, a memorial service was held in the church of the Scottish Monastery (German: Shottenkirche), at which Mozart's Requiem was performed.

The composer created 24 operas, wrote 104 symphonies, 83 string quartets, 52 piano (clavier) sonatas, 126 trios for baritone, overtures, marches, dances, divertissements for orchestra and various instruments, concertos for clavier and other instruments, oratorios, various pieces for clavier, songs, canons, arrangements of Scottish, Irish, Welsh songs for voice and piano (violin or cello optional). Among the compositions are 3 oratorios (“Creation of the World”, “Seasons” and “Seven Words of the Savior on the Cross”), 14 masses and other spiritual works.

Haydn's most famous operas:

The Lame Demon (Der krumme Teufel), 1751
"True Constancy"
Orpheus and Eurydice, or the Soul of a Philosopher, 1791
"Asmodeus, or the New Lame Imp"
"Pharmacist"
Acis and Galatea, 1762
"Desert Island" (L'lsola disabitata)
"Armida", 1783
Fisherwomen (Le Pescatrici), 1769
"Deceived infidelity" (L'Infedeltà delusa)
"An Unforeseen Meeting" (L'Incontro improviso), 1775
Lunar World (II Mondo della luna), 1777
"True Constancy" (La Vera costanza), 1776
Loyalty Rewarded (La Fedeltà premiata)
Roland the Paladin (Orlando Raladino), a heroic-comic opera based on the plot of Ariosto's poem "Furious Roland".

The most famous masses of Haydn:

small mass (Missa brevis, F-dur, circa 1750)
great organ mass Es-dur (1766)
Mass in honor of St. Nicholas (Missa in honorem Sancti Nicolai, G-dur, 1772)
mass of st. Caecilians (Missa Sanctae Caeciliae, c-moll, between 1769 and 1773)
small organ mass (B-dur, 1778)
Mariazelle Masse (Mariazellermesse, C-dur, 1782)
Mass with timpani, or Mass during the war (Paukenmesse, C-dur, 1796)
Mass Heiligmesse (B-dur, 1796)
Nelson-Messe (Nelson-Messe, d-moll, 1798)
Mass Teresa (Theresienmesse, B-dur, 1799)
mass with a theme from the oratorio "The Creation" (Schopfungsmesse, B-dur, 1801)
mass with wind instruments (Harmoniemesse, B-dur, 1802).

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

Joseph Haydn. Wax sculpture by F. Teyler, c. 1800

Gradually, his first compositions—piano sonatas, quartets, etc.—were widely distributed (in manuscripts). In 1759, Haydn finally got a place as a bandmaster with Count Morcin in Lukavac, where, by the way, he wrote his first symphony. Then Haydn married the daughter of the Viennese hairdresser Keller, 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 Kapellmeister in Count Esterhazy's Chapel in Eisenstadt. Subsequently, the Esterhazy orchestra was increased from 16 to 30, and Haydn, after the death of the first Kapellmeister, took his place. Here he created most of his compositions, which were usually written for holidays and solemn days for performance in the Esterhazy house.

Joseph Haydn. The best works

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

Returning to Vienna, Haydn met with an honorable reception throughout the road; in Bonn he met the young Beethoven, who soon afterwards 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 two of his 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, senile infirmity began to overcome Haydn. A particularly heavy blow was dealt to him by the French invasion of Vienna; a few days after that he died.