This week we are taking a gander at the life of Joseph Haydn. Some points to hit will be events that were significant to the development of Haydn as a musician and a person. Kind of a short introduction, but lets hop right on in!
In 1740 at the age of 8, Haydn enrolled in choir school at the St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. He began his musical training there, and could soon play both harpsichord and violin. This was vital and attributes to his early knowledge and training as a musician and composer.
Unfortunately, in 1749, Haydn was dismissed from the cathedral choir-school in Vienna at the tender age of seventeen. The best speculation reasoning could be due to Haydn’s voice changing and a combination of being on edge with the music director. With this sudden thrust into the music world, Haydn began freelancing, composing, and doing whatever possible to make ends meet. With Serenades and Divertimenti being the most popular at the time, one of his earliest experiments was a serenade, and, according to one account,it was an improvised performance of this piece that brought him
his first commission and led to the composition of his first “opera,”
Der krumme Teufel.
In 1761, Haydn was appointed as second Kapellmeister to Prince Paul Anton Esterhazy at Eisenstadt. This would go on to be Haydns residence for the next thirty years with the Esterhazys being his patron. in 1766 Haydn was made first Kapellmeister, and a few months later the opening of the magnificent residence Prince Nicholas had built at Esterhaz-with its opera house seating four hundred and its marionette theater again increased his responsibilities, obliging him to devote serious attention to operatic composition, a branch of music in which he had thus far had little experience. This period of him working for the esterhazys also begins the foundation of his reputation among the music world.
1779 was a very significant time for Haydn as his contract with the Esterhazy family was renegotiated. This new contract would offer Haydn a greater amount of freedom to travel to the outside world, and no longer stripped him of the rights to his compositions. This was nearing the end of his period of service to the Esterhazys and would bring about a time when he would visit London, Paris, and Vienna.
William Joiner's Music World 