Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) is often called the Father of the Symphony and the Father of the String Quartet. He did not invent either form, but over a long career he turned both into the backbone of Classical music, and he did it with a sense of humor that still makes audiences smile.
Here are 12 interesting facts about Haydn, from his years as a choirboy in Vienna to the day Napoleon’s army arrived at his door.
The short version
Haydn wrote 106 symphonies and 68 string quartets, was a close friend of Mozart, briefly taught Beethoven, and by 1790 was widely seen as Europe’s leading composer.
1. He Sang As A Boy Soprano
1740 to 1749 · St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna
Haydn was born in the village of Rohrau in Lower Austria. At about six he was sent to live with a relative, the schoolmaster Johann Matthias Frankh in nearby Hainburg, where he sang in the church choir and learned the basics of music.
In 1740, at the age of eight, he was recruited by Georg Reutter as a choirboy at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. He sang there for about nine years, until his voice broke around 1749. In all that time he received hardly any formal teaching in composition and largely taught himself.
2. His Father Changed His Destiny
St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna
As Haydn grew older, his choirmaster Reutter is said to have suggested castrating him to preserve his soprano voice, a practice that still produced some of the star singers of the 18th century. According to the story, Haydn’s father, a wheelwright named Mathias, was horrified and the idea went no further.
That decision shaped music history. Once his voice broke, Haydn was dismissed from the choir and had to make his own way in Vienna. He scraped a living as a freelance musician and teacher while teaching himself composition, and in 1757 he landed his first full-time post, as music director to Count Morzin.
3. He Wrote More Than 100 Symphonies
106 symphonies · 68 string quartets
Start with: “Symphony No. 94 “Surprise””106 symphonies
Haydn wrote 106 symphonies, more than any other major composer of his time. That is why he is called the Father of the Symphony, even though the form existed before him. Over four decades he took it from a short entertainment to a large, carefully argued piece in four movements, the model that Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert followed.
He did the same for the string quartet, writing 68 of them, along with dozens of piano sonatas, piano trios, concertos, masses and operas. One of the most famous symphonies is No. 94, the “Surprise”, whose quiet slow movement is interrupted by a sudden loud chord. Haydn said he wrote it to surprise the London public with something new.
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4. He Was Religious
The Creation · 1798
Start with: “The Creation”
Haydn was a devout Catholic all his life. He began his manuscripts with the words “In nomine Domini” (in the name of the Lord) and ended them with “Laus Deo” (praise be to God). When a piece wasn’t going well, he would often turn to his rosary.
His faith runs through his music, from the late masses he wrote for the Esterházy family, such as the Nelson Mass, to his great oratorio The Creation, first performed in Vienna in 1798. It opens with “The Representation of Chaos”, a slow, shapeless introduction that bursts into a blaze of C major on the words “and there was light”, one of the most famous moments in all choral music.
5. He Was A Close Friend Of Mozart
Friends from the 1780s
Haydn and Mozart met in Vienna in the early 1780s, when Haydn was in his fifties and Mozart in his twenties. Despite the age gap they became close friends, and Mozart affectionately called him “Papa”. They sometimes played string quartets together, with Mozart on the viola.
In 1785 Mozart dedicated six string quartets to Haydn, an unusual honor since dedications normally went to aristocrats. After hearing some of them, Haydn told Mozart’s father Leopold that his son was “the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name.”
6. He Taught Beethoven
1792 to 1794 · Vienna
Haydn met the young Beethoven in Bonn in 1790 on his way to London, and Beethoven moved to Vienna to study with him in late 1792. The lessons, mostly in counterpoint, lasted only until January 1794, when Haydn left on his second trip to London.
The relationship was cooler than the one with Mozart. According to Beethoven’s pupil Ferdinand Ries, Beethoven refused to call himself a “pupil of Haydn” on his first published works, saying he had never learned anything from him. Even so, Haydn’s influence is easy to hear in Beethoven’s early symphonies and quartets.
7. He Worked For A Wealthy Family
1761 to 1790 · The Esterházy court
In 1761 Haydn joined the Esterházy family, one of the richest noble families in the Habsburg empire, as Vice-Kapellmeister, or assistant music director. When the Kapellmeister Gregor Werner died in 1766, Haydn took over the top job and kept it for the rest of his working life.
He composed, conducted, ran the orchestra and staged operas, mostly at the family’s remote palace of Eszterháza. Cut off from the musical world, he later said that, set apart from the world, “I had to be original.” Prince Nikolaus Esterházy gave him an orchestra to experiment with almost daily, which is where much of his style was formed.
8. He Made Two Trips To London
1791 to 1792 and 1794 to 1795
Start with: “Symphony No. 104 “London””
When Prince Nikolaus died in 1790, his successor cut back the court orchestra, leaving Haydn free to travel. The violinist and concert promoter Johann Peter Salomon persuaded him to come to London, and Haydn made two long visits, in 1791 to 1792 and 1794 to 1795.
London adored him. He wrote his last 12 symphonies, the London Symphonies, for Salomon’s concerts, including the “Surprise”, the “Military”, the “Drumroll” and No. 104, the “London”. The concerts made him financially secure, and he returned to Vienna, where he spent his final years.
9. He Used Humor And Messages In His Works
“The Joke” Quartet and the “Farewell” Symphony
Start with: “String Quartet Op. 33 No. 2 “The Joke””
Haydn loved to play with his listeners. The finale of his String Quartet in E-flat, Op. 33 No. 2, is full of pauses and false endings that fool the audience into thinking the piece is over. When it finally does end, with a quiet fragment of the opening tune, people are rarely sure whether to clap, which is how it got its nickname, “The Joke”.
Some of his musical messages were more pointed. In 1772 the prince kept his musicians at Eszterháza far longer than usual, away from their families. In the finale of the “Farewell” Symphony, No. 45, the players stop one by one, snuff out their candles and leave, until only two violins remain. The prince took the hint, and the court returned home soon after.
10. He Was Famous When Alive
Europe’s leading composer
Unlike Mozart and Schubert, Haydn lived long enough to enjoy real fame. His music was printed and played across Europe, and by 1790 he was widely seen as Europe’s leading composer, even while working at a remote Hungarian palace.
He never let it go to his head when it came to Mozart. He told the music historian Charles Burney that friends often flattered him for having some genius, “but he was much my superior.” His own music has never gone out of the repertoire, and with so many symphonies and quartets, there is always more to discover.
11. He Was Safe When Napoleon Invaded
May 1809 · Vienna
In May 1809, when Haydn was 77 and very frail, Napoleon’s army bombarded and then occupied Vienna. Shots fell close enough to rattle the windows of his house, and he is said to have calmed his household with the words “Don’t be afraid, children, where Haydn is, no harm can reach you.”
Napoleon ordered a guard of honor to be posted outside the composer’s house. One of his last visitors was a French cavalry officer, Clément Sulemy, who sang him an aria from The Creation, moving Haydn to tears. He died on May 31, 1809, a few weeks later.
12. His Brother Was Also A Composer
Michael Haydn · 1737–1806
Haydn’s younger brother, Michael Haydn (1737–1806), followed him into the choir at St. Stephen’s Cathedral. He was considered the brighter student of the two, and when Joseph’s voice began to break, it was Michael’s singing that was more admired.
Michael spent 44 years in Salzburg, where he knew the Mozart family well, and wrote more than 360 works, mostly church music. His Requiem for Archbishop Sigismund is thought to have influenced Mozart’s own Requiem.
Which Haydn work is your favorite?
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Summing up
Haydn went from a choirboy with almost no formal training to Europe’s leading composer. Along the way he shaped the symphony and the string quartet, befriended Mozart, taught Beethoven, and filled his music with surprises and jokes that still work more than two centuries later.
Which Haydn fact surprised you most?
