Joseph HAYND's PIANO Sonatas

Portrait of Joseph Haydn by Ludwig Guttenbrunn, ca. 1770.  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Haydn's musical education began as being a choir boy at the St. Stephen Cathedral of Vienna. Still, the turning period inside his musical instruction has been the encounter with Porpora who tutored him in singing and musical composition.

In 1757, Haydn penned his first quartets, op.1 and op.2. Those early creations created his fame inside the Viennese nobility. His primary consistent work had been proposed by Count Morzin in 1758. In 1761 he was hired by the Esterhazy family as music director at the castles of Eisenstadt and also Eszterhaza, palaces branded as "little Versailles". Both having two theatres. He remained in that standing up to 1790. Haydn has written for the Esterhazy all his operas, lots of symphonies, and an important quantity of chamber music.

Joseph Haydn met with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the course of the winter months of 1781-1782. A significant companionship, full of shared appreciation will bind the two composers. In 1791, the year of the passing of Mozart, Haydn, free from his engagements at the Esterhazy court, travels to London. He possessed a triumphal welcome. He authored the initial series of his "London Symphonies" (n.93 to 98). An additional stay in London, 1794-1795, again having a large achievement saw the publication and performance of six new "London" symphonies (n.99 to 104).

Returning to Vienna in 1795, Haydn composes a series of six Masses, a wide variety of string quartets, and most importantly, his two big Oratorios: "The Creation" and "The Seasons". His very last public appearance took place in 1808 on a public performance of his "Creation", this is an apotheosis. He will pass away the subsequent year.

Franz Joseph Haydn possessed a long, productive professional career, he had been a commendable composer with complete of sense of humour. His numerous production has embraced almost all types and types. Aside from the excellent symphonic works and the two delightful Oratorios one should not ignore the magnificent chamber music works; 68 string quartets, a good number of trios and "Divertimento"s. He also composed a variety of religious creations including the gorgeous "Last seven terms of Christ at the Crucifixion", cantatas, lieds and operas.

The piano works by J. Haydn, that felt a little bit neglected for a time, is now regaining favour among primary pianists. Performers like Wilhelm Backhaus, Lili Kraus and Glenn Gould include mixed lots of sonatas and variations. Paul Badura-Skoda offers an "authentic" performance on a "pianoforte" of that epoch.

Inside the sizable productivity of Franz Joseph Haydn, compositions for the piano is solely overtaken in quantity by symphonies and string quartets. Compared with 106 symphonies and 68 quartets we have got "only" around sixty sonatas for the piano. The earliest ones are definitely meant for the "clavicembalo".

One needs to add into the list those pretty valuable works that are: the variations, a "Capriccio", a "Fantaisie" and particularly the 45 trios for piano, violin and violoncello upon which the piano has got the best part.

Guaranteed, Joseph Haydn did not formulate the sonata form nor the symphony. But his expansion and emancipation of those musical types provided the style for all future composers. The constitutional frameworks produced by Haydn are even now alive. For this brilliant composer, the musical form had been by no means a pre-set rigid mould.

The "Haydn-Sonata" has by no means been a quickly arranged invention. The composer continually stated his references towards the "real" father of the sonata-form: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Since the years 1760 the style of C. Ph. E. Bach, typical with its "Empfindsamkeit" (sensitivity) and rapidly changing moods did impress rather very much Haydn. Even so, the Austrian master did infuse in those surfacing musical forms and styles a coherence, a balance that had been missing inside his famous Nordic forerunner.

One additional powerful influence is Domenico Scarlatti, even though in no way referred to specifically by F.J. Haydn. This is often to some degree evident in the melodic melody lines, but Scarlatti did not adhere to the emancipation of the "sonata" musical form.

The "new" edition of Haydn's works, published in 1960 by Christa Landon, enumerates some 62 sonatas. Most of those can not be genuinely attributed to Franz Joseph Haydn. The definitive listing made by Anthony van Hoboken is created on the Breitkopf und Hartel publication and chronology. This Hoboken directory is counting 52 sonatas for the piano.

By Mehmet Okonsar - Article Source: EzineArticles

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The Great Composers: JOSEF HAYDN (1732 - 1809)

Josef HAYDN /1732-1809)

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Joseph Haydn's PIANO SONATAS

Portrait of Joseph Haydn -
younger by Ludwig Guttenbrunn, ca. 1770.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Haydn's musical education began as being a choir boy at the St. Stephen Cathedral in Vienna. Still, the turning period inside his musical instruction has been the encounter with Porpora who tutored him singing and musical composition.

In 1757, Haydn penned his first quartets, op.1 and op.2. Those early creations created his fame inside the Viennese nobility. His primary consistent work had been proposed by Count Morzin in 1758. In 1761 he was hired by the Esterhazy family as music director at the castles of Eisenstadt and also Eszterhaza, palaces branded as "little Versailles". Both having two theaters. He remained in that standing up to 1790. Haydn has written for the Esterhazy all his operas, lots of symphonies and an important quantity of chamber music.

Joseph Haydn met with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the course of the winter months of 1781-1782. A significant companionship, full of shared appreciation will bind the two composers. In 1791, the year of passing of Mozart, Haydn, free from his engagements at the Esterhazy court, travels to London. He possessed a triumphal welcome. He authored the initial series of his "London Symphonies" (n.93 to 98). An additional stay in London, 1794-1795, again having a large achievement saw the publication and performance of six new "London" symphonies (n.99 to 104).

Returning to Vienna in 1795, Haydn composes a series of six Masses, a wide variety of string quartets, and most importantly, his two big Oratorios: "The Creation" and "The Seasons". His very last public appearance took place in 1808 on a public performance of his "Creation", this is an apotheosis. He will pass away the subsequent year.

Franz Joseph Haydn possessed a long, productive professional career, he had been a commendable composer with the completion of a sense of humor. His numerous production has embraced almost all types and types. Aside from the excellent symphonic works and the two delightful Oratorios one should not ignore the magnificent chamber music works; 68 string quartets, a good number of trios and "Divertimento"s. He also composed a variety of religious creations including the gorgeous "Last seven terms of Christ at the Crucifixion", cantatas, lieds and operas.

The piano works by J. Haydn, that felt a little bit neglected for a time, is now regaining favor among primary pianists. Performers like Wilhelm Backhaus, Lili Kraus, and Glenn Gould include mixed lots of sonatas and variations. Paul Badura-Skoda offers an "authentic" performance on a "pianoforte" of that epoch.

Inside the sizable productivity of Franz Joseph Haydn, compositions for the piano are solely overtaken in quantity by symphonies and string quartets. Compared with 106 symphonies and 68 quartets we have got "only" around sixty sonatas for the piano. The earliest ones are definitely meant for the "clavicembalo".

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One needs to add into the list those pretty valuable works that are: the variations, a "Capriccio", a "Fantaisie" and particularly the 45 trios for piano, violin, and violoncello upon which the piano has got the best part.

Guaranteed, Joseph Haydn did not formulate the sonata form nor the symphony. But his expansion and emancipation of those musical types provided the style for all future composers. The constitutional frameworks produced by Haydn are even now alive. For this brilliant composer, the musical form had been by no means a pre-set rigid mold.

The "Haydn-Sonata" has by no means been a quickly arranged invention. The composer continually stated his references towards the "real" father of the sonata-form: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Since the years 1760 the style of C. Ph. E. Bach, typical with its "Empfindsamkeit" (sensitivity) and rapidly changing moods did impress rather very much Haydn. Even so, the Austrian master did infuse in those surfacing musical forms and styles a coherence, a balance that had been missing inside his famous Nordic forerunner.

One additional powerful influence is Domenico Scarlatti, even though in no way referred to specifically by F.J. Haydn. This is often to some degree evident in the melodic melody lines, but Scarlatti did not adhere to the emancipation of the "sonata" musical form.

The "new" edition of Haydn's works, published in 1960 by Christa Landon, enumerates some 62 sonatas. Most of those cannot be genuinely attributed to Franz Joseph Haydn. The definitive listing made by Anthony van Hoboken is created on the Breitkopf und Hartel publication and chronology. This Hoboken directory is counting 52 sonatas for the piano.

By Mehmet Okonsar - Article Source: EzineArticles

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HAYDN's "Creation"

No other work has contributed to the fame of Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) like his oratorio "The Creation", however, no other expresses the inner wealth of the composer, the greatness of his art, in such an outright manner. To establish Haydn's immortality his symphonies and quartets would have already been enough, however, without "The Creation" we would not able to estimate the whole scope of his talent, because this composition does not only exceed his usual range of instrumental music, but it led the composer to entirely new ways of the musical development of thought and structure.

Haydn was one of the first composers to write a pitch
change as well as a written out solo for the timpani
in a symphonic movement.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The poetic voyage in "The Creation" from pole to pole of the visible and invisible world makes it an especially complex oratorio, Haydn has solved the challenging demands he had to face with incomparable confidence and added unexpected and peculiar characteristics to the poetic representation, in which also humour has its place. In Haydn's interpretation the psychic and mysterious character of the act of creation steps back behind the joyous gratitude to the creator. The music unfolds an unsurpassable inventiveness.

The composition is especially admired for its form. Only a composer like Haydn could join the immense plenitude of the subjects and scenes so clearly arranged, comprehensively and, nevertheless, impressively. The artistic freedom and beauty of "The Creation", which have inspired many artists since its first performance, will be continually considered exemplary for music.

As can be proven by his early oratorio "Il ritorno di Tobia", Haydn was mainly influenced by the Italian school, he had already encountered Händel's new art in Vienna, "The Creation" owes, but in London it had effected him with all its splendour. During his second stay, Haydn received the text for "The Creation", which a poet, unknown in the history of literature called Lidley (more recent research claims it was written anonymously) allegedly had written for Händel, who had probably rejected the text because of its length, however, it was composed in the three act order typical to Händel's oratorios. Not until his return to Vienna did Haydn decide on the composition, at the instigation of the well-known Händel-admirer Baron van Swieten, who amateurishly translated the English original himself. The composition took the three years from 1795-98, a strenuous endeavour of which he complained over and over again, both orally and in writing.

The success of the, at first, privately performed oratorio - on the 29th and 30th April at the Schwartzenberg palace, then on the 19th January and 19th March at the Viennese Burgtheater - was unequalled. "The Creation" brought to the composer constant honour, within and outside Germany it was performed over and over again and highly celebrated. Church music took over single choir parts, German "Kurrenden" (boys choirs) sang them until well over the middle of the 19-th century. Another remarkable effect is also of special interest: "The Creation" inspired the founding of many choir clubs and music institutes, among them the "Allgemeine Schweizer Musikgesellschaft". Haydn's composition entailed an increase in the performance of the oratorios by Händel, an independent German oratorio school evolved, which could finally overcome the rule of the Italian style.

By Alex Kashevnikof At Digital Sheet Music, you can download any Haydn's sheet music for free. Article Source: EzineArticles

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JOSEPH HAYDN - From Peasant to Fame and Wealth

Haydn was one of the first composers to write a pitch change as well as a written out solo for the timpani in a symphonic movement. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Austrian world, to which Haydn was born, in 1732, was beginning a new life, free from foreign Turkish oppressors, full of religious zeal, and expanding boundaries, living under the talented rule of the Habsburgs. Charles VI, reigning emperor, was a fine violinist, harpsichordist, and operatic composer.

The class system especially poignant at this time, gave little opportunity for poor peasants to rise in stature and riches. However, Joseph Haydn, born to a peasant family, achieved recognition and wealth uncommon, not only to those of his social rank, but also of composers and musicians of the time. Haydn's father, Mathias, was a wheelwright and his mother, Anna Maria Koller, had been a cook in the Harrach Castle. Haydn was the second of twelve children born to the wheelwright and his wife. Two of Haydn's brothers, Johann Michael and Johann Evangelist also became musicians.

As a young boy, Haydn was taught to love music; his father played the harp and had been granted the gift of a beautiful tenor voice, and his mother also enjoyed singing. Haydn went to the school rector at Haimburg and there studied for two years reading and writing, catechism, singing, wind and string instruments. At the age of eight he was enlisted to become a pupil in the Choir School at St. Stephen's Cathedral, where he continued his musical studies, though no instruction in musical theory was given. At sixteen his voice began to break, and one of Haydn's practical jokes, cutting off the pigtails of a fellow classmate, served as an excuse for the director to dismiss him from the choir. Thus without food, money, clothing, or home, Haydn was forced into the world to work as a freelance musician.

As a freelance musician, Haydn played for dances, arranged compositions for a variety of instruments, taught music for a meager amount, served as an accompanist, composed, and took part in serenades. "Like Italy, old Austria had a great fondness for open-air music at night, and many musicians were needed to fill the continuous demand. Haydn made the best use of this fashion. He earned a little money this way and drew from the rich well of Viennese fold music."

House of Joseph Haydn in Vienna,
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Through the money he earned as a freelance performer and through the graciousness of Anton Buchholz, who lent him unconditionally one hundred-fifty florins, Haydn was able to take a room and set about filling in the gaps in his theoretical knowledge. He studied Johann Josheph Fux's Gradus ad Parnassum, Johann Mattheson's Der vollkommene Kapellmeister, David Kellner's Unterricht im Generalbass, and works by Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach.

In 1758, Haydn became Kammer-compositeur to the Bohemian Count, Karl Joseph Franz von Morzin. This was a social and financial step forward, he was now regularly paid, a sum of two hundred florins a year, besides receiving free board and lodging. Haydn's great fortune was not over, as an offer was given to become vice-conductor, and later becoming head conductor, at the court of Gregorius Joseph Werner, Prince Esterhazy, in Einstadt. Haydn readily accepted this new post.

The Esterhazy's stood at the head of Hungary's powerful nobility. Haydn's duties included not only composing nearly all the music presented at the court, be he was also in charge of the orchestral members, making sure they wore clean, white stockings and tidy uniforms, and seeing that they did not get into mischief. This orchestra consisted, in the beginning, of five violins, one cello, one double bass, one flute, two oboes, two bassoons, and two horns. While under the service of Esterhazy court, Haydn was given freedom to experiment with new musical ideas of form and harmony. He developed a style of motivic development, tone painting, independence of instrumental lines, and use of "daring keys," such as B Major, F-sharp Major, and C-sharp Major.

Haydn was a prolific composer with 83 string quartets, 104 symphonies; 52 piano sonatas; many concertos for piano (15), violin (13), horn (2), trumpet (1), flute (1), and cello (2); 35 piano trios; more than 175 divertimentos; 19 operas; 14 masses; part songs and canons for voice; and 5 oratorios. Haydn's oratorios have been a subject discussed, dissected, and speculated upon by many scholars, most particularly The Seasons and The Creation.

Haydn's compositions were some of the most beautiful written during the Golden Age of Music.

By Cindy Lee Smith Find quality resources for piano teachers, students, and parents at Piano Discoveries. http://www.pianodiscoveries.com Article Source: EzineArticles

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