Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)

The son of a village wheelwright, Joseph Haydn sang as a choirboy at St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. When his voice broke he scraped a living from teaching and odd jobs, and taught himself composition largely on his own, notably by studying the sonatas of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.

In 1761 he entered the service of the Esterházy princes, for whom he worked for almost thirty years. Isolated at the palace of Eszterháza with an orchestra at his disposal, he could, in his own words, “experiment” freely: this is where he shaped the symphony and the string quartet as we know them.

Famous throughout Europe, he made two long visits to London (1791–1792 and 1794–1795), where he wrote his last twelve symphonies, the “London” symphonies. He then composed his great oratorios, The Creation and The Seasons. He was Mozart’s friend and, briefly, the young Beethoven’s teacher.

For the piano Haydn left some sixty sonatas, trios and sets of variations. His music grows from small motifs developed with astonishing logic and wit: unexpected silences, false endings, sudden changes of dynamics. For pianists it is a school of clarity, articulation and humour.