Franz Joseph Haydn was one of many biggest composers of the classical interval. Nearly single-handedly Haydn established the codecs on which classical music could be primarily based for greater than a century. Two titles are frequently bestowed upon him: “Father of the Symphony” and “Father of the String Quartet.” However his affect was equally necessary on the concerto, the piano sonata and the piano trio. He was a prolific composer – his works embrace 104 symphonies, over 20 concertos, 60 piano sonatas, and 83 string quartets. Haydn spent a lot of his profession as a court docket musician for the rich Esterházy household at their distant property. But his music circulated broadly, and for a lot of his profession, he was probably the most celebrated composer in Europe.
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String Quartets, Op.64 Nos 1 – 6
Haydn’s six String Quartets Op.64 (1790) embrace the favored Lark, with its enchanting suggestion of birdcalls, and anticipate the glories of The London Symphonies the next yr. These String Quartets are often known as the “Tost” quartets due to their dedication to Johann Tost, a former violinist of the Esterházy orchestra.
String Quartets, Op.76 Nos 1 – 6
The best of all Haydn’s units of string quartets, that includes one gloriously impressed motion after one other, achieved with a panoramic sleight-of-hand and superior emotional vary. The revered writer and music historian Charles Burney described the Op 76 String Quartets as “full of invention, fire, good taste, and new effects” and proclaimed that he “had never received more pleasure from instrumental music.” Every of the six quartets shows a tremendous steadiness between the consolidation of the custom Haydn had created and his drive towards but additional innovation.
The Seven Final Phrases Of Christ On The Cross
The Seven Final Phrases of Christ On The Cross contributed considerably to Haydn’s worldwide fame and he thought of it to be one in all his most interesting works. This magisterial sequence of seven sluggish actions had been composed particularly for the Canon of Cadiz who had requested Haydn to compose instrumental music to be carried out between meditations on Christ’s final seven phrases – the declamatory statements addressed to his father in heaven as he was dying – throughout a particular Good Friday ceremony. The work exists in a number of variations: for orchestra, for orchestra and refrain, and for string quartet by Haydn, in addition to a discount for piano which was accredited by the composer.
Missa In Angustiis (Nelson Mass)
In his final six Mass settings, composed between 1796 and 1802, Haydn elevated the style to the symphonic as within the Nelson Mass, a scorching imaginative and prescient of unbridled depth and fervour. The Nelson Mass, based on Haydn’s biographer and American musicologist H. C. Robbins Landon, is arguably the composer’s “greatest single composition”.
The Creation
The Creation was impressed by Handel‘s Messiah and Israel in Egypt which Haydn had heard while visiting England. This oratorio describes the creation of the world from a formless void to an enchanted garden, with vivid depictions of sea, sun, birds, and flowers, and is one of Haydn’s greatest works.
The Seasons
The Seasons, a secular oratorio, is a country celebration of the 4 seasons of the yr with peasant dances and animated musical portraits of the altering climate. With its winter storms and whistling ploughmen, hymns of reward, and booze-fuelled revels, this sequel to The Creation was impressed by Haydn’s time in London, and written specifically to enchantment to British audiences.
Cello Concerto No 1
Haydn’s long-neglected cello concertos have grow to be central to the live performance repertoire whether or not performed on interval or fashionable devices. Cello Concerto No 1 was found in Prague in 1961 and was shortly established as one of many composer’s hottest orchestral works. Haydn redefined orchestral enjoying with this concerto which is an ideal automobile for a participant’s approach with quick runs and meaty chords proving the cello is rather more than only a bass line instrument.
The London Symphonies, Vol 1 (Nos 95, 96, 98, 102, 103, 104)
Haydn composed twelve London Symphonies and a number of other of them are amongst his greatest works. All of those have grow to be collectively often known as The London Symphonies, however it’s the final of them – No. 104 in D main, composed throughout his second go to in 1794-95 – which has grow to be often known as The London Symphony. This primary compilation of Haydn’s twelve London Symphonies consists of such perennial favorites because the erroneously titled Miracle (No.96), the Drumroll (No.103) and the London (No.104).
The Paris Symphonies, Nos 82-87
This set of six endlessly creative exuberant symphonies had been variously premiered within the French capital throughout 1787 within the presence of Queen Marie Antoinette. The works had been highly regarded with the general public and press and fashionable critics additionally admire the works – Haydn’s biographer and American musicologist H. C. Robbins Landon calls them “a remarkable fusion of brilliance, elegance, and warmth.”
Trumpet Concerto
Haydn’s biggest concerto is notable each for its radiantly lyrical sluggish motion, and an indelible finale, which one way or the other manages to remodel the trumpet’s army tendency into musical bliss. Haydn wrote the Trumpet Concerto for his buddy Anton Weidinger who had developed a keyed trumpet which may play chromatically all through its complete vary – earlier than this the trumpet was valveless and will solely play a restricted vary of harmonic notes. Haydn’s concerto exploited the capabilities of the brand new instrument.
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