The Life of Haydn

Musical Lives

by David Wyn Jones

Presenting a fresh picture of the life and work of Joseph Haydn, this biography captures all the complexities and contradictions of the composer's long career. In his lifetime Haydn achieved a degree of fame that easily surpassed that of Mozart and Beethoven. Later his historical significance was more restricted, regarded exclusively as the composer who first recognised the potential of the symphony and the quartet. However, Haydn had also composed operas, oratorios and church music with similar enthusiasm and self-regard. Too easily buttonholed as a Viennese composer, he interacted consistently with the musical life of Vienna only during the earliest and latest periods of his life; London was at least as important in fashioning the composer's fame and legacy. To counter the genial view of the composer, this biography probes the darker side of Haydn's personality, his commercial opportunism and double dealing, his penny-pinching and his troubled marriage.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

264 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2009

Reviews

[Michael Finocchiaro · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a disappointingly short biography of a rather disagreeable person - so in retrospect, perhaps it is better that it was short? Haydn was of course a musical genius - 104 symphonies, >100 string quartets - an incredible musical output and one of the great composers of his time. Someone Beethoven learned from and loved. But someone that spent most of his life under the thumb of the Esterhazy family (forced to write an absurd amount of music for a now all but extinct instrument his patron was obsessed with) and only late in his life was he granted the freedom to leave Hungary and he - like Handel hastened to England. But when the English wanted him to stay there - so much so that they invited his wife (that he hated beyond belief) to come live with him there, he fled back to Hungary and Vienna until the end of his days. Never one with a plethora of friends (yet nonetheless a collection of lovers), his biography is less interesting than those of Beethoven, Bach, Handel, or Schubert who all immediately preceded or followed him. I still enjoy his string quartets and his symphonies but did not seek to learn much more about his life (unlike all the other composers I mentioned).

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't like Haydn's music; despite my best efforts, I have never been able to warm up to his work. However, he is a composer of major importance, so I felt like I should know a little bit more about him. This biography turned out to be ideal for my purposes - plenty of information and useful discussion, but not too long or involved. Jones is really good at contextualizing a composer's life and work, and that was real asset here. Not only did I learn a lot about Haydn, I also got a good picture of musical life in Vienna and London during the last half of the 18th century, and what it meant to work at the courts of the nobility. Reading about Haydn turned out to be more interesting than listening to his music.