Joseph Haydn

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Joseph Haydn

• 1732-1809
• Born before and died after Mozart
• Born in Austria
• Trained at a young age
• Sent to Vienna to study as a choirboy in the
  Cathedral of St. Stephen

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Joseph Haydn

• Voice changed
• Rejected from St. Stephen
• Gave music lessons and took odd jobs
• Taught himself composition
• 1761 (age 29) Haydn entered the service of the
  Esterhazys
• Rich Hungarian nobility

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Esterhazy Family

• Palace included
• Opera house
• Theater
• Two concert halls
• 126 guest rooms

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Haydn

• Skilled servant
• Compose all music requested by patron
• Conduct orchestra
• Coach singers
• Oversee instruments and library

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Haydn

• Weekly
• 2 concerts
• 2 opera performances
• Daily miscellaneous music
• Smaller ensembles (chamber music)

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Haydn Esterhazys

• Servant, but . . .
• Steady income
• All music got performed
• Unusual today

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Haydn

• Haydns music became popular all over Europe
• Also appeared in London
• Became celebrity
• Still a servant
• Died at age 77!

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Haydn

• Pioneer in developing
• Symphony
• String Quartet
• Influenced Mozart and Beethoven
• Much of his music has a folk flavor
• Sprinkled with folk songs from his childhood

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Haydn

• Most important part of his output
• Symphonies (104)

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

• 1756-1791

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Mozart

• Child prodigy
• Born in Salzburg, Austria
• Father, Leopold
• Also a musician
• Greedy with his goldmine of a son

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Mozart

• By age 6, played . . .
• Harpsichord
• Violin
• Composing short pieces

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Mozart

• Age 8
• Wrote a symphony
• Age 11
• Wrote an oratorio
• Age 12
• Wrote an opera

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Mozart

• Ages 6-15
• On constant tour of Europe with his father and
  sister
• Freak show of child prodigies

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Mozart

• Father court musician
• Mozart granted a minor position as violinist in
  the court orchestra (at age 15)
• Off and on for about 10 years
• Struggled to the end of his life to find a
  position as court composer

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Mozart

• Not very successful as adult musician
• Child prodigy success
• Treated as a star
• Spoiled
• Expected same treatment as an adult
• Spent a lot of time scheming to make it big, not
  as much time working

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Mozart

• Age 25
• Moved to Vienna
• Freelance musician
• Worked for himself
• Big hit writing operas
• The Abduction from the Seraglio (harem)
• The Marriage of Figaro
• Don Giovanni

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Mozart

• Versatile
• Wrote masterpieces in every form of the time
• Symphonies
• Concertos
• Chamber music
• Operas

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Mozart

• Wrote very quickly
• Amazing mind
• Last three symphonies (39, 40, 41)
• Completed in his head before ever writing a note
  on paper
• Finished in 6 weeks!
• This is incredibly fast

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Mozart

• Virtuoso pianist
• Perfected the piano concerto
• Written for his own performances

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Mozart

• Most of his operas are comedies
• Warped sense of humor
• Bathroom humor lasted well into adulthood

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Mozart

• Commissioned to write a requiem
• Mass for the dead
• He was dying himself
• Didnt finish the requiem
• Subject of movie Amadeus