Transcript Haydn and mozartx

Joseph Haydn
1732-1809
Overview
• Austrian composer, one of the most prolific
and prominent composers of the Classical
period.
• He is often called the "Father of the
Symphony" (108) and "Father of the String
Quartet" (over 80)because of his important
contributions to these forms
• He was also instrumental in the development
of the piano trio and in the evolution of
sonata form.
Life
• Joseph Haydn was born in Rohrau, Austria, a
village near the border with Hungary, to a
non-musical family
• Was sent to live with a relative Johann
Matthias Frankh, the schoolmaster and
choirmaster in Hainburg, at the age of six.
• Began his musical training there, and soon
was able to play both harpsichord and violin.
The people of Hainburg were soon hearing
him sing treble parts in the church choir.
Struggles as a freelancer
• Starting in 1749, Haydn worked at many different
jobs: as a music teacher, as a street serenader,
and eventually, in 1752, as valet–accompanist for
the Italian composer Nicola Porpora, from whom
he later said he learned "the true fundamentals
of composition".
• As his skills increased, Haydn began to acquire a
public reputation, first as the composer of an
opera, Der krumme Teufel "The Limping Devil",
written for the comic actor Johann Joseph Felix
Kurz, whose stage name was "Bernardon". The
work was premiered successfully in 1753, but was
soon closed down by the censors.
• With the increase in his reputation, Haydn eventually
was able to obtain aristocratic patronage, crucial for
the career of a composer in his day.
• In 1757, Haydn worked as a Kapellmester (music
director) under court Morzin. He led the count's small
orchestra and wrote his first symphonies for this
ensemble.
• Count Morzin soon suffered financial reverses that
forced him to dismiss his musical establishment, but
Haydn was quickly offered a similar job (1761) as Vice
Kapellmeister to the Esterházy family, one of the
wealthiest and most important in the Austrian Empire.
When the old Kapellmeister, Gregor Werner, died in
1766, Haydn was elevated to full Kapellmeister.
• During the nearly thirty years that Haydn worked at the
Esterházy court, he produced a flood of compositions,
and his musical style continued to develop. His
popularity in the outside world also increased.
• As a "house officer" in the Esterházy establishment,
Haydn wore livery and followed the family as they
moved among their various palaces, most importantly
the family's ancestral seat Schloss Esterházy in
Eisenstadt and later on Eszterháza, a grand new palace
built in rural Hungary in the 1760s.
• Haydn had a huge range of responsibilities, including
composition, running the orchestra, playing chamber
music for and with his patrons, and eventually the
mounting of operatic productions.
• Haydn met Mozart sometime around 1784.
Haydn was hugely impressed with Mozart's work
and praised it unstintingly to others. Mozart
evidently returned the esteem, as seen in his
dedication of a set of six quartets, now called the
"Haydn" quartets, to his friend.
• In 1790, Prince Nikolaus died and was succeeded
by a thoroughly unmusical prince who dismissed
the entire musical establishment and put Haydn
on a pension.
• Freed of his obligations, to visit England and
conduct new symphonies with a large orchestra.
• Musically, the visits to England generated
some of Haydn's best-known work, including
the Surprise, Military, Drumroll, and London
symphonies, the Rider quartet, and the "Gypsy
Rondo" piano trio.
• While traveling to London in 1790, Haydn had
met the young Ludwig van Beethoven in his
native city of Bonn. On Haydn's return,
Beethoven came to Vienna and during the
time up to the second London visit was
Haydn's pupil.
• Haydn returned to Vienna in 1795, turned to
the composition of large religious works for
chorus and orchestra.
– two great oratorios (The Creation and The
Seasons)
– six masses for the Eszterházy family, which by this
time was once again headed by a musically
inclined prince.
– Haydn also composed instrumental music: the
popular Trumpet Concerto and the last nine in his
long series of string quartets, including the Fifths,
Emperor, and Sunrise quartets.
Character of music
• A central characteristic of Haydn's music is the
development of larger structures out of very short, simple
musical motifs, often derived from standard accompanying
figures.
• The music is often quite formally concentrated, and the
important musical events of a movement can unfold rather
quickly.
• Haydn's work was central to the development of what
came to be called sonata form.
• Perhaps more than any other composer's, Haydn's music is
known for its humor.
• Much of the music was written to please and delight a
prince, and its emotional tone is correspondingly upbeat.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
1756-1791
• a prolific and influential composer of the
Classical era. He composed over 600 works (41
symphonies (Eine Kleine Nachtmusik), and 27
piano concertos.), many acknowledged as
pinnacles of symphonic, concertante,
chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music.
He is among the most enduringly popular of
classical composers.
• Mozart showed prodigious ability from his
earliest childhood in Salzburg. Already competent
on keyboard and violin, he composed from the
age of five and performed before European
royalty.
• At 17, he was engaged as a court musician in
Salzburg, but grew restless and travelled in search
of a better position, always composing
abundantly.
• While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed
from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the
capital, where he achieved fame but little
financial security.
• During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of
his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas,
and portions of the Requiem, which was largely
unfinished at the time of Mozart's death.
• Works
– including 41 symphonies (Eine Kleine Nachtmusik), and
Concertos (27 piano concertos, 5 or 6 for violin, 2 for flute,
one for clarinet and bassoon)
– Operas:He produced operas in each of the prevailing
styles: opera buffa, such as The Marriage of Figaro, Don
Giovanni, and Così fan tutte; opera seria, such as
Idomeneo; and Singspiel, of which Die Zauberflöte is the
most famous example by any composer.
• Solo instrumental music (Piano sonatas , Violin sonatas,
etc.)
• Requiem in D minor – Listening –Introitus and Kyrie
Style
• At the time he began composing, European music was
dominated by the style galant, a reaction against the
highly evolved intricacy of the Baroque.
• a versatile composer, and wrote in every major genre,
including symphony, opera, the solo concerto, chamber
music including string quartet and string quintet, and
the piano sonata.
• He almost single-handedly developed and popularized
the Classical piano concerto. He wrote a great deal of
religious music, including large-scale masses, but also
dances, divertimenti, serenades, and other forms of
light entertainment.
• The central traits of the Classical style are all
present in Mozart's music. Clarity, balance,
and transparency are the hallmarks of his
work.
• Especially during his last decade, Mozart
exploited chromatic harmony to a degree rare
at the time, with remarkable assurance and to
great artistic effect.