Composer, Organist, Teacher. A younger brother of Joseph Haydn, he followed him into music as a boy chorister at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna (1745 to 1755), where Joseph initially supervised his musical education. He studied singing, keyboard and violin, but was mainly self-taught as a composer. His first notable post was as Kapellmeister for Hungary's Bishop of Grosswardein (1757 to 1763). In 1763 he moved to Salzburg, Austria as a court musician, Konzertmeister to the Salzsburg Archibishop, and organist of the Holy Trinity Church, positions he held for the rest of his life. Haydn initially gained a reputation for laziness and dissolute habits, but after his 1768 marriage he settled down to an industrious if rather low key career. Unlike his celebrated sibling, Haydn remained stylistically conservative (he employed fugue and other Baroque contrapuntal methods long after classicism had made them unfashionable) and preferred to avoid the spotlight. He refused to publish most of his music and devoted his best energies to sacred works, of which he wrote over 300, among them 38 masses, six Te Deums and three Requiems. Joseph considered Michael his superior as a religious composer, even after church reforms of the 1780s compelled him to write in a simpler manner. His secular music for the Salzburg court includes 40 symphonies, 11 concertos for various instruments, 12 string quartets, and an opera; he also pioneered in creating unaccompanied partsongs for male chorus. His best known students were Anton Reicha and Carl Maria von Weber. He was well acquainted with Mozart during his early years in Salzburg and replaced him as organist of the Cathedral in 1781. Many believe that Mozart's great "Requiem" was influenced by Haydn's "Requiem in C minor" (1771). Early 20th Century scholarship revealed that a work long attributed to Mozart as his Symphony No. 37 was really Haydn's 25th Symphony (c. 1783), for which Mozart had only written a new introduction.
Composer, Organist, Teacher. A younger brother of Joseph Haydn, he followed him into music as a boy chorister at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna (1745 to 1755), where Joseph initially supervised his musical education. He studied singing, keyboard and violin, but was mainly self-taught as a composer. His first notable post was as Kapellmeister for Hungary's Bishop of Grosswardein (1757 to 1763). In 1763 he moved to Salzburg, Austria as a court musician, Konzertmeister to the Salzsburg Archibishop, and organist of the Holy Trinity Church, positions he held for the rest of his life. Haydn initially gained a reputation for laziness and dissolute habits, but after his 1768 marriage he settled down to an industrious if rather low key career. Unlike his celebrated sibling, Haydn remained stylistically conservative (he employed fugue and other Baroque contrapuntal methods long after classicism had made them unfashionable) and preferred to avoid the spotlight. He refused to publish most of his music and devoted his best energies to sacred works, of which he wrote over 300, among them 38 masses, six Te Deums and three Requiems. Joseph considered Michael his superior as a religious composer, even after church reforms of the 1780s compelled him to write in a simpler manner. His secular music for the Salzburg court includes 40 symphonies, 11 concertos for various instruments, 12 string quartets, and an opera; he also pioneered in creating unaccompanied partsongs for male chorus. His best known students were Anton Reicha and Carl Maria von Weber. He was well acquainted with Mozart during his early years in Salzburg and replaced him as organist of the Cathedral in 1781. Many believe that Mozart's great "Requiem" was influenced by Haydn's "Requiem in C minor" (1771). Early 20th Century scholarship revealed that a work long attributed to Mozart as his Symphony No. 37 was really Haydn's 25th Symphony (c. 1783), for which Mozart had only written a new introduction.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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