Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart
Beethoven (1770-1827)
• One of the greatest and most radical
composers of all time. A tormented genius,
who went deaf in later life and never hear his
final works. His nine symphonies are probably
his greatest achievement, each one an
unrivaled masterpiece, but he also wrote 5
piano concertos, piano sonatas, string
quartets and one opera, Fidelio
Beethoven
• was a German composer of Classical music,
the predominant musical figure in the
transitional period between the Classical and
Romantic eras. He is widely regarded as one of
the greatest of composers, and his reputation
inspired – and in some cases intimidated –
composers, musicians, and audiences who
were to come after him.
Beethoven
• Bonn, Germany, to Johann van Beethoven
(1740-1792), of Flemish origins, and
Magdalena Keverich van Beethoven (17441787).
• Beethoven's first music teacher was his father,
who worked as a musician in the Electoral
court at Bonn, but was also an alcoholic who
beat him and unsuccessfully attempted to
exhibit him as a child prodigy
Beethoven
• He was given instruction and employment by Christian
Gottlob Neefe, as well as financial sponsorship by the
Prince-Elector
• Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1792, where he studied
with Joseph Haydn and other teachers. He quickly
established a reputation as a piano virtuoso, and more
slowly as a composer. He settled into the career
pattern he would follow for the remainder of his life:
rather than working for the church or a noble court (as
most composers before him had done), he was a
freelancer, supporting himself with public
performances, sales of his works, and stipends from
noblemen who recognized his ability.
Beethoven
• career as a composer is usually divided into Early,
Middle, and Late periods
• the Early period, he is seen as emulating his great
predecessors Haydn and Mozart, at the same
time exploring new directions and gradually
expanding the scope and ambition of his work.
Some important pieces from the Early period are
the first and second symphonies, the first six
string quartets, the first two piano concertos, and
about a dozen piano sonatas, including the
famous 'Pathétique'.
Beethoven
• The Middle period began shortly after
Beethoven's personal crisis centering around
deafness, and is noted for large-scale works
expressing heroism and struggle; these include
many of the most famous works of classical
music. The Middle period works include six
symphonies (Nos. 3 – 8), the last three piano
concertos and his only violin concerto, six string
quartets (Nos. 7 – 11), many piano sonatas
(including the 'Moonlight', 'Waldstein', and
'Appassionata'), and Beethoven's only opera,
Fidelio.
Beethoven
• Beethoven's Late period began around 1816
and lasted until Beethoven ceased to compose
in 1826. The late works are greatly admired
for their intellectual depth and their intense,
highly personal expression. They include the
Ninth Symphony (the 'Choral'), the Missa
Solemnis, the last six string quartets and the
last five piano sonatas.
Beethoven
• Beethoven's personal life was troubled. Around age 28 he
started to become deaf, a calamity which led him for some
time to contemplate suicide. He was attracted to
unattainable (married or aristocratic) women, whom he
idealized; he never married. A period of low productivity
from about 1812 to 1816 is thought by some scholars to
have been the result of depression, resulting from
Beethoven's realization that he would never marry.
Beethoven quarreled, often bitterly, with his relatives and
others, and frequently behaved badly to other people. He
moved often from dwelling to dwelling, and had strange
personal habits such as wearing filthy clothing while
washing compulsively. He often had financial troubles.
Beethoven
• Beethoven was often in poor health, and in
1826 his health took a drastic turn for the
worse. His death in the following year is
usually attributed to liver disease.
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
• was a leading composer of the Classical period, called
the 'Father of the Symphony' and 'Father of the String
Quartet'.
• Haydn's parents were perceptive enough to notice that
their little son had musical talent, and they also knew
that in Rohrau he would have no chance to obtain any
serious musical training. It was for this reason that they
accepted a proposal from their relative Johann
Matthias Franck, the schoolmaster and choirmaster in
Hainburg, that Haydn be apprenticed to Franck in his
home to train as a musician. Haydn thus went off with
Franck to Hainburg (ten miles away) and never again
lived with his parents. At the time he was not quite six.
Haydn
• he did begin his musical training there, and soon was
able to play both harpsichord and violin. The people of
Hainburg were soon hearing him sing soprano parts in
the church choir.
• two years later (1740), he was brought to the attention
of Georg von Reutter, the director of music in St.
Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, who was touring the
provinces looking for talented choirboys. Haydn passed
his audition with Reutter, and soon moved off to
Vienna, where he worked for the next nine years as a
chorister, the last four in the company of his younger
brother Michael.
Haydn
• Reutter also did little to further his choristers'
musical education. However, St. Stephen's was
at the time one of the leading musical centers
in Europe, where new music by leading
composers was constantly being performed.
Haydn was able to learn a great deal by
osmosis simply by serving as a professional
musician there.
Haydn
• In 1749, Haydn had matured physically to the point that he
was no longer able to sing high choral parts. On a weak
pretext, he was summarily dismissed from his job. He
evidently spent one night homeless on a park bench, but
was taken in by friends and began to pursue a career as a
freelance musician. During this arduous period, which
lasted ten years, Haydn worked many different jobs,
including valet–accompanist for the Italian composer Nicola
Porpora, from whom he later said he learned 'the true
fundamentals of composition'. He labored to fill the gaps in
his training, and eventually wrote his first string quartets
and his first opera. During this time Haydn's professional
reputation gradually increased.
Haydn
• In 1759, or 1757 according to the New Grove
Encyclopedia, Haydn received his first important
position, that of Kapellmeister (music director) for
Count Karl von Morzin. In this capacity, he directed the
count's small orchestra, and for this ensemble wrote
his first symphonies. Count Morzin soon suffered
financial reverses that forced him to dismiss his musical
establishment, but Haydn was quickly offered a similar
job (1761) as assistant Kapellmeister to the Eszterházy
family, one of the wealthiest and most important in the
Austrian Empire. When the old Kapellmeister, Gregor
Werner, finally died in 1766, Haydn was elevated to full
Kapellmeister.
Haydn
• As a liveried servant of the Eszterházys, Haydn followed
them as they moved among their three main residences:
the family seat in Eisenstadt, their winter palace in Vienna,
and 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. Despite the
backbreaking workload, Haydn considered himself
fortunate to have his job. The Eszterházy princes (first Paul
Anton, then most importantly Nikolaus I) were musical
connoisseurs who appreciated his work and gave him the
conditions needed for his artistic development, including
daily access to his own small orchestra.
Haydn
• In 1760, with the security of a Kapellmeister
position, Haydn married. He and his wife, the
former Maria Anna Keller, did not get along,
and they produced no children. Haydn may
have had one or more children with Luigia
Polzelli, a singer in the Eszterházy
establishment with whom he carried on a
long-term love affair, and often wrote to on
his travels.
Haydn
• During the nearly thirty years that Haydn worked
in the Eszterházy household, he produced a flood
of compositions, and his musical style became
ever more developed. His popularity in the
outside world also increased. Gradually, Haydn
came to write as much for publication as for his
employer, and several important works of this
period, such as the Paris symphonies (1785–6)
and the original orchestral version of The Seven
Last Words of Christ (1786), were commissions
from abroad.
Haydn
• Around 1781 Haydn established a close friendship with
Mozart, whose work he had already been influencing
by example for many years. The two composers
enjoyed playing in string quartets together. Haydn was
hugely impressed with Mozart's work; it has been
noted by Mozart scholars that after this time Haydn
largely ceased to compose operas and concertos
&ndash: two of the genres where Mozart was at his
strongest. Mozart spent the better part of three years
from 1782 to 1785 to produce a set of six string
quartets that he would dedicate to the older man.
Haydn
• 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. Thus freed of his obligations, Haydn was able to
accept a lucrative offer from Johann Peter Salomon, a German impresario,
to visit England and conduct new symphonies with a large orchestra.
• The visit (1791-2), along with a repeat visit (1794-5), was a huge success.
Audiences flocked to Haydn's concerts, and he quickly achieved wealth
and fame: one review called him 'incomparable', and many were filled
with gushing language which reflected the acclaim his work received in
London. Musically, the visits to England generated some of Haydn's bestknown work, including the 'Surprise', 'Military', 'Drumroll', and 'London'
symphonies, the 'Rider' quartet, and the 'Gypsy Rondo' piano trio.
• The only misstep in the venture was an opera which Haydn was contracted
to compose, and paid a substantial sum of money for. Only one aria was
sung at the time, and 11 numbers were published, the entire opera was
not performed until 1950.
Haydn
• He returned to Vienna, had a large house built for
himself, and turned to the composition of large
religious works for chorus and orchestra. These include
his two great oratorios The Creation and The Seasons
and six masses for the Eszterházy family, which by this
time was once again headed by a musically-inclined
prince. Haydn also composed the last nine in his long
series of string quartets, including the 'Emperor',
'Sunrise', and 'Fifths' quartets. Despite his increasing
age, Haydn looked to the future, exclaiming once in a
letter, 'how much remains to be done in this glorious
art!’
Haydn
• In 1802, Haydn found that an illness from which he had been
suffering for some time had increased greatly in severity, to the
point that he became physically unable to compose. This was
doubtless very difficult for him, because, as he acknowledged, the
flow of fresh musical ideas waiting to be worked out as
compositions did not cease. Haydn was well cared for by his
servants, and he received many visitors and public honors during his
last years, but they cannot have been very happy years for him.
During his illness, Haydn often found solace by sitting at the piano
and playing Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser, which he had composed
himself as a patriotic gesture in 1797. This melody later became
used for the Austrian and German national anthems.
• Haydn died in 1809, following an attack on Vienna by the French
army under Napoleon.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (17561791)
• was one of the most significant and influential of all
composers of Western classical music. His works are loved
by many and are frequently performed.
• Mozart's musical ability started to become apparent when
he was a toddler. He was the son of Leopold Mozart, one of
Europe's leading musical pedagogues, whose influential
textbook Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule ('Essay on
the fundamentals of violin playing') was published in 1756,
the same year as Mozart's birth. Mozart received intensive
musical training from his father, including instruction in
both the piano and violin. Musically, he developed very
rapidly and began to compose his own works at the age of
five.
Mozart
• Leopold soon realized that he could earn a substantial
income by showcasing his son as a Wunderkind in the
courts of Europe. Mozart's older sister, Maria Anna,
nicknamed 'Nannerl', was a talented pianist and often
accompanied her brother on Leopold's tours. Mozart
wrote a number of piano pieces, in particular duets
and duos, to play with her. On one occasion when
Mozart became ill, Leopold expressed more concern
over the loss of income than over Mozart's well-being.
Constant travel and cold weather may have contributed
to his subsequent illness later in life.
Mozart
• Mozart completed several journeys throughout
Europe, beginning with an exhibition in 1762 at
the Court of the Prince of Bavaria in Munich, then
in the same year at the Imperial Court in Vienna.
A long concert tour soon followed, (three and a
half years) which took him with his father to the
courts of Munich, Mannheim, Paris, London, The
Hague, again to Paris, and back home via Zurich,
Donaueschingen, and Munich. They went to
Vienna again in late 1767 and remained there
until December 1768.
Mozart
• After one year spent in Salzburg, three trips to
Italy followed: From December 1769 to March
1771, August to December 1771, and October
1772 to March 1773. During the first of these
trips, Mozart met G.B. Martini in Bologna, and
was accepted as a member of the famous
Accademia Filarmonica. A highlight of the Italian
journey, which is now an almost legendary tale,
occurred when he heard Gregorio Allegri's
Miserere once in performance, then wrote it out
in its entirety from memory, only returning a
second time to correct minor errors.
Mozart
• During his trips, Mozart met a great number of
musicians and acquainted himself with the
works of other great composers: Amongst
them were J.S. Bach, G.F. Handel, and Joseph
Haydn. Even non-musicians caught his
attention: He was so taken by the sound
created by Benjamin Franklin's glass
harmonica, he composed several pieces of
music for it.
Mozart
• In 1781, Mozart visited Vienna in the company of his
employer, the harsh Prince-Archbishop Colloredo, and
had a falling out with him. According to Mozart's own
testimony, he was dismissed literally 'with a kick in the
seat of the pants.' Despite this, Mozart chose to settle
and develop his career in Vienna after its aristocracy
began to take an interest in him.
• On August 4, 1782, he married Constanze Weber
against his father's wishes. He and Constanze had six
children, of whom only two survived infancy. Neither
of these two, Karl Thomas (1784–1858) or Franz Xaver
Wolfgang (1791–1844), married or had children.
Mozart
• 1782 was an auspicious year for Mozart's career; his opera The
Abduction from the Seraglio was a great success, and he began a
series of concerts at which he premiered his own piano concertos
as conductor and soloist.
• As an adult, Mozart became a Freemason and worked fervently and
successfully to convert his father before his death in 1787. His late
opera The Magic Flute includes Masonic themes and allegory. He
was in the same Masonic Lodge as Joseph Haydn.
• Mozart's life was fraught with financial difficulty and illness. Often,
he received no payment for his work, and what sums he did receive
were quickly consumed by his extravagant lifestyle.
• Mozart spent the year 1786 in Vienna in an apartment which may
be visited today at Domgasse 5 behind St. Stephen's Cathedral; it
was here that Mozart composed Le nozze di Figaro in 1786.
Mozart
• Mozart's final illness and death are difficult scholarly
topics, obscured by Romantic legends and replete with
conflicting theories. Scholars disagree about the course
of decline in Mozart's health--particularly at what point
Mozart became aware of his impending death, and
whether this awareness influenced his final works. The
Romantic view holds that Mozart declined gradually,
and that his outlook and compositions paralleled this
decline. In opposition to this, some contemporary
scholarship points out correspondence from Mozart's
final year indicating that he was in good cheer, as well
as evidence that Mozart's death was sudden and a
shock to his family and friends.
Mozart
• The actual cause of Mozart's death is also a matter of
conjecture. His death record listed 'hitziges
Frieselfieber' ('severe miliary fever'), a description that
does not suffice to identify the cause as it would be
diagnosed in modern medicine. In fact, dozens of
theories have been proposed, which include
trichinosis, mercury poisoning, and rheumatic fever.
The contemporary practice of bleeding medical
patients is also cited as a contributing clause.
• Mozart's death occurred while he was working on his
final composition, the Requiem.