Joseph Haydn

Born in Rohrau, Lower Austria, in 1732, the composer began his career as a choirboy at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. His first engagement took him to the Bohemian aristocratic family Morzin, and in May 1761 he was hired as vice-Kapellmeister at the court of Prince Paul Anton Esterházy, who resided alternately at the princely castle in Eisenstadt and at a palace in Vienna. After the prince's death in March 1762, his successor, Prince Nikolaus I, expanded Haydn's responsibilities. The Baroque Esterházy Palace on the southern shore of Lake Neusiedl, completed in 1766, also included an opera house, so that Haydn – who had been promoted to Kapellmeister after the death of Gregor Joseph Werner in March 1776 – was responsible for opera, church music, and instrumental music.
When Nicholas I died in September 1790, Haydn remained in office, but his services were not initially required by the new prince, Anton, so he embarked on an 18-month concert tour of England. A second tour followed from January 1794 to September 1795. Under Prince Nikolaus II, Haydn's only obligation was to compose a mass setting once a year and perform it on the name day of the prince's wife, Maria Josepha Hermenegild. His deteriorating health meant that Haydn conducted for the last time in December 1803. He died in Vienna in 1809.
Haydn's students included Ludwig van Beethoven, Ignaz Pleyel, Friedrich Kalkbrenner, and Sigismund Neukomm. Haydn's enormous oeuvre includes over 100 symphonies, almost 70 string quartets, almost 50 piano sonatas, and over 20 operas, as well as the oratorios The Creation and The Seasons.
Haydn's music has been used by choreographers such as Leonide Massine (Clock Symphony, 1948), Gise Furtwängler (Haydn-Symphonie, 1969), John Cranko (-1+6, 1972), Jiří Kylián (Symphony in D, 1976), Uwe Scholz (Die Schöpfung, 1985), Lynne Taylor-Corbett (Mercury, 1992), Jorma Elo (Still of King, 2011), Beate Vollack (Die Jahreszeiten, 2018) und Martin Schläpfer (Die Jahreszeiten, 2022).

(Information as of January 2026)