During much of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th, many musicians and music-lovers thought of Joseph Haydn as little more than a delightful precursor of Mozart and Beethoven. A few of his symphonies, string quartets, piano sonatas and other works were often played, but most of his music was ignored. After World War II, the American music historian H.C. Robbins Landon and other experts began to unearth long forgotten Haydn compositions. They studied his life closely and revealed the full extent of his immense originality and influence.

Born on 31 March 1732, Haydn was the second of 12 children of a music-loving wheelwright and his wife. At the age of six, he was sent away for musical instruction, and two years later he was admitted to the school and choir of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, where he also studied the harpsichord and violin. In 1760 he married a wigmaker's daughter, with whom he had little in common (and no children). Thereafter he consoled himself with other liaisons - one of them with a much younger Italian soprano, whom he long provided with financial support. In 1761 he went to Eisenstadt to enter the service of the Esterházys, a wealthy and powerful Hungarian family, as Kapellmeister first to Prince Anton and then to his brother, Prince Nikolaus, who maintained a lavish court at Eszterháza, the magnificent estate that he had had built in 1765 on Lake Neusiedl. There, in isolation, Haydn was required to write church music, operas for the court theatre, symphonies, and works for the string baryton, Prince Nikolaus's instrument. At the same time he made great artistic headway as a composer of string quartets and piano sonatas. Haydn recalled: "I was set apart from the world ... and so I had to become original." Many of his works were published; he received commissions from all over Europe and became one of the most famous composers of his day.

Following the death of Nikolaus Esterházy, in 1790, Haydn moved to Vienna; but he also made two long visits to London (January 1791 - June 1792, February 1794 - August 1795), during which he wrote his last twelve symphonies for the subscription concerts of the violinist and impresario Johann Peter Salomon and achieved great popularity. He returned to Vienna an international celebrity and with an honorary doctorate from Oxford, and he remained extraordinarily prolific until after he was 70, writing the magnificent oratorios The Creation and The Seasons and important Masses. On 31 May 1809 he died in Vienna. In the words of Haydn expert Jens Peter Larsen, "At the time of his birth and childhood Baroque traditions still prevailed... By the end of his life the apparent stability of the mature classical style, as represented by the later works of Haydn himself and Mozart, was being challenged, notably by Beethoven. Haydn did not simply live through this long development; he was a central part of it."

Harvey Sachs

Biographical notes (c) 1996, reprinted by permission of Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg

A selection of major works:

Orchestral: 104 Symphonies (including the "Paris" and "London" Symphonies), Seven Last Words (orchestral version), Horn Concertos, Trumpet Concerto, Keyboard Concertos, Violin Concertos, Cello Concertos,

Chamber: String Quartets, Seven Last Words (string quartet version), Piano Trios. Instrumental solo: Keyboard Sonatas

Vocal: Arianne a Naxos (cantata), Lieder/Songs.

Choral: Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons), Die Schöpfung (The Creation), Masses (Little Organ Mass, Harmoniemesse, Mariazellermesse, Nelsonmesse, Paukenmesse/Mass in Time of War, Theresienmesse), Te Deum, Seven Last Words (oratorio version). Stage works (operas): Armida, La fedeltà premiata, L'incontro improvviso, L'infedeltà delusa, L'isola disabitata, Il mondo della luna, Orlando paladino, La vera costanza