Born: March 31, 1732. Rohrao, Austria
Died: May 31, 1809. Vienna, Austria
Brummitt-Taylor Music Listening Program Piece of the Week:
Symphony No. 6 "Le Martin"; 4th Movement
Composer Podcast
From the Classics for Kids website...
Franz Joseph Haydn was the most famous composer of his time. He helped develop new musical forms, like the string quartet and the symphony. In fact, even though he didn't invent it, Haydn is known as the "Father of the Symphony."
Haydn was born in the tiny Austrian town of Rohrau, where his father made huge wooden carts and wagonwheels. His mother was a cook. When he was 8, Joseph (he didn't go by Franz) went to Vienna to sing in the choir at St. Stephen's Cathedral, and to attend the choir school. His younger brother Michael joined him a short time later. Joseph could never resist a playing a joke, which got him in trouble at school. Since Michael Haydn was much better behaved than his brother, everyone thought he would be the more successful musician. Wrong!
At first, Haydn struggled to earn a living as a composer. Then, he got a job with a rich, powerful family named Esterhazy. It was Haydn's job to write music for the Esterhazy princes, and to conduct their orchestra. Haydn composed symphonies, operas, string quartets, and all kinds of other music for performance at the Esterhazy court.
Haydn was also a good businessman. Music publishing made him and his music famous all over Europe. After he retired from working for the Esterhazy family, Haydn made two very successful trips to England, where audiences at concerts of his music treated him like a superstar.
Follow the links below to learn more about Franz Joseph Haydn. You can listen to radio shows about the composer and his works, see pictures of his home and compositions. There's more biographical and historical information along with listening samples of his music.
Classics for Kids - Haydn Radio Shows and Biography
Karadar's Haydn Page - this has bio, works, operas, and photos.
Classical Music Pages has Haydn's biography along with mp3 of some of his Symphonies.
Haydn's pages at Wikipedia, Classical Net and Essentials of Music have more on this influential and prolific composer.
To learn more about the orchestra and live performances of classical music, check out these sites...
San Francisco Symphony for Kids
The New York Philharmonic for Kids
NPR Performance Today
Finally check out what kids around the country are doing with classical music. The NPR podcast Classicool Kids is taken from highlights from the NPR radio show From the Top, which showcases young musicians and artists. If you wish to subscribe to the weekly podcast (it's free) click here.
To see an RSS feed and play episodes through you web browser or down load to you desktop click here.
Or find out when and where you can list to the radio broadcast of From the Top.
