"Father of the Symphony:” Haydn’s Musical Legacy
October 31, 2024
By D.T. Baker
Just about anyone with more than a passing interest in western art music will know the name Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809). You may also know that he is regarded as an important figure from music’s “classical” period. But you’d be less likely to be able to whistle one of his tunes than one by, say, Mozart, his more famous contemporary. Yet, in some important respects, Haydn casts a longer shadow over music than it may at first appear.
On November 22 & 23, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra presents a program which includes Haydn’s Symphony No. 31 “Horn Signal,” and Brahms’ delightful Variations on a Theme by Haydn. A Haydn twofer! Well, not so fast – and the reason we’re pumping the brakes is at least in part because of the very shadow Haydn cast. Let’s look at this.
Unlike Mozart, whose tragically brief life as, first, an exploited child prodigy, and then as the creator who toiled unappreciated for much of his (less than) 36 years, Josef Haydn lived a happy, celebrated life. For many years, he was the court composer of Nicolaus Esterházy, who appreciated, and compensated, Haydn – providing him a fine orchestra and a court which featured rooms in which opera, oratorios, and chamber music could be presented. Nobles and royals and their entourages would flock to Esterháza to hear Haydn’s music, and many tried to woo him away to their own realms and castles. In his emeritus years, Haydn was invited to Europe’s great cities and courts, where his latest works were rapturously received. There are not many composers who were both successful in life, and so highly regarded after their death. But Haydn earned the accolades.
Haydn’s epithet as “the Father of the Symphony” is a little overstated, but only a little. It is largely because of him, and the 104 examples of classical and proto-classical symphonies that he wrote, that we have a template for symphonies that would be used for the next hundred years. The symphony that the ESO, and guest conductor Norman Huynh, will present is one of four important symphonies composed around 1765 – Haydn was still a relatively young man of 33 – which hints at the onrushing classical era while still maintaining one foot in music’s Baroque past.
Haydn was respected by other composers, and gracious in his praise. Such was their regard for the senior master that both Mozart and the young Beethoven would dedicate sets of string quartets to “Papa” Haydn. Haydn told Mozart’s father that he regarded Mozart as the greatest composer he had ever heard, and told Beethoven he would make a “great noise in the world someday.”
But before this hagiography gets out of control, it’s worth pointing out that, among Haydn’s flaws, he was truly awful at keeping track of his own compositions. Mind you, most composers of his time were quite used to writing music for specific occasions, thinking that they would never be heard again. So why bother keeping track? But Haydn was especially bad – and that leads us to the brakes we stepped on earlier.
We know that there are works by Haydn that have been lost. One of his most popular concert works these days – the famous Cello Concerto in D Major – was only reliably attributed to Haydn after his manuscript score was discovered in 1951! And that’s just one example.
But more than that, so popular was Haydn during his life and for decades after, that many lesser composers tried to pass their own works off as being by Haydn – knowing that they could gain attention (and publishing royalties) if their ruses were successful. Dozens of pieces, if not more, were passed off in this way. And so we come to the Chorale St. Antoni. Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) came across this fragment of a wind ensemble piece around 1870, thought at the time to have been part of a divertimento by Haydn. Accordingly, when Brahms composed a set of eight variations and a finale for orchestra using this theme, he named his work crediting his famous predecessor. As well he should.
But research done since then has shown that the work is not by Haydn. We’re still not sure exactly its original source, but like so many works “by Haydn,” this is not by Haydn. Fortunately, it is still a lovely scrap from which Brahms built a beguiling and clever series of variations. And more than that, it provided Brahms with an important step on the road to eventually composing symphonies worthy of the legacy from which Brahms drew much of his inspiration: that of Beethoven and, before him, of Franz Josef Haydn.
Hear these exciting works at Lightly Classical: Affairs of the Heart on November 22 & 23. Click here to buy your tickets.