HAYDN LIFE AND WORKS – PREPARATION 1

(S-11)

For Friday 9 Sept.

I'd like you to get acquainted with three different biographies of Haydn. Please read the following selections:

H. C. Robbins Landon, Haydn: Chronicle and Works.

Haydn: the Early Years, 1732-1765 (vol. 1, 1980), pages 343-357;

Haydn at Eszterháza, 1766-1790 (vol. 2, 1978), pp. 23-46, 118-132;

Haydn in England, 1791-1795 (vol. 3, 1976), pp. 21-37.

David Wyn Jones, The Life of Haydn (2009), 33-46, 57-61, 143-153.

James Webster, The New Grove Haydn (2002), 11-19, 30-33, 63-64.

The assigned passages cover approximately the same phases of Haydn's life in each book.

Write a paragraph or two (or three) characterizing each biography in contrast to the others. Do the authors seem to have different aims, different priorities, a different tone? Do you prefer one or the other? Why?

Choose a piece by Joseph Haydn that is mentioned somewhere in the above readings and that you haven't heard before. Locate the piece on Naxos or YouTube and listen to it. Write a paragraph in which you describe your reactions to the music. Did what you read in the biographies make any difference to your response?

Type your answers and bring them to class on Friday. If you have any questions, send me an Email.