HAYDN LIFE AND WORKS – PREPARATION 7

(F-11)

 

For Friday Oct 28

 

This week's preparation is about Haydn's biography, personality and character.  There are lots of pages to read, but you'll find them quick and very entertaining.

 

Please read the following:

G. A. Griesinger, "Biographical Notes Concerning Joseph Haydn" (1810), in Vernon Gotwals, Joseph Haydn – 18th-century Gentleman and Genius (1963), pp. 7-64.

I've posted the reading online and put the book on reserve in the library.

 

Also, please read the following pages from Haydn's letters – The Collected Correspondence and London Notebooks of Joseph Haydn (trans H.C. Robbins Landon, 1959):    

pages      date              correspondent

3-7          1765-66        Prince Nikolaus

9-11        1768             Applausus performance instructions

11-12       1768             administration of orchestra

18-21       1776             autobiography

22-21       1779             Tonkünstler Society

25-29       1780-81        Artaria

38-42       1782-83        Artaria

90-92       1789             Frau von Genzinger

96-106     1790             same

111-113   1791             same from England

115-117   1791             Polzelli

117-120   1791             Genzinger

125-127   1791             Polzelli

131-133   1792             Genzinger

141-143   1794             support for young composers

154-155   1799             Breitkopf

I've posted the entire book online (in 40-page fragments), because the library doesn't own it.

 

Write a paragraph discussing one salient trait of Haydn's character.  Illustrate this trait with examples from Griesinger's biography and Haydn's letters.  If you want to refer to other sources as well, feel free.  Comment with your own reactions as appropriate.