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Haydn and Mozart
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Haydn and Mozart
The composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) and Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) were friends. Their relationship is not very well documented, but the evidence that they enjoyed each other's company is strong. Six string quartets by Mozart are dedicated to Haydn (K. 387, 421, 428, 458, 464, 465, the "Haydn" Quartets).
Haydn was already a fairly well-known composer in Mozart's childhood. His six string quartets Opus 20 (1772) were widely circulated and are conjectured (for instance, by Charles Rosen) to have been the inspiration for the six early string quartets K. 168–173 the 17-year-old Mozart wrote during a 1773 visit to Vienna.
The two composers probably weren't able to meet until after Mozart's permanent relocation to Vienna in 1781. Haydn's presence was required most of the time at the palace of Eszterháza in Hungary, about 90 km from Vienna, where his employer and patron Prince Nikolaus Esterházy preferred to live. During the winter months, the Prince moved to the ancestral palace of his family in Eisenstadt, bringing Haydn with him. In these periods it was often feasible for Haydn to make brief visits to Vienna, about 50 km away.
As Jones notes, there were various points in the 1770s and early 1780s when Haydn and Mozart might have met, Haydn visiting Vienna from his normal work venues of Esterháza and Eisenstadt, Mozart from Salzburg. The earliest at which it is likely they would have met is 22 and 23 December 1783, at a performance sponsored by the Vienna Tonkünstler-Societät, a charitable organization for musicians. On the program were works by both Haydn (Jones: "a symphony and a chorus, both probably from [the oratorio] Il ritorno di Tobia") and Mozart ("a new concert aria, probably 'Misero! o sogno!' [K. 431], and, on the first night, a piano concerto.")
At the time of this meeting, Haydn was the most celebrated composer in Europe. Mozart's own reputation was definitely on the rise. His opera The Abduction from the Seraglio had been premiered with great success in Vienna, and was being produced in several other cities. Haydn would have been 51 at the time, and Mozart 27.
Jens Peter Larsen suggests that "quartet playing was central to the contact between Haydn and Mozart", although the documentation of the occasions in which the two composers played or heard quartets or other chamber music together is slim. One report of such an occasion comes from the Reminiscences (1826) of the Irish tenor Michael Kelly, who premiered Mozart's most important operatic lyric tenor roles.
Storace gave a quartet party to his friends. The players were tolerable; not one of them [except for Dittersdorf] excelled on the instrument he played, but there was a little science among them, which I dare say will be acknowledged when I name them:
First Violin: Haydn
Second Violin: Baron Dittersdorf
Violoncello: Vanhal
Viola: Mozart.
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Haydn and Mozart
The composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) and Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) were friends. Their relationship is not very well documented, but the evidence that they enjoyed each other's company is strong. Six string quartets by Mozart are dedicated to Haydn (K. 387, 421, 428, 458, 464, 465, the "Haydn" Quartets).
Haydn was already a fairly well-known composer in Mozart's childhood. His six string quartets Opus 20 (1772) were widely circulated and are conjectured (for instance, by Charles Rosen) to have been the inspiration for the six early string quartets K. 168–173 the 17-year-old Mozart wrote during a 1773 visit to Vienna.
The two composers probably weren't able to meet until after Mozart's permanent relocation to Vienna in 1781. Haydn's presence was required most of the time at the palace of Eszterháza in Hungary, about 90 km from Vienna, where his employer and patron Prince Nikolaus Esterházy preferred to live. During the winter months, the Prince moved to the ancestral palace of his family in Eisenstadt, bringing Haydn with him. In these periods it was often feasible for Haydn to make brief visits to Vienna, about 50 km away.
As Jones notes, there were various points in the 1770s and early 1780s when Haydn and Mozart might have met, Haydn visiting Vienna from his normal work venues of Esterháza and Eisenstadt, Mozart from Salzburg. The earliest at which it is likely they would have met is 22 and 23 December 1783, at a performance sponsored by the Vienna Tonkünstler-Societät, a charitable organization for musicians. On the program were works by both Haydn (Jones: "a symphony and a chorus, both probably from [the oratorio] Il ritorno di Tobia") and Mozart ("a new concert aria, probably 'Misero! o sogno!' [K. 431], and, on the first night, a piano concerto.")
At the time of this meeting, Haydn was the most celebrated composer in Europe. Mozart's own reputation was definitely on the rise. His opera The Abduction from the Seraglio had been premiered with great success in Vienna, and was being produced in several other cities. Haydn would have been 51 at the time, and Mozart 27.
Jens Peter Larsen suggests that "quartet playing was central to the contact between Haydn and Mozart", although the documentation of the occasions in which the two composers played or heard quartets or other chamber music together is slim. One report of such an occasion comes from the Reminiscences (1826) of the Irish tenor Michael Kelly, who premiered Mozart's most important operatic lyric tenor roles.
Storace gave a quartet party to his friends. The players were tolerable; not one of them [except for Dittersdorf] excelled on the instrument he played, but there was a little science among them, which I dare say will be acknowledged when I name them:
First Violin: Haydn
Second Violin: Baron Dittersdorf
Violoncello: Vanhal
Viola: Mozart.
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