The influence of Franz Joseph Haydn in the Classical era and beyond should not be underestimated. To many, he perfected the structure of the sonata, the symphony, and the string quartet, laying the foundations for nearly all subsequent composers who write in those forms. He lived a long and productive life, seeing his own fame and the appreciation of his talents spread throughout Europe. Haydn died on May 31, 1809, in his sleep, at his home in Vienna.

Both Vienna and Hungary are celebrating the Haydn anniversary with special events, exhibitions, and tours. For information, click here and here. The BBC has collected a few factoids and anecdotes about Haydn, also.

In the meanwhile, here are a few of our editors’ choices for listening to Haydn:

Haydn: Symphonies Nos. 31 “Hornsignal” & 45 “Farewell”
Haydn’s Symphony No. 31 is known as the “Hornsignal” from its prominent horn parts in the first and last movements. Written in anticipation of palace-warming festivities at the Eszterháza estate, the symphony has a celebratory air in its bold fanfares and hunting calls. Haydn’s originality is evident not only in his clever motivic development of these ideas, but also in his placement of the horn pairs at a distance from each other. Haydn’s experimentation was unusual for its time, but it shows some of the freedom he enjoyed as Prince Nicholas’ court composer. The Symphony No. 45, dubbed “Farewell” from the musicians’ calculated exits in the closing Adagio, is darker in tone than the previous work. Influenced by the Sturm und Drang movement of the mid-18th century — the first flowering of what would later become Romanticism — the symphony is melancholy and more dramatic than might be expected from Haydn’s usually sunny output. Sir Charles Mackerras has achieved a pleasant compromise between conventional and historical approaches in playing these Classical works. Read the rest of the review here.

Orchestra of St. Luke’s; Sir Charles Mackerras, cond. - Symphony No. 45 “Farewell” - Finale: Presto. Adagio

 
 
Haydn: The “Paris” Symphonies, Nos. 82-87
Over many decades, founder Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the early music ensemble Concentus Musicus Wien have maintained an exemplary musical relationship that has yielded wonderful results in the Baroque and Classical fields, particularly in their strongly characterized and idiomatic performances of music by Mozart and Haydn. This triple-disc collection of Haydn’s marvelous “Paris” Symphonies, Nos. 82-87, is topnotch, for it displays the musicians’ high standards in all aspects of historical scholarship and period performance practice, and offers interpretations that are admirable for their freshness, good humor, and zest. Read the rest of the review here.
 
Concentus Musicus Wien; Nikolaus Harnoncourt, cond. - Symphony No. 82, “The Bear,” - I. Vivace assai

 
 
Haydn: Symphonies 68, 93-104
Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra have a knack for delivering something with which many other orchestras and conductors struggle. That is, to produce a box set that has the ability to maintain a listener’s interest from disc one to, in this case, disc five. Like their cycle of the Mozart and Schubert symphonies, this set of the late Haydn symphonies is a treat from start to finish. Although Haydn’s symphonies do not display the dramatic changes from one symphony to the next that a listener might expect when listening to a cycle of the Beethoven or Mahler symphonies, Harnoncourt and the RCO play with ample exuberance, energy, and minute attention to detail so as to make every note and phrase as fresh as the last. Read the rest of the review here.

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor - Symphony No. 94 “Surprise” - Andante

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Nikolaus Harnoncourt, cond. - Symphony No. 103 “Drumroll” - Finale: Allegro con spirito

 
 
Haydn: Violoncello Concertos in C and D major
Collectors and neophytes will both delight in this recording of the two Haydn cello concertos by cellist Pieter Wispelwey joined by the period instrument ensemble Florilegium. To call these performances energetic would be grossly understating the charisma, verve, and dynamism that are imbued into these popular works. Wispelwey’s execution is graceful and seemingly effortless. The third movement of the C major concerto is incredibly fast and exciting; the lightness of the period instruments makes it sound all the more shimmering and exhilarating. Read the rest of the review here.

Pieter Wispelwey - Cello Concerto in C major, Hob. 7b:1 - Allegro molto

 
 
Haydn: String Quartets Op. 33 Nos. 3, 5 & 6
In their survey of Haydn’s string quartets for ASV, the Lindsays have set about the business of restoring these Classical masterpieces to their proper place in the repertoire, with all their brilliant wit and brusqueness intact, and without undue sweetening or romanticizing. The point, it seems clear, is to bring Haydn out from under the familiar shadows of Mozart and Beethoven, and to render his quartets as the true models of quartet writing, not as light Rococo divertissements or tamer antecedents of greater works. The Lindsays are sharp in their characterizations of Op. 33, Nos. 3, 5, and 6, and their lean textures, crisp articulation, transparent repartee, and pungent attacks distinguish these performances from more commercially pretty or polished versions. Read the rest of the review here.

The Lindsays - String Quartet in G major, Op. 33/5 - Vivace assai

 
 
Haydn: String Quartets, Opp. 64/5 “Lark”, 76/2 “Fifths”, 77/1 “Lobkowitz”
Haydn is often referred to as the Father of the String Quartet, and rightfully so. When he began composing his first complete sets of string quartets in 1771, he was already a master of the form without equal and even his early examples in the genre demonstrate an unequaled maturity and sophistication in the new form. Twenty years later, Haydn was still highly active composing quartets, and the final sets that he composed in the 1790s are stunning examples of how Haydn brought the string quartet in terms of depth of melody, independence of parts, and command of texture. The three quartets heard on this Harmonia Mundi disc are some of the most popular and often performed works of this later period. The relatively young Jerusalem Quartet (founded in 1993) gives listeners an exemplary performance worthy of any collection. Gone are the days when Haydn was treated like a delicate, fragile flower. The members of the Jerusalem Quartet play with remarkable intensity and a big, meaty sound. Read the rest of the review here.

Jerusalem Quartet - String Quartet in D minor, Op. 76/2 “Fifths” - Allegro

 
 
Haydn: The Seven Last Words
An extraordinary disc in every way, this release from Deutsche Grammophon presents a new edition of a profound masterpiece, wonderfully performed by a great string quartet in splendid, lifelike sound. Composed for Good Friday services, Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Our Savior on the Cross is, in its most familiar version, a sequence of seven slow sonatas with an introduction and a concluding fast movement. On this recording, however, an additional movement is borrowed from Haydn’s later choral adaptation, and appears as the Largo e cantabile introduction to the Sonata V. Read the rest of the review here.

Emerson Quartet - The Seven Last Words - Introduzione II - Largo e cantabile
 
 
Joseph Haydn: Five Keyboard Sonatas on a Schanz Fortepiano
There is nothing not to like about this disc of Haydn sonatas from Malcolm Bilson. The keyboard music of Haydn is often ignored, in favor of that of Mozart and Beethoven, but the works here demonstrate that Haydn was the master of the sonata form, using the same structural principles even in some of the slow movements. Bilson begins his program with the Sonata in C major, Hob. 16:50, one of Haydn’s best. It transcends the bounds of melody and accompaniment to use both hands more equally, more like how Haydn would use different orchestra sections to complement each other. The other sonatas here are less sophisticated technically, obviously meant for students. Their appeal lies in the directness of feeling, with emotions that are easy for students to express and in which expert performers such as Bilson can find greater depth. Read the rest of the review here.

Malcolm Bilson - Sonata in C major, Hob. 16:50 - Adagio

Malcolm Bilson - Sonata in C minor, Hob. 16:20 - (Allegro moderato)

 
 
Joseph Haydn: Sonates pour Pianoforte
Right on the heels of a disc of Haydn keyboard sonatas from Malcolm Bilson comes this one from Jerome Hantaï. Hantaï, like Bilson, uses a fortepiano for these sonatas. This one is a 1788 instrument with a very ringing tone, excellently captured in the recording, with a relatively small capability of shading with knee levers to change registers. The fact that none of the sonatas on this disc overlap with those on Bilson’s shows that there is a wealth of music in Haydn’s keyboard output that is underutilized compared to Mozart’s. Hantaï chose sonatas from several periods in Haydn’s career, some written for students, some for more accomplished musicians, some in two movements, some in three. Read the rest of the review here.

Jérôme Hantaï - Sonata in A flat major, Hob. 16:46 - Finale: Presto

Jérôme Hantaï - Sonata in B flat major, Hob. 16:2 - Largo

 
 
Haydn: The Creation
Haydn had both German and English texts of the libretto before him when he wrote The Creation. The original, anonymous libretto was in English; Gottfried van Swieten translated it into German and then retranslated it back into English. It was this retranslation (which was in fact full of inaccuracies and grammatical errors) that Handel used in creating alternate text settings when the two languages couldn’t be musically reconciled. Consequently, and rightly, the English version has been considered inferior and is rarely used. Haydn was adamant, though, that The Creation should be sung in the language of its listeners, and approved translations into a number of languages. Confronted with an inaccurate, unpoetic text and some awkward text setting, conductor Paul McCreesh set about to create a new English translation that fit the composer’s musical syntax. His version is graceful and elegant, and sounds completely natural — it could easily become the standard English version. Read the rest of the review here.

Gabrieli Consort; Chetham’s Chamber Choir; Paul McCreesh, cond. - The Creation - Now heaven in fullest glory shines

Gabrieli Consort; Chetham’s Chamber Choir; Paul McCreesh, cond. - The Creation - Achieved is the glorious work

 
 
Haydn: The Seasons
Embodying the highest ideals of the Enlightenment, Die Jahreszeiten is surely Haydn’s supreme masterpiece and the greatest secular choral-orchestral work of the second half of the eighteenth century. It’s pantheism at its grandest and the pathetic fallacy at its most glorious, with the whole of nature given voices to sing God’s praises. It’s exalted and exhilarating and exciting and also occasionally funny. This 2004 recording of Haydn’s masterpiece by René Jacobs conducting the RIAS-Kammerchor and the Freiburger Barockorchester is one of the best period-instrument performances of the work. Read the rest of the review here.

RIAS-Kammerchor; Freiburger Barockorchester; René Jacobs, cond. - Haydn: The Seasons - Spring. Sei uns gnädig milder Himmel!

 
 
Joseph Haydn: Scottish Songs, Vol. 5
This three-CD box set from Brilliant Classics contains the first 100 folk song arrangements Franz Joseph Haydn made for London-based Scottish publisher William Napier between 1792 and 1795. The first of the three volumes of 50 settings each for Napier was partly motivated by charity on Haydn’s part, as in 1791, Napier was forced into bankruptcy and looking at serving some time in debtor’s prison; for a man with 12 kids, that must’ve seemed like a raw deal. Haydn spun out the first 100 settings heard here in typically short order, and Napier was saved; a further 50 were published in 1795. Given their popular orientation and relatively minor place in the classical canon, recording Haydn’s Scots songs has not heretofore proven of much interest to classical labels; however, Brilliant Classics has decided to undertake them all. This is the fifth volume of six; all performed by soprano Lorna Anderson, tenor Jamie MacDougall, and the chamber group Haydn Trio Eisenstadt, artfully realizing Haydn’s relatively simple accompaniment of solo violin and continuo. Their contribution is particularly noteworthy as they are able to recognize — even with as many songs as there are here — that Haydn approaches each setting with a slightly different idea in mind. Read the rest of the review here.

Lorna Anderson; Haydn Trio Eisenstadt - Haydn: Colonel Gardner, Hob. 31a:97

 
 
And a few other exceptional Haydn works in exceptional performances:
 
String Quartet in C, Op. 76, No. 3 “Emperor”

Alban Berg Quartett - String Quartet in C, Op. 76/3 “Emperor” - 1. Allegro

Alban Berg Quartett - String Quartet in C, Op. 76/3 “Emperor” - 3. Menuetto: Allegro

 
 
 
 
 
Trumpet Concerto in E flat major, H. 7e/1

Wynton Marsalis - Trumpet Concerto in E flat major - 3. Finale. Allegro

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mass in D minor “Lord Nelson,” H. 22/11

Arnold Schoenberg Choir; Concentus musicus Wien; Nikolaus Harnoncourt, cond. - Mass in D minor “Lord Nelson” - Kryie

Arnold Schoenberg Choir; Concentus Musicus Wien; Nikolaus Harnoncourt, cond. - Mass in D minor “Lord Nelson” - Gloria