Joseph Haydn Composition

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Joseph Haydn (31 March 1732 – 31 May 1809) was a celebrated Austrian composer of the Classical period. Despite being born to parents without formal music training, his family was very musical. Haydn was a lifelong resident of Austria who spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Esterhazy family. The remoteness of the Esterhazy estate isolated Haydn from other composers and musical trends for years, which in turn "forced [Haydn] to become original", in his own words.

During his lifetime, Haydn’s friends, colleagues and members of the public frequently addressed him as ‘Papa Haydn’. Reasons for such a nickname included Haydn’s extensive contributions to development of the symphony and string quartet, giving the impression that he was a ‘father’ to both the genres. He was also instrumental in the development of the keyboard sonata, appreciably different in the Classical period from the preceding sonatas of the Baroque period. Haydn wrote over sixty keyboard sonatas, ninety string quartets and one hundred symphonies.

Haydn’s keyboard sonatas were mostly written ear...

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