What period were mozart and haydn iconic composers of

Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven

The classical period (1750 – 1810)

Shortly after Haydn divorced his wife he was familiar with Mozart. Haydn had recognised how great a composer Mozart was, far better than himself. So until the end of Mozart’s life, Haydn tried to make other people notice Mozart as well as himself. To return the favour Mozart affectionately dedicated six of his quartets to Haydn.

Haydn really enjoyed his music and he took most of the offers he was given like when he was given. So in 1791 he was able to visit London to direct some orchestral concerts. The next time Haydn visited London was in 1974 when he had six new symphonies.

As he aged lie moved slowly, leading to his death in 1809.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

His first major opera was performed in Millan in 1770, when he was only fourteen.

In 1781 Mozart earned an unsteady living as a freelance performer and a composer. Not many he people recognised how great Mozart was, only a few fellow-composers like Haydn. He wrote his first symphonies when he was eight and unfortunately died after 35 years of composing music in 1791.

Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)

Although he was a brilliant composer he was often accused of producing violent, obscure or eccentric music. But this did not worry Beethoven just gave him time to establish his individuality. But Beethoven was best known for his overtures, his 9th one was called “ode to the joy” which is the most popular. Although he was successful in music he wasn’t happy and showed so in his music until he died in 1827.

Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven

The classical period (1750 – 1810)

Shortly after Haydn divorced his wife he was familiar with Mozart. Haydn had recognised how great a composer Mozart was, far better than himself. So until the end of Mozart’s life, Haydn tried to make other people notice Mozart as well as himself. To return the favour Mozart affectionately dedicated six of his quartets to Haydn.

Haydn really enjoyed his music and he took most of the offers he was given like when he was given. So in 1791 he was able to visit London to direct some orchestral concerts. The next time Haydn visited London was in 1974 when he had six new symphonies.

As he aged lie moved slowly, leading to his death in 1809.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

His first major opera was performed in Millan in 1770, when he was only fourteen.

In 1781 Mozart earned an unsteady living as a freelance performer and a composer. Not many he people recognised how great Mozart was, only a few fellow-composers like Haydn. He wrote his first symphonies when he was eight and unfortunately died after 35 years of composing music in 1791.

Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)

Although he was a brilliant composer he was often accused of producing violent, obscure or eccentric music. But this did not worry Beethoven just gave him time to establish his individuality. But Beethoven was best known for his overtures, his 9th one was called “ode to the joy” which is the most popular. Although he was successful in music he wasn’t happy and showed so in his music until he died in 1827.

What period were mozart and haydn iconic composers of

Research Papers and Essays
Ronnie Oldham

Mozart and Haydn: More Alike than Different

The highly acclaimed masterpieces penned by both Mozart and Haydn have long withstood the critical test of time. Along with Beethoven, a one-time pupil of Haydn, they are considered the three great composers responsible for the development of the Classical style in music during the eighteenth-century; symphony, opera, string quartet, and concerto, in particular. Haydn is undeniably recognized as one of the most creative and resourceful composers in history, yet he continues to be overshadowed by Mozart. Does that mean that Mozart had more talent or that he contributed more to the development of western music? Talent alone cannot account for the accomplishments and innovations of these two brilliant composers. The music they left us is a product of their natural ability combined with formal training and experience, personal inspiration and motivation, hard work, and a good deal of being in the right place at the right time. Does modern society judge the quality of a musical composition in light of the man who composed it, as well as the circumstances surrounding when it was written, or does the music stand alone without regard for the man? Perhaps Mozart’s death at the relatively young age of thirty-five or the popular tales of his cavalier attitude and active libido influenced the way in which future generations would see him. Haydn was apparently deeply religious and certainly more virtuous than Mozart, although they became friends and had significant influences on each other’s work. Their lives, taken as a whole almost two hundred years later, with the added benefit that accompanies hindsight, suggest that, despite their obvious differences in values, attitude, and lifestyle, they actually had much in common.

Haydn has been described as deliberate, kindly, bright, and capable of calm judgement. Mozart, in contrast, has been called sensitive, vivacious, arrogant, and impressionable. The most obvious differences between Mozart and Haydn occur as a direct result of their lineage and other circumstances surrounding their youth. By the age of six, Mozart and Haydn had both displayed considerable natural talent; however, their prospects for wealth and fame were vastly different. To succeed as a composer, one’s music must be performed and heard. Getting a commission or control of an orchestra was a lofty goal. Any successful composer would, by necessity, have to be intelligent and it is natural to assume that either Mozart or Haydn could have been successful at endeavors other than music, yet each was led to music by circumstance, if not fate.

Joseph Haydn’s father, Mathias Haydn, was a wheelwright in the Lower Austrian village of Rohrau and, prior to their marriage, his mother, Anna-Maria, had been a cook for a local lord. Mathias had a good tenor voice and had learned to strum the harp on a trip to Frankfort am Mayn (Griesinger 8-11). The Haydns, though peasants, appear to have been a fairly musical family. In fact, two of Joseph’s siblings would later be quite successful in music, one as a composer and the other as a tenor (Landon 22). Haydn’s parents recognized the musical potential in their son and desired to provide a proper education for young Franz Joseph, but their meager means were far insufficient. Luckily, for the rest of the world, a distant cousin in the nearby town of Hainburg offered to take the five-year-old boy into his charge. The cousin was a school principal and choirmaster and, as such, was able to provide a fundamental knowledge of music, including training on almost all wind and string instruments. Still, it was not a pleasant circumstance for Haydn. The cousin had a growing family of his own and only a modest salary to support them. According the 15 th Edition Encyclopжdia Britannica, «Joseph was not given the love and care a child needs» (5.770). Haydn is quoted as saying «I shall owe it to that man even in my grave that he taught me so many things, though in the process I received more floggings than food.» (Griesinger 8-11). At the age of eight, Joseph was offered a position as a chorister at the most important church in Vienna, St. Stephen’s Cathedral. There he received much practical experience in music performance, but the accommodations were not much better than at his cousin’s and he increasingly desired to learn music theory. After his voice finally broke at age 17, rather than become a castrati over the objections of his father (Griesinger 8-11), he was discharged from the choir and left to his own devices.

Mozart, on the other hand, was born to a well respected family. His father, Leopold, a highly esteemed violinist and composer in his own right, recognized the potential in Mozart’s ear sophistication and musical memory. Leopold saw «a faint hope of achieving the desired social advancement that he had only partly fulfilled by his own efforts (Elias 69)» and set young Wolfgang on an intensive curriculum of musical studies. By the age of five, he was composing music; at six he was a keyboard virtuoso. His growing reputation as a child prodigy resulted in Leopold taking him on first of many concert tours throughout Europe and England, showcasing the boy’s unique talents to the astonishment of nobility and royalty. While Mozart was still In his teens, Leopold secured for his son a salaried position as Konzertmeister for the Archbiship Colloredo of Salzburg. Though their exchanges were probably somewhat different than depicted in the 1984 movie, Amadeus, Mozart was hardly challenged by his assigned tasks and it soon became clear to both Mozart and his father that a change was needed. Leopold petitioned the Archbishop on behalf of his son and was granted his release. By this time Mozart was twenty-one and ready to break the ties of paternal domination. By the age of twenty-five, though he had failed to secure a court position, he had written three symphonies and a well-received opera. At odds with his father, he went to Vienna to set about earning a living.

Mozart’s travels with his parents exposed him to cosmopolitan range of influences, including meeting the greatest composers of his time. Haydn had never traveled more than eighty miles from Vienna until, at the age of sixty, he went to London. At least in Vienna, much of the world’s best music could come to him. Mozart and Haydn also influenced each other’s work. As early as 1770, Mozart’s compositions showed increasing evidence of Haydn’s influence. Sometimes it is apparent in «thematic invention, but more often in the development of his compositional technique» (Schmid 94). The warm relationship between the two gave impetus for «one of Mozart’s most glorious works, the quartet cycle of the years 1782-85, which he dedicated to Haydn» (Schmid 99). Though Haydn incorporated some of Mozart’s melodies into his own compositions, he must have been sensitive to comparisons with Mozart because «in 1787 he refused an opera buffa for Prague, partly to avoid comparison ‘with the great Mozart’, yet in the same year he was proposing to compose opera seria for London» (London 186). Haydn was also influenced by Handel and had a significant influence on Beethoven. Mozart was influenced by J.S. Bach. Italian opera and Baroque music had a significant impact on both composers. Haydn’s time in Vienna allowed him to be exposed to the height of Italian Baroque. Mozart experienced the pompous and solemn world of the Baroque through his father. In addition, both Mozart and Haydn were exposed to common folk music. Haydn lived in an environment surrounded by such music. Mozart did not live in such an environment; yet, as Ernst Schmid explains:

«that style [Baroque] reaches the young Mozart only indirectly through his father. Wolfgang grew up in the age of Empfindsamkeit and of the style galant, and his enlightened father acquainted him with a number of fashionable works, as can be seen in his early musical notebooks A careful examination of the books discloses that Mozart was exposed to another sphere-that of native folk music, with which none of the great masters remained unacquainted» (87).

Contrasting Haydn’s music with Mozart’s, the book Haydn: His Life and Music states «Uniqueness is a clear sign of artistic maturity and, through features like the wider harmonic vocabulary owe something to Mozart, the end result is completely unlike anything in Mozart. Typically, in Haydn’s music of this period (1781-1790), harmonic sophistication does not produce melancholy, but reinforces the sinewy textures (Landon 202).

While touring through Mannheim, Mozart met and fell in love with Aloysia Weber. Albert Einstein, as editor of the first thorough revision of the Kцchel catalog, said of her: «True coquette that she was, she encouraged Mozart only so far as her mother permitted, and only as long as he seemed a good matrimonial prospect» (78). Einstein’s worst criticism, however, was reserved for Aloysia’s sister, Constanze, who Mozart later married.

» she was not even a good housewife. She never looked ahead, and instead of making her husband’s life and work easier by providing him with external comforts she thoughtlessly shared the boheminaism of his way of living Constanze’s musical gifts were not very considerable as expressed either in her singing or in her understanding of music, and the fact that Mozart never finished any of the compositions intended for her is significant» (78-80)

Like Mozart, Haydn made the fateful mistake of marrying the sister of his true love. Haydn had fallen in love with a young student, Therese, but she entered a nunnery in 1756 (Landon 31). Four years later he married Therese’s elder sister, Maria Anna Aloysia Apollonia. Griesinger, who actually met Frau Haydn in 1799, wrote:

«Haydn had no children by this marriage. ‘My wife was incapable of having children, and thus I was less indifferent to the charms of other women.’ Altogether his choice was not a happy one, for his wife had a domineering, unfriendly character; and he had carefully to hide his income from her since she was a spendthrift. She was also bigoted, and more liberal in her support of charity than her financial situation allowed ‘She doesn’t deserve anything, for it is a matter of indifference whether her husband is a cobbler or an artist.’» (15)

In any event, it was not a good marriage and there is some indication that, regardless of her husbands infidelity, Frau Haydn would have had difficulties with her husbands meteoric rise in social stature, as she spoke a primitive Viennese dialect and was totally uneducated (Landon 32).

Much has been written about Mozart having debts and being buried in a pauper’s grave upon his death in December 1791, yet he worked and received good commissions almost continuously. Mozart’s income was far above that of a common musician. He did acquire some debt, primarily as a result of the couple’s taste for hob-nobbing with the rich and famous, but it did not keep them from having servants, fine clothes and experiencing the Vienna party life. Who is to say that Mozart’s lifestyle, primarily the type of activities that did not appeal to Haydn, did not destroy his already fragile health, resulting in his own premature demise? Mozart was indeed buried in a multiple grave, but that was standard procedure at the time in Vienna for a person of his social and financial situation. «Although Haydn, like any other eighteenth-century gentleman, enjoyed his glass of wine» (London 239), he led a much more pious life. It is generally agreed that Haydn led a prosperous, if not personally fulfilling, life throughout his adult years.

For both men, music was their escape hatch as well as a comfort and refuge. It was a means to an end, to leave to pain of their younger years. Music provided Haydn with an avenue to happiness and a better life. Once he left home, he almost never went back (Britannica 5.771). For Mozart, it undoubtedly earned him long periods of much-craved love and admiration. Both saw opportunities to exploit their talents and better their lives. Both were men who actualized their potential and were acclaimed by those whose opinions they valued. Both had an unmistakable impact on the evolution of music and those who would create it. Indeed, they did have much in common.

Encyclopжdia Britannica. 15 th ed. 1990.

Einstein, Alfred. Mozart, His Character, His Work. New York: Oxford University Press. 1945.

Elias, Norbert. Mozart: Portrait of a Genius. Ed. Michael Schroter. Trans. Edmund Fephcott. Berkely and Los Angeles: Univeristy of California Press. 1993.

The Greatest Composers of the Classical Period

Spanning seventy years, the classical period is a time when composers began pulling in the reigns of the many baroque period musical styles by creating strict compositional «rules and regulations.» Yet within their rigidity, great composers like Haydn and Mozart were able to create some of the greatest classical music the world has ever known. However, Haydn and Mozart weren’t alone in their pursuit of musical perfection, there are a handful of classical period composers whose contributions to classical music changed the course of music forever. Without further ado, I would like to introduce you to the greatest classical period composers.

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

Haydn was a remarkable composer, epitomizing the meaning of classical period composition, and though he wasn’t as flashy as the younger Mozart, his music always stayed true to form. Haydn, unlike most composers, had a «reliable and steady» job composing, directing, teaching, performing, and managing musicians from the royal Esterhazy family. During this time, Haydn composed many pieces of music for the courtly orchestra to perform. With a staggering body of work, including over 100 symphonies and 60 string quartets, he is often referred to as the «Father of the Symphony» or «Father of the String Quartet.»

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Did you know that nearly half of Mozart’s life was spent touring the European continent? Born in 1756, Mozart was a musical prodigy who began composing at the age of five. Shortly after his talent was discovered, his father was quick to take him on tours with his sister. Tragically, Mozart died at the young age of 35. Despite his short life, Mozart greatly advanced classical period music, contributing over 600 compositions. His compositional style is similar to that of Haydn’s, only more flamboyant and, during his lifetime, often criticized for having «too many notes.»

Antonio Salieri (1750-1825)

Salieri may have been envious of young Mozart’s musical genius, however, the rumors of Salieri poisoning Mozart are, in fact, simply rumors. Salieri was a respected Kapellmeister who was mostly known for his contributions to opera. However, in 1804, Salieri abruptly stopped composing operas, and instead, wrote only music for the church. Salieri was friends with Haydn and gave music composition lessons to Ludwig van Beethoven.

Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787)

Thanks to Christoph Willibald Gluck, opera as we know them today could be radically different. Gluck revolutionized opera by softening the contrast between recitatives (the dialogue between one aria to the next) and arias by weaving underlying melodic themes and orchestral passages within the recitatives as they flowed into the arias. He wrote his scores in line with the opera’s text, similar to how modern composers compose film scores, and also melded French and Italian operatic styles. In the late 1760s, Gluck allowed Salieri to study with him and become his protege.

Muzio Clementi (1752-1832)

As the «Father of the Pianoforte,» Clementi was a strong and vocal promoter of the piano. Clementi was a master of many musical trades including a performer, composer, publisher, teacher, arranger, and even instrument maker. He traveled extensively throughout Europe, collecting and publishing music manuscripts, including those of Beethoven’s, and selling pianos. He also taught students who went on to teach great composers like Chopin and Mendelssohn years later. Clementi’s most notable body of work are his compositions for piano: Gradus ad Parnassum and three piano sonatas (op. 50).

Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805)

Luigi Boccherini lived at the same time as Haydn. In fact, their music is so closely related, musicologists often refer to Boccherini as the «wife of Haydn.» Unfortunately, Bocchernini’s music never surpassed the popularity of Haydn’s and, sadly, he died in poverty. Like Haydn, Boccherini has a prolific collection of compositions, but his most notable works are his cello sonatas and concertos, as well as his guitar quintets. However, his most popular and instantly recognizable classical piece of music is his famous Minuet from the string quintet Op. 13, no. 5 (view a YouTube video of the famous Minuet).

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)

The second of three sons born to the great composer, Johann Sebastian Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (named in part to honor Georg Philipp Telemann, Bach Sr.’s friend and C.P.E. Bach’s godfather), was highly revered by Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. C.P.E. Bach’s most valuable contribution to the classical period (and the musical world as a whole) was his publication, An Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments. It instantly became the definitive for piano technique. To this day, it is still largely taught throughout the world.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Many view Beethoven as the bridge connecting the classical period to the romantic period. Beethoven only wrote nine symphonies. Compare that to Haydn and Mozart, who, combined, wrote over 150 symphonies. What makes Beethoven so special? It was Beethoven’s successful attempt to break the mold of the highly structured and refined rules of classical period composition. His compositions, especially the famous Symphony No. 9, opened the flood gates of composing with emotional abandon.

The Classical period

The Classical era, which covers roughly the second half of the 18th century, is one of the most significant periods in the development of orchestration. The most talented composers of this period were Mozart and Haydn. Many important developments took place during this time. The orchestra became standardized. The Classical orchestra came to consist of strings (first and second violins, violas, violoncellos, and double basses), two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two or four horns, two trumpets, and two timpani. Toward the end of his career, in the London Symphonies, Haydn introduced clarinets as part of the woodwind section, a change that was to be permanent. Haydn also introduced the following innovations: trumpets were used independently instead of always doubling the horns, cellos became separated from the double basses, and woodwind instruments were often given the main melodic line. In the Military Symphony (No. 100) Haydn introduced some percussion instruments not normally used in the orchestras of this time, namely, triangle, hand cymbals, and bass drum; and, what is still more unusual, they are employed in the second movement, which in the Classical tradition is normally the slow movement.

In Haydn’s music a method of composition appeared that had a bearing on orchestration. This consisted of the conscious use of musical motives; motive is defined in the Harvard Dictionary of Music as: “The briefest intelligible and self-contained fragment of a musical theme or subject.” Perhaps the best known musical motive in Western music is the four-note group with which Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony begins. These musical cells became the musical building blocks of the Classical period, particularly in the middle or development section of a movement, with the composer moving the musical motive from instrument to instrument and section to section, giving a new facet to the orchestration. The art of orchestration was thus becoming a major factor in the artistic quality of the music.

Mozart, too, was responsible for great strides in the creative use of instruments. His last two symphonies (Nos. 40, K 550, and 41, K 551) are among the most beautifully orchestrated works of this or any period. For his 17 piano concertos, Mozart exhaustively explored the combination of piano and orchestra.

The Romantic period

Beethoven began his career under the influence of the Classical composers, particularly Haydn, but during his lifetime he transformed this heritage into the foundation of a new musical practice that was to become known as Romanticism. The Classical composers for the most part attempted to orchestrate with a sense of grace and beauty. Beethoven occasionally made deliberate use of new, intense, often even harsh orchestral sounds. He also, in his later symphonies, augmented the orchestra with a piccolo, contrabassoon, and third and fourth horn. The Ninth Symphony has one passage calling for triangle, cymbals, and bass drum, a combination identified with the imitations of Turkish Janissary music in vogue in previous years.

The Romantic era was characterized by great strides in the art of instrumentation, and, in fact, the use of instrumental colour became one of the most salient features of this music. The piano really came into its own as a source of interesting sonorities; the orchestra expanded in size and scope; new instruments were added; and old instruments were improved and made more versatile. The Romantic period saw the appearance of the first textbook on the subject of orchestration. It was the French composer Hector Berlioz’ Traité d’instrumentation et d’orchestration modernes (1844; Treatise on Instrumentation and Orchestration, 1856). Berlioz was one of the most individual orchestrators in the history of music, and his Symphonie fantastique (1830) is one of the most remarkable pieces of music to come out of this era. Berlioz made use of colour to depict or suggest events in his music, which was frequently programmatic in character. He called on large forces to express his musical ideas, an idea that persisted throughout the 19th century and into the 20th. Berlioz’ Grande Messe des morts ( Requiem, 1837) calls for four flutes, two oboes, two English horns, four clarinets, 12 horns, eight bassoons, 25 first violins, 25 second violins, 20 violas, 20 violoncellos, 18 double basses, eight pairs of timpani, four tam-tams (a type of gong), bass drum, and 10 pairs of cymbals; four brass choirs placed in various parts of the hall, each consisting of four trumpets, four trombones, two tubas, and four ophicleides (a large, now obsolete brass instrument); and a chorus of 80 sopranos, 80 altos, 60 tenors, and 70 basses.

The colouristic ideas in Berlioz’ music were carried on in various ways by other important 19th-century composers and reached a culmination in the music of the German composer Richard Strauss and the Austrian Gustav Mahler—both of whom demanded a virtuoso orchestra—and were orchestrated in a complex fashion, although Mahler was capable of very delicate effects.