Haydn
Haydn is a fellow that you will almost certainly get confused with Mozart. In fact, pretty much everyone who hasn’t been drowning in
classical for at least 5 years will probably be unable to tell them apart with any ease. So, you may be asking, if they’re both so great, then why does their music sound so samey?
Well, one reason is they were both Classical (notice the big C!) composers, and this era was just prior to the drmatic musical explosion which occurred with the romantics. At this time the orchestras were reasonably compact, and things like the modern piano were just getting properly invented, so their sonic canvas was limited. Also, they both wrote at least partly as “court composers” writing pieces for the aristocrats, who wanted elegant and witty pieces, not anything too controversial.
This means that the majority of Haydn’s works show many of the same characteristics as Mozarts. They’re archetypal “classical” music; the kind of thing they play in movies when the rich folks are having a party. It’s very stringy, very tidy, very clean sounding. You almost certainly have a good idea of what this style is like already.
Musical Snippets
Symphony Hob. 100 “Military”, 1st movement
This is a little bit into the first movement of the “military” symphony. It’s named that because of the dramatic use of things like, errr, triangles in the second movement. Seriously. That should give you an indication of how undramatic a lot of Classical music sounds to the modern ear. This section is playful but elegant, with a stereotypically hummable melodic line.
Symphony Hob. 94 “Surprise”, 2nd movement
This one has a much more apt name. Turn up your speakers a lot if you really fancy experiencing it. This little number demonstrates one of the key differences between Mozart and Haydn: while they are both witty, Haydn is more in your face, down-to-earth knee-slappingly funny. It’s his peasant upbringing.
For more on distinguishing Mozart and Haydn have a look here.
YouTubing
They’re are some nice performances of Rostropovich playing the Cello Concerto: part 1, part 2.
