Joseph Haydn - Life, Music, and Legacy

Despite childhood poverty and hardship, Haydn rose to become the most prolific and influential composer of his generation.

Franz Joseph Haydn , known in his childhood as “Little Joseph,” was born on March 31, 1732, in the small Austrian village of Rohrau, near the Hungarian border. His beginnings offered little promise. His father, Mathias Haydn, a poor wheelwright, was unable to provide his gifted son with formal education and watched helplessly as the boy’s obvious musical talent risked being lost.

Haydn’s birthplace in Rohrau,
near the Austro-Hungarian border.

Fortune intervened in 1738, when a relative, Johann Matthias Frankh, schoolmaster and choirmaster in Hainburg, took the six-year-old Joseph into his care. There, Haydn learned the rudiments of music and sang in the choir. Yet this opportunity came at a high cost: his childhood was marked by deprivation and harsh discipline—“more beating than eating,” as Haydn later recalled., 

A Happy Getaway

In 1739, Haydn’s circumstances changed dramatically when Georg von Reutter, Kapellmeister of St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, discovered him while searching for new choirboys. Haydn’s parents accepted Reutter’s offer with relief, knowing it secured their son’s future. For nearly a decade, Haydn sang as a boy soprano—until, at seventeen, his voice broke. Dismissed abruptly from the choir school, he found himself on the streets of Vienna with little more than a few worn clothes and an uncertain future.

He survived by giving poorly paid lessons, playing the organ at Sunday services, and sleeping in a cramped attic shared with another struggling musician.

Haydn’s residence in Eisenstadt,
where he served the Esterházy court.

Apprenticeship in Composition

Though determined to compose, Haydn had received little systematic instruction in music theory. Largely self-taught, he studied treatises on his own until he met the Italian composer Nicola Porpora, who agreed to correct his compositional exercises. This informal mentorship proved decisive.

Gradually, Haydn secured aristocratic pupils and began composing chamber music, including the earliest of what would eventually become 83 string quartets, laying the foundations for an entirely new genre.

Career Beginnings

Prince Nikolaus Esterházy,
Haydn’s most important patron.

Haydn’s first official appointment came under Count Morzin, where he served as Kapellmeister and directed a small orchestra of sixteen players. For this ensemble, he composed his first symphonies, including his Symphony No. 1 in 1759.

His talent soon attracted the attention of the powerful Esterházy family. On May 1, 1761, Prince Paul Anton Esterházy appointed Haydn assistant to Gregor Joseph Werner at the family estate in Eisenstadt. Haydn’s responsibilities were vast: conducting the orchestra, training singers, composing on demand, and maintaining both instruments and the music library.

When Werner died in 1766, Haydn was promoted to full Kapellmeister—a position he would hold for nearly thirty years.

Disastrous Marriage

Professional success did not bring personal happiness. In 1760, Haydn entered an unhappy marriage with Anna Maria Keller, after her younger sister Therese—whom Haydn loved—chose the convent instead. The marriage proved deeply incompatible. Anna Maria showed little sympathy for Haydn’s work and infamously used his manuscripts for household purposes.

Despite his plain appearance, Haydn possessed wit and warmth, and he found emotional refuge in friendships and relationships outside marriage. He poured his energy into composition, sometimes producing up to five symphonies in a single year.

Friendship with Mozart

Haydn’s vast output eventually surpassed even that of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whom he met in Vienna in 1782. Despite a 24-year age difference, the two composers developed a deep mutual admiration and lasting friendship, which endured until Mozart’s death in 1791.

Haydn traveling to England, where he achieved international fame and acclaim.

Invitation to England

Haydn’s reputation spread throughout Europe, leading to invitations from major cultural centers—including England. In 1791, he traveled there for the first time, composing and conducting symphonies that would become known as the London Symphonies. The visit brought him unprecedented acclaim, academic honors (including from Oxford University), and financial security.

During this period, Haydn also encountered the young Ludwig van Beethoven. On Haydn’s return to Vienna, Beethoven became his pupil—an association that would prove formative for the next generation.

The last years

Haydn spent his final years in quiet retirement in Vienna. When Napoleon’s troops entered the city in 1809, his fame was such that a French general placed an honorary guard outside his home for protection.

Haydn died peacefully on May 31, 1809, at the age of seventy-seven. Owing to wartime conditions, he was buried the following day in a modest ceremony—far simpler than his stature deserved.

From rural poverty to international fame, Haydn’s life remains one of the most compelling examples of a self-made musical genius in Western music history.