Stock Montage/Getty Images
Listen to the episode!
Who's Haydn? Today we're seeking to find out. Tune in this week to learn more about the Father of the Symphony and the String Quartet.
Howdy, howdy, howdy! I’m Solomon Reynolds, and this is Saturday Morning Car Tunes!
This morning… Whoever’s Haydn, we’re gonna find him! Franz Joseph Haydn—or Papa Haydn as the younger musicians called him—helped shape all of Classical music. He mentored Mozart and Beethoven, and he’s known as the Father of the Symphony and the String Quartet.
Haydn was born in Austria almost 300 years ago. At first, he worked as a music teacher but didn’t have much time to compose. After lots of hard work and sleepless nights, Haydn became the court composer for the wealthy Esterházy family, who paid for his living. With their support, he wrote over 100 symphonies. This is No. 6, called "The Morning." Can you hear the sunrise?
Haydn also composed a lot of concertos, like his Cello Concerto No. 1. Many people still perform his keyboard pieces today. His earlier works were written for the harpsicord but then started to get played on the fortepiano, like his Keyboard Concerto No. 11.
Haydn had two sides to him. He was deeply religious and could be serious, like from the Seven Last Words. But he could also be funny, like from this string quartet. It’s nicknamed “The Joke,” because the audience doesn’t know quite when it ends. Can you tell?
It’s hard not to feel happy listening to the finale of his Symphony No. 88.
After his boss passed away, Haydn was free to travel. At the time, London was the biggest city in the world, and the English nobility loved Haydn’s music. He wrote twelve symphonies for ‘em and made a lot of money. This is one of those, No. 104. Haydn had become world famous—like a rock star.
People continue to listen to Haydn’s music today. The finale to his Trumpet Concerto gets featured as the wake-up alarm in the Netflix show Squid Game. Well, there he is. You found Haydn!
I’m Solomon Reynolds. I write and produce Saturday Morning Car Tunes with research assistant Carolina Correa and audio engineer Stephen Page, only on Classical California. Tune in—or out of your car—next Saturday morning!
