Home Forums Blogs Articles Photos Videos Contact FAQ

Joseph Haydn - Character and appearance

Joseph Haydn - Character and appearance: Encyclopedia II - Joseph Haydn - Character and appearance

Haydn was known among his contemporaries for his kindly, optimistic, and congenial personality. He had a robust sense of humour, evident in his love of practical jokes and often apparent in his music. He was particularly respected by the Eszterházy court musicians whom he supervised, as he maintained a cordial working atmosphere and effectively represented the musicians' interests with their employer; see Papa Haydn. Haydn was a devout Catholic who often turned to his rosary when he had trouble composing, a practice that he usually f ...

Joseph Haydn, Joseph Haydn - Life, Joseph Haydn - Childhood, Joseph Haydn - Struggles as a freelancer, Joseph Haydn - The years as Kapellmeister, Joseph Haydn - The London journeys, Joseph Haydn - Final years in Vienna, Joseph Haydn - Character and appearance, Joseph Haydn - Works, Joseph Haydn - Structure and character of the music, Joseph Haydn - Evolution of Haydn's Style, Joseph Haydn - Catalogues, Joseph Haydn - Lists of works, Joseph Haydn - Articles on works by Joseph Haydn, Joseph Haydn - Books about Haydn, Joseph Haydn - Other topics

Joseph Haydn, Joseph Haydn - Articles on works by Joseph Haydn, Joseph Haydn - Books about Haydn, Joseph Haydn - Catalogues, Joseph Haydn - Character and appearance, Joseph Haydn - Childhood, Joseph Haydn - Evolution of Haydn's Style, Joseph Haydn - Final years in Vienna, Joseph Haydn - Life, Joseph Haydn - Lists of works, Joseph Haydn - Other topics, Joseph Haydn - Structure and character of the music, Joseph Haydn - Struggles as a freelancer, Joseph Haydn - The London journeys, Joseph Haydn - The years as Kapellmeister, Joseph Haydn - Works, List of symphonies by Joseph Haydn, List of masses by Joseph Haydn, List of string quartets by Joseph Haydn, List of operas by Joseph Haydn

Joseph Haydn: Encyclopedia II - Joseph Haydn - Character and appearance

Joseph Haydn - Character and appearance

Haydn was a devout Catholic who often turned to his rosary when he had trouble composing, a practice that he usually found to be effective. When he finished a composition, he would write "Laus deo" ("praise be to God") or some similar expression at the end of the manuscript. His favourite hobbies were hunting and fishing.

Haydn was short in stature, perhaps as a result of having been underfed throughout most of his youth. Like many in his day, he was a survivor of smallpox and his face was pitted with the scars of this disease. He was not handsome, and was quite surprised when women flocked to him during his London visits.

About a dozen portraits of Haydn exist, although they disagree sufficiently that, other than what is noted above, we would have little idea what Haydn looked like were it not also for the existence of a lifelike wax bust and Haydn's death mask. Both are in the Haydnhaus in Vienna, a museum dedicated to the composer. All but one of the portraits show Haydn wearing the grey powdered wig fashionable for men in the 18th century, and from the one exception we learn that Haydn was bald in adulthood.

Other related archives

"Farewell" Symphony, "London" symphony, "Papa" Haydn, 1732, 1740, 1749, 1757, 1759, 1760, 1760s, 1766, 1770s, 1772, 1779, 1781, 1785, 1786, 1789, 1790, 1790s, 1791, 1794, 1795, 1797, 1798, 1801, 1802, 1809, 1950, 2, 5, 6, Anthony van Hoboken, April 1, Austria, Austrian, Authentic performance, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, C.P.E. Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Catholic, Cello Concerto No. 1 in C (Haydn), Cello Concerto No. 2 in D (Haydn), Charles Rosen, Classical, Classical style, Coda, Croatian, Czech, Development, Drumroll, Eisenstadt, England, Eszterháza, Eszterházy, Exposition, Fux, Georg von Reutter, German, Gluck, Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser, Gottfried van Swieten, H. C. Robbins Landon, Hainburg, Handel, Haydn and folk music, Introduction, J.C. Bach, Johann Evangelist Haydn, Johann Peter Salomon, Kapellmeister, La canterina, Leopold Mozart, List of Austrians, List of Austrians in music, List of masses by Joseph Haydn, List of string quartets by Joseph Haydn, List of symphonies by Joseph Haydn, London, London symphonies, March 31, May 31, Michael, Michael Haydn, Military, Mozart, Napoleon, Nicola Porpora, Papa Haydn, Recapitulation, Social history of the piano, St. Stephen's Cathedral, Stephen Storace, Sturm und Drang, Surprise, Symphony No. 100, "Military Symphony", Symphony No. 101, "The Clock", Symphony No. 103, "Drumroll", Symphony No. 104, "London", Symphony No. 13, Symphony No. 22, "The Philosopher", Symphony No. 39, Symphony No. 44, "Trauersinfonie", Symphony No. 45, "Farewell", Symphony No. 88, Symphony No. 92, "Oxford", Symphony No. 94, "Surprise", Symphony No. 96, The Creation, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, The Seasons, The Seasons (Haydn), The Seven Last Words of Christ, Turkish music (style), Vienna, cannon, chamber music, choir, choirboys, clavichord, codas, comic operas, composer, concerti, contract, counterpoint, court, divertimentos, double variation, fishing, folk, folk musician, fugue, fugues, harp, harpsichord, history of music, homophonic, hunting, literary movement, liveried, masses, minuets, monothematic, motifs, musical theorists, national anthems, operas, optimistic, opus numbers, oratorios, piano sonatas, piano trios, practical jokes, rosary, scars, scherzi, singer, smallpox, sonata, sonata form, sonata rondo form, soprano, string quartet, string quartets, symphony, tenor, timpani, tonality, tonic, trumpets, violin, vocal, wig

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Character and appearance", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

More material related to Joseph Haydn can be found here:

Main Page
for
Joseph Haydn Index of Articles
related to
Joseph Haydn