Franz Joseph Haydn was born on March 31, 1732, in Rohrau, a small village in Austria. His father Mathias Haydn was a master wheelwright who loved music and often played the harp while his wife sang melodies. Haydn’s mother Anna Maria Koller had been a cook for Count Karl Anton Harrach before she married Mathias.
As a child, Haydn had a spectacular voice and precise musicality. Johann Franc, impressed by Haydn’s voice, insisted that Haydn’s parents allow the youth to live with him and study music. Franc was a school principal and the choir director of a church in Hainburg.
Haydn’s parents allowed him to go in hopes that he would amount to something special. Haydn primarily studied music, but he also learned Latin, writing, arithmetic, and religion. Haydn spent most of his childhood singing in church choirs.
Haydn trained his younger brother Michael when he joined the choir school three years later; it was customary for the older choirboys to instruct the younger ones. Although Haydn’s voice was great, he lost it when he went through puberty.
Haydn went on to compose 104 symphonies, as well as religious music, solo piano works, and chamber music.
Listen now to how conductor Simon Rattle works with an orchestra to prepare Haydn’s music for a performance:
