Joseph Haydn is one of the founders of the Viennese Classical school, alongside Mozart and Beethoven. For over thirty years he served as Kapellmeister at the court of the Esterházy princes, where in “happy isolation” he developed and perfected the Classical style.
He is called the “father of the symphony” (104 symphonies!) and of the string quartet (about 68) — it was Haydn who definitively shaped these genres that became the foundation of all subsequent instrumental music. He wrote with inexhaustible humour, invention, and warmth (recall the “Farewell” Symphony or the “Surprise”). Haydn was Beethoven's teacher, Mozart's friend, and the author of the oratorios “The Creation” and “The Seasons.” His clear, balanced, and humane music is the very heart of Classicism.
