Dr. Prince
MST241
November 3, 2010
Research Paper
What Influenced Joseph Haydn’s Music
Joseph Franz Haydn was an amazing man. He was a very ambitious, hard working, a never give up type of guy. From what Louis Nohl said, Haydn started singing by age six and he was part of church choir. With all the fame and greatness, he would still achieve success coming from a poor family living in a peasant cottage. What really grabbed my attention was how Haydn loved practicing music and though with his many struggles Haydn always kept positive and a strong attitude. He would go against his family’s wishes along with starving himself throughout his youth to be part of music. Haydn taught me that do what you love to do and you will be great at doing what you love. Haydn’s organization and neatness in his music comes from his childhood, where he was taught from an early age very strictly to have a habit of organization and cleanliness (Nohl 8). His family would also sing together at the end of each day and Haydn loved music so much that he would practice the violin with a little stick who a neighbor noticed he had precise time and tone during the age of only 5 at the time (Nohl). I believe he is very organized from the music I listen to from him, an example is his movement 2 in his symphony #22 where you can hear the order of the melodies he performs. Haydn’s influences also came when he was in Vienna starting in 1750. (Nohl, Hadden). Haydn would receive nothing but music into his life; from books, to people he lived with, and to places he went. One of the people he studied under, according to Nohl, was a teacher of Italian opera named Nicolo Porpora. The Italian opera dominated Europe during that time. Fluid melodies along with clear and simple harmonic structure were the main points of the school. There were many works of the Italian opera made for the Prince at that time. Haydn had to compose operas for special events including marriages