Joseph Haydn (jan 1, 1732 – jan 1, 1809)

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Nationality: Austrian

Haydn was the most celebrated composer of his day, and is best remembered for symphonies and string quartets. He spent most of his career serving the Esterhazy family, the most powerful noble family in Hungary. At Esterhazy, Haydn had to compose whatever music the prince commanded, conduct performances, train and supervise all the musical personnel, and keep the instruments in repair. Towards the end of his life, he began to publish his compositions, and this public audience influenced his style over time.

Style
Though he sought broad appeal by devising themes that seemed familiar on first hearing and by following conventions for phrasing, form, and harmony, he was recognized during his time as highly individual. He created musical interest through the unexpected, allowing him to evoke the sublime or create musical humor with equal skill. His main source was the galant style, adopting CPE Bach's affinity for the empfindsam style. He also used the learned (baroque) style of counterpoint.

Mature Style Characteristics
As Haydn matured musically, he focused on the idea of simple yet sophisticated, allowing economy of material with constant novelty. This humor is produced through incongruity of a sort that requires nuanced listening.

Symphony
He greatly contributed and solidified the style and form, as his were usually four movements (a fast sonata-form movement, slow movement, minuet and trio, and a fast finale).

String quartets
The first great master of the genre, he had a great amount of evolution in them. His early quartets: resembled divertimentos, but the more of them he wrote the more his movement choice and order resembled the symphony.

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