Friday, April 15, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Artist Interview
Interviewer: Hallo Mr. Haydn, I’ll be interviewing you today. What events in your early life made you get interested in the arts?
Haydn: Well when I was a boy, about six years of age, I lived in the Austrian village of Rohrau with my parents. They saw that I had a talent for music so they accepted an offer from our relative, Johann Matthias Franck, who was a choirmaster in Hainburg, Germany, and had me be apprenticed to become a musician. I was hungry and filthy there. But I learned how to play harpsichord and violin and sang soprano in the choir. At about eight years of age, I was noticed by the director of music at St.Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna (8notes Life). Basically, I was a natural.
Interviewer: Wow! A natural. That’s fantastic. What role did mentors play in helping you develop as an artist?
Haydn: Well in my younger years I never really had a mentor. Most of my guardians during my apprenticeship didn’t always make sure I had food or musical training. I learned by just listening and being around professionals at the church. I never was formally taught or mentored. Later in my life during a point when I was a freelance musician I struggled to fill gaps in my musical training. And eventually I wrote my first operas and quartets.
Interviewer: Sounds like you were your own mentor. Ha ha ha. Well what was the world of music like when you really entered it?
Haydn: When I entered the world of music I was a freelance musician influenced by famous composers and musicians such as Bach and Handel. I was dismissed from my job at St. Stephens choir when I hit puberty for I could no longer sing the high choral parts. I spent that night on a park bench but was taken in by friends. I started doing many different musical jobs. I was a valet accompanist for the Italian composer Nicola Porpora. That is when I learned the true fundamentals of composition (8notes Struggles as a Freelancer). My reputation got gradually better during this time.
Interviewer: How about things that affected your work such as cultural, economic, or political situations?
Haydn: During my time the Baroque era had ended and the Enlightenment era was beginning. Many people were influenced by enlightenment ideas. This affected music because a lot of composers were into using neoclassicism in their works including me.
Interviewer: OK. Well what were some major accomplishments in your music?
Haydn: Well one major accomplishment was becoming the Kapellmeister for Count Karl von Morzin. When Morzin suffered financial problems I had to look for other work and found one as Kapellmeister of the Eszterhazy family. I worked with the Eszterhazy family through 3 of their princes but eventually one prince didn’t like music as much so I was free to travel and was quickly hired by Johann Peter Saloman from Germany to go to London to conduct symphonies with a large orchestra.
Interviewer: What personal choices did you make to become successful?
Haydn: I made the choice to become the Kapellmeister to the Eszterhazy family. Staying with them for many years and having to write music I wrote a lot of operas quartets and symphonies. If I hadn’t of made the choice I wouldn’t hace gotten that experience.
Interviewer: Well it has been fantastic talking to you Mr. Haydn.
Haydn: Why thank you. Guten tag.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Artifact #10
This is the sheet music for Haydn's piece, "Minuet in D" which i have actually played.
Haydn, Franz Josef. "Haydn, Franz Josef - Minuet in D Sheet Music - 8notes.com." Free Sheet Music on 8notes.com. Web. 25 Mar. 2011. <http://www.8notes.com/scores/10319.asp>.
Artifact #9
This is the sheet music for Haydn's "Surprise" symphony.
Haydn, Franz Josef. "Haydn, Franz Josef - Suprise Symphony Sheet Music - 8notes.com." Free Sheet Music on 8notes.com. Web. 25 Mar. 2011. <http://www.8notes.com/scores/436.asp>.
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