The composer

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have le ...

is sometimes given the nickname "Papa" Haydn. The practice began in Haydn's lifetime and has continued to the present day. identifies three senses of the term, discussed below in the order of their chronological origin.

"Papa" as a term of affection

"Papa Haydn" started out as a term of affection bestowed on Haydn by the musicians who worked for him. After 1766 Haydn was the

Kapellmeister (, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...

at the

Esterházy The House of Esterházy, also spelled Eszterházy (), is a Hungarian noble family with origins in the Middle Ages. From the 17th century, the Esterházys were the greatest landowner magnates of the Kingdom of Hungary, during the time that it ...

court, presiding over a fairly large group of musicians. His authority was evidently rather benevolent, as he often interceded with Prince Esterházy on behalf of musicians who had gotten in trouble. The tale of the "Farewell" Symphony attests to Haydn's willingness to act on behalf of his subordinates. The practice of calling Haydn "Papa" became increasingly plausible as Haydn's 30-plus years of service in the Eszterházy court went by; with each year, he would have become increasingly older than the average musician serving under him. As time went by, the group of musicians who called Haydn "Papa" expanded beyond the Esterházy court and included Haydn's friend

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

. Höslinger summarizes this aspect of "Papa Haydn" thus: "'Papa' arose as a term of affection, commonly used by the Esterházy players ... for a father figure, somebody who willingly gave advice and who was generally respected as a musician." He notes that in Haydn's time the term was used for other musicians as well; e.g. "

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wo ...

called

Salieri Antonio Salieri (18 August 17507 May 1825) was an Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subject of the Habsburg monarch ...

his 'Grosspapa' (German: 'grandad')".

"Papa" as founder

Another sense of the term "Papa Haydn" came from his role in the history of

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...

, notably in the development of the

symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning c ...

and

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinist ...

. While Haydn did not invent either genre, his work is considered important enough that the labels "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" are often attached to him. Even in his own lifetime, this perspective was prevalent. In 1797, the Tonkünstler-Societät of Vienna passed the resolution to make him a life member, "by virtue of his extraordinary merit as the father and reformer of the noble art of music." When in 1798 Franz Niemetschek published a biography of Mozart, he dedicated the book to Haydn, calling him "father of the noble art of music and favorite of the Muses." Höslinger asserts that this usage of "Papa Haydn" increased during the 19th century, "as the sense of reverence for older composers increased."

"Papa" as pejorative

This usage, which arose in the 19th century, is characterized thus by Höslinger: it is "a more patronizing, even dismissive one. In comparison with Romantic artists and

Romantic music Romantic music is a stylistic movement in Western Classical music associated with the period of the 19th century commonly referred to as the Romantic era (or Romantic period). It is closely related to the broader concept of Romanticism—th ...

, Haydn and his output were seen as genial, but naive and superficial." With the rise of acclaim for Haydn's music during the 20th century, the patronizing sense of "Papa Haydn" caused scholars and critics to become leery of the term, seeing it as a distortion of the composer's work. For example, Haydn scholar Jens Peter Larsen wrote (1980): "Papa Haydn" was used in a children's song, sung to the first bars of the second movement of the '' Surprise Symphony'': Papa Haydn's dead and gone but his memory lingers on. When his mood was one of bliss he wrote jolly tunes like this."Haydn – ''Die Jahreszeiten''
by Nina Anne Greeley, San Francisco Choral Society;

Notes

Sources

* * * * * Larsen's article was published separately as ''The New Grove: Haydn'', Norton, New York, 1982.

"Papa" as a term of affection

"Papa" as founder

"Papa" as pejorative

Notes

Sources

Further reading