Johann Evangelist Haydn
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Johann Evangelist Haydn (December 23, 1743 – May 10, 1805) was a
tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...
singer of the classical era; the younger brother of the
composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...
s
Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...
and
Michael Haydn Johann Michael Haydn (; 14 September 173710 August 1806) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period, the younger brother of Joseph Haydn. Life Michael Haydn was born in 1737 in the Austrian village of Rohrau, near the Hungarian border. ...
. He was often called "Hansl", a diminutive form of "Johann". Johann was the eleventh child of
Mathias Haydn Mathias Haydn (31 January 1699 – 12 September 1763) was the father of two famous composers, Joseph and Michael Haydn. He worked as a wheelwright in the Austrian village of Rohrau, where he also served as ''Marktrichter'', an office akin to villa ...
and Anna Maria Koller Haydn (Joseph was second, and Michael sixth). His career training may have been mixed. According to
Albert Christoph Dies Albert Christoph Dies (175528 December 1822) was a German painter, engraver, and biographer most noted for his biography of Joseph Haydn, although it is now considered sentimental and not entirely accurate. As an artist, he is also not very well ...
, an early biographer of Joseph Haydn, Johann followed his older brothers in serving as a choirboy in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. However, Rosemary Hughes indicates that Johann was also trained in the profession of his father Mathias, namely that of wheelwright. Hughes describes Johann as "delicate and quite incapable of carrying on his father's business." In 1763, Johann's father died, leaving a will that specified an early financial distribution to Johann, prior to the formal division of the estate; as Jones suggests, this indicates that he was not yet able to support himself. In 1765, after his stepmother had remarried, Johann left home and joined his brother Joseph, who by this time was employed in
Eisenstadt Eisenstadt (; hu, Kismarton; hr, Željezni grad; ; sl, Železno, Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ''Eisnstod'') is a city in Austria, the state capital of Burgenland. It had a recorded population on 29 April 2021 of 15,074. In the Habsburg ...
as
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 ...
to 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 ...
family. Joseph took his younger brother into his home and found him a position as a tenor in the Esterházys' church choir. Johann worked without pay, supported by his brother, for six years, after which he drew a small salary, which Joseph supplemented. Johann was apparently not a very accomplished singer. The composer Antonio Salieri once remarked of a pupil that he "sang through the nose like Hansl Haydn". Perhaps as a result, his services to the Esterházy family were limited to church music; he was not recruited to perform in any of the many operas directed by Joseph starting in the 1770s. Johann did some teaching and may have been pressed into service from time to time as an emergency music copyist. It is possible that Johann was paid as a singer as a favor to Joseph; that Haydn's employer at the time (Prince
Nikolaus Esterházy Nicholas is a male given name and a surname. The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglican Churches celebrate Saint Nicholas every year on December 6, which is the name day for "Nicholas". In Greece, the name and its ...
) esteemed Haydn's services enough to make such arrangements is suggested by a similar act later on, in which he kept on the payroll another mediocre singer, Haydn's mistress
Luigia Polzelli Luigia Polzelli (also Polcelli; c. 1760 – 5 October 1830) was an Italian mezzo-soprano, who sang at the Esterházy court in Hungary during the late 18th century. She was for a number of years the lover of the composer Joseph Haydn. Early year ...
. Johann briefly lost his job in 1775 when some "minor infraction" (Robbins Landon) brought upon him the wrath of Prince Nikolaus's estates director, the short-tempered
Peter Ludwig von Rahier Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...
. The position was restored at Joseph Haydn's intervention.Robbins Landon (2009, 322) Johann was again unemployed from 1790 (when Prince
Anton Esterházy Anton may refer to: People *Anton (given name), including a list of people with the given name *Anton (surname) Places *Anton Municipality, Bulgaria **Anton, Sofia Province, a village *Antón District, Panama **Antón, a town and capital of th ...
succeeded Nikolaus and abolished most of the family's musical establishment) until 1795 (when Anton's successor Nikolaus II revived it). Nothing is known about what Johann did during this time. Following his reinstatement, he continued in the service of the Esterházy family for the remainder of his life, dying in Eisenstadt at the age of 63.


Notes


References

*Dies, Albert Christoph (1810) ''Biographical Accounts of Joseph Haydn'', Vienna. English translation by Vernon Gotwals, in ''Haydn: Two Contemporary Portraits'', Milwaukee: University of Wisconsin Press. *Hughes, Rosemary (1970) ''Haydn''. London: Dent and Sons. *Jones, David Wyn (2009) "Haydn, Johann Evangelist," in David Wyn Jones, ed., ''Oxford Composer Companions: Haydn''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. *Larsen, Jens Peter (1982) ''The New Grove Haydn''. New York and London: W. W. Norton. *Robbins Landon, H. C. (2009) "Rahier," in David Wyn Jones, ed., ''Oxford Composer Companions: Haydn''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{DEFAULTSORT:Haydn, Johann Evangelist 1743 births 1805 deaths Austrian tenors Joseph Haydn