(Franz) Joseph Haydn ( / haɪdən / ) (audio) - he never used his first name -, born in Rohrau on the Leitha in Lower Austria, on March 31, 1732 and died in Vienna on May 31, 1809, is an Austrian composer. He embodies Viennese classicism in the same way as Mozart and Beethoven, the three composers being grouped by posterity under the title of "Viennese Classical Trinity" .
The musical career of Joseph Haydn covers the entire classical period, from the end of Baroque music to the beginnings of Romanticism. It is at the same time the bridge and the engine that allowed this evolution to be accomplished. The image of "dad Haydn" does not come from the titles of "father of the symphony" or "father of the string quartet" generously awarded to the XIX century and even nowadays. The creation of these genres is a little more complex genesis, but Haydn has largely contributed to their emergence and consolidation.
Two of his brothers were also musicians:
Joseph Haydn was born on March 31, 1732 in a modest family in Rohrau on the Leitha on the Austro-Hungarian border. His father Mathias (1699-1763) was a wheelwright and amateur harpist, his mother, Anna Maria Koller (1707-1754), cook at Count Harrach, lord of Rohrau. He is the second of twelve of the couple's children, six of whom will survive as adults:
