Joseph Haydn

Franz Joseph Haydn, (March 31 or April 1 1732 – May 31 1809) was a leading composer of the Classical period, called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet". Although he has come to be popularly known as "Franz Joseph Haydn" (with many published scores and recordings using this full name), Haydn used his second name much of his life, spelling it in German as "Josef" and signing letters and documents as "Josef Haydn".

Books about Haydn

Biography:

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• Haydn by Rosemary Hughes (New York: Farrar Strauss and Giroux 1970, out of print) gives a sympathetic and witty account of Haydn's life, along with a survey of the music.
• Another biography, based on the most recent scholarship, is James Webster and Georg Feder's contribution to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (New York: Grove, 2001). This article was published separately as a book: The New Grove Haydn (New York: Macmillan 2002, ISBN 0195169042).
• Haydn: Chronicle and Works, by H. C. Robbins Landon (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1976-1980), is a near-exhaustive compilation of the information we have about Haydn's life.

Criticism and analysis:

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• The Classical Style by Charles Rosen (2nd ed., New York: Norton 1997; ISBN 0393317129) is the essential work, covering much of Haydn's output, and explicating Haydn's central role in the creation of the classical style.