Copyright, 1917, by Theodore Presser Co.
Printed in U. S. A.

BORN

DIED

[Pg 3]

The Story of the Choir Boy who Became
a Great Composer

Joseph Haydn was born in Rohrau, a little Austrian
village not far from Hainburg.

It is quite worth while for you to look for this
town and for the River Leytha in any large geography.
You may not find Rohrau itself, for it is a very
small town, but you will surely find the River Leytha
which flows by it.

The parents lived in a very modest little house.
The picture of this house is worth studying, and remembering.
As you see, it is of one story with a
thatched roof. The farm buildings are joined to the
house itself. The windows look inviting and pretty.
They seem to tell us very plainly that it is warm and
cosy within.

HAYDN’S BIRTHPLACE

[Pg 4]

It will be easy for you to
remember the year in which
Joseph Haydn was born, because
you have already learned
in school that our President,
George Washington, whose
picture should be inserted
here, was born in the same
year—1732.

This President’s birthday
was in what month? What
day of the month?

WASHINGTON

Joseph Haydn was born on March 31st of the
same year (he used to say that he was born “in the
night” between March 31st and April 1st).

Washington’s father died in the year when he and
Joseph Haydn were ten years old. This is a picture
of Washington, as a man, bidding his mother good-bye
before leaving for a war.

WASHINGTON LEAVING HOME

[Pg 5]
Little Joseph Haydn’s father and mother were
poor, but they loved cleanliness and system.

They feared God, worked hard, and loved music.
Joseph’s father used to sing in a clear tenor voice,
accompanying himself on the harp. At home little
Joseph was called Sepperl.

When the child was old enough, he, too, began to
sing. He quite surprised everyone by his sweet voice.

In the neighboring town of Hainburg there lived
a schoolmaster named Frankh, who used to visit
the Haydns and play the violin. Sepperl used to
watch him very closely, and one day he, too, began
to play the violin while his father and mother were
singing. But he had no real violin, of course, so he
had to play on a make-believe one of two sticks. But
he sang in tune and kept time with his wooden bow.

SEPPERL PLAYING ON TWO STICKS

One day the schoolmaster chanced to come up
the street while the little boy was playing his make-believe
music. Watching him closely, he saw that
he was really fond of music.

[Pg 6]
Then Cousin Frankh, as they called him, had a
long talk with Sepperl’s father and mother. After a
while it was agreed that the little boy should go to
Hainburg (the place you found on the map), and
there become a pupil of the schoolmaster.

They worked hard at the school in those days.
Once, when Haydn was an old man, he said: “I shall
be grateful to that man (the schoolmaster) as long
as I live, for keeping me so hard at work. But I used
to get more floggings than food.”

When he was six years old, Sepperl could “stand
up like a man” and sing masses in the church choir,
besides playing a little on the piano and the violin.

It once happened that a drummer was needed in
a procession in Hainburg. Frankh called Sepperl,
and showed him how to make
the stroke. But the boy was
so small that someone had to
carry the drum for him, Sepperl
following up and beating
it as he had been taught.
Haydn was very fond of playing
the drums, and even as a
boy tried to learn how to play
right.

HAYDN DRUMMING

But Joseph Haydn was to do other things.

One day a man from Vienna visited the pastor of
the Hainburg Church. He heard the little boy sing
and liked his voice so much that he invited him to become
a chorister in the huge Church of St. Stephen.
[Pg 7]
He was eight years old
when he arrived in the
great city of Vienna, still
a little farther away
from home than he was
at Hainburg.

There was much else
to do in the great church
beside singing in the
choir. There were music
studies, of course, in
singing, violin and piano
playing. But there were
also school studies to
be learned every day.
These were Religion, Latin, Writing and Arithmetic.

ST. STEPHEN’S CHURCH

But one must not think that because Sepperl was
a busy musician he did not love fun like other boys of
eight. One day the choristers sang at the Royal
Palace at Schoenbrunn, just outside of Vienna. The
scaffolding was still standing about the building, and
Joseph climbed to the top. The Empress Maria
Theresa caught him at this mischief and gave an order
that “that blockhead should have a good spanking.”

Five years after Joseph Haydn entered St.
Stephen’s, his brother Michael joined the choir. It
was just at that time that Joseph’s voice began to
change. One day when the Empress heard him she
said his voice sounded more like a rooster’s crowing
[Pg 8]
than anything else. The choirmaster, taking the
hint, prepared to dismiss him.

But before Joseph said good-bye to his schoolmates
his spirit of fun bubbled over again. Someone
had left a pair of new scissors where he found them.

What should he cut with them?

Ah, he knew. He would cut off the pigtail of
one of the choir boys. And he did.

Joseph Haydn was never lazy. His father and
mother had taught him to love work. He was industrious,
happy-hearted, and made friends easily.
People loved him and he began to meet those who
could help him. One of these was the great poet,
Metastasio. Another was the singing master,
Nicholas Porpora, who taught him music composition
in return for which the boy brushed the master’s
clothes, polished his boots, did anything and everything,
even to running errands. And all because he
was so anxious to be taught how to compose music.

Then soon afterward Haydn met Gluck, the opera
composer; and another time Wolfgang Mozart and
his father, Leopold Mozart. So you see he was getting
on famously.

GLUCK

L. MOZART

[Pg 9]
One day he was invited to become Music Director
(or Vice-Capellmeister, as it was called) in the family
of a great man who was known as Prince Paul Anton
Esterhazy.

Haydn’s position in the Esterhazy home gave him
just the opportunity he wanted. There was an orchestra,
and for it he composed all sorts of music.

When the band was to play for the Prince’s family
and its guests, Haydn and the players were required
to wear white stockings and white collars, and a pigtail
or tie-wig.

If you could have watched him conduct the players,
you would have seen a very short man with short
legs; his face pitted with the marks of small-pox. His
nose was large, his eyes gray, but of the kindest expression.

And here is a picture which shows exactly how
the “good-natured sort of fellow” looked.

SILHOUETTE OF HAYDN

[Pg 10]
A butcher in the town where Joseph was living
wanted to celebrate his daughter’s marriage with fitting
music, and was bold enough to ask Joseph to compose
a Minuet for the occasion. Joseph good-naturedly
consented, and wrote the Oxen Minuet, and made
the butcher and his daughter very happy. People say
that soon after the wedding the butcher appeared at
Joseph’s door leading an ox all decorated with ribbons
and with gilded horns.

OXEN MINUET

For many years Haydn remained in the peace and
quiet of the Esterhazy family life. But, nevertheless
his good work was heard of in distant places. He received
many invitations to travel to foreign countries.
[Pg 11]
One of these he accepted. He went to England; twice
in fact. The night before he left Vienna he and
Mozart dined together.

“Do not go on such a long journey,” Mozart begged
of him. “You are too old and you do not know
languages enough to travel through so many countries.”

“But,” said Haydn, “I know one language that is
understood everywhere—the language of music.”

Mozart said farewell to his old friend. They
never met again.

On the way north, along the Rhine, Haydn met
Beethoven at Bonn; and it was arranged that Beethoven
should study with Haydn on his return to
Vienna.

When the traveler reached Calais he took the boat
to Dover in England. He was so enchanted by the
sight of the sea that he sat on deck all the way, to
watch it. Never before had he seen such a sight, for,
we must remember, he was born far inland.

HAYDN ON CALAIS BOAT

[Pg 12]
Most men do their best work in their younger
years, but in Haydn’s later years he wrote two of his
greatest works: The Creation and The Seasons. The
Creation is loved by all people. It is one of a group of
favorite oratorios which have found a warm place in
the hearts of the people. With it stand The Messiah,
Judas Maccabaeus, St. Paul and Elijah. Do you
know who composed each of these?

After the English journeys, Haydn lived quietly
in Vienna in what is now known as the Haydn house.
Should you ever go to Vienna you will be welcomed
there by the caretaker, who will show you the rooms
in which Haydn lived.

One day toward the end of his life he asked his
servant to carry him to the piano. While the members
of his household stood near him he played three
times, very solemnly, the Emperor’s Song.

THE EMPEROR’S SONG Listen

This is the way Haydn wrote his name—

[Pg 13]

FACTS ABOUT FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN

When you have read this page and the next make
a story about Haydn’s life. Write it in your own
words. When you are quite sure you cannot improve
it, copy it on pages 15 and 16.

SOME FACTS ABOUT JOSEPH HAYDN.

1. He was born at Rohrau, in Hungary, March
31, 1732.

2. He was a few weeks younger than George
Washington.

3. As a little boy he loved to hear his father and
mother sing.

4. While they sang he played on a “make-believe”
violin, of two sticks.

5. He left home at the age of six and never lived
there again.

6. First he became a choir-boy at Hainburg.

7. When he was eight years old he entered St.
Stephen’s in Vienna as a chorister.

8. After he left St. Stephen’s he worked hard for
many years. Many people whom he met in this time
helped him.

9. Among his friends of this period were: Metastasio,
Porpora, Gluck, Mozart and his father, and
Beethoven.

10. For a time he was Beethoven’s teacher.

11. He spent a great part of his life in the Esterhazy
family.

[Pg 14]
12. Here he was Vice-Capellmeister and composer
to the Prince.

13. He was a short, stout man, with kindly gray
eyes, and very dark hair.

14. He went twice to England to conduct his
symphonies.

15. Haydn was called the father of the Symphony
and of the String Quartette.

16. He composed a song which will always be
famous. It is called The Emperor’s Song.

17. He died in 1809, seventy-seven years of age.

SOME QUESTIONS.

1. Where and in what year was Joseph Haydn
born?

2. By what name was he known at home?

3. Who was his first teacher?

4. What studies had he at St. Stephen’s?

5. With what distinguished family did he live
for many years?

6. Give the names of some of the distinguished
composers whom he knew.

7. What great composer was his pupil for a time
in Vienna?

8. Why did Mozart think that Haydn should
not travel through so many strange countries?

9. What two great works did he write after he
returned from England?

10. In what year did Haydn die?

11. Can you find in what year George Washington
died?

[Pg 15]

THE STORY OF FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN

Written by……………………………………………….

On (date)………………………………………………..