Editing Joseph Haydn (section)

==Life and career ==

===Early life===
[[File:Altwiener_Bilderbuch_nach_alten_Stichen_0042.jpg|thumb|[[St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna|St. Stephen's Cathedral]]. In the foreground is the Kapellhaus (demolished 1804) where Haydn lived as a chorister.]]
Joseph Haydn was born in [[Rohrau, Austria|Rohrau]], Austria, a village that at that time stood on the border with Hungary.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brenet |first=Michel |title=Haydn |publisher=New York: B. Blom |year=1972}}</ref> His father was [[Mathias Haydn]], a [[wheelwright]] who also served as "Marktrichter", or marketplace supervisor. Haydn's mother Maria, née Koller, had worked as a cook in the palace of [[Aloys Thomas Raimund, Count Harrach|Count Harrach]], the presiding aristocrat of Rohrau. Neither parent could read music;{{efn|Haydn reported this in his 1776 [[Autobiographical sketch (Haydn)|Autobiographical sketch]].}} however, Mathias was an enthusiastic [[folk music]]ian, who during the [[journeyman]] period of his career had taught himself to play the harp. According to Haydn's later reminiscences, his family was extremely musical, and they frequently sang together and with their neighbours.<ref>{{harvnb|Dies|1810|loc=(in the English translation from {{harvnb|Gotwals|1963|pp=80–81}}).}}</ref>

Haydn's parents had noticed that their son was musically gifted and knew that in Rohrau he would have no chance to obtain serious musical training. It was for this reason that, around the time Haydn turned six, they accepted a proposal from their relative Johann Matthias Frankh, the schoolmaster and choirmaster in [[Hainburg an der Donau|Hainburg]], that Haydn be apprenticed to Frankh in his home to train as a musician. Haydn therefore went off with Frankh to Hainburg and he never again lived with his parents.

Life in the Frankh household was not easy for Haydn, who later remembered being frequently hungry{{sfn|Griesinger|1963|p=9}} and humiliated by the filthy state of his clothing.<ref>{{harvnb|Dies|1810|loc=(in the English translation from {{harvnb|Gotwals|1963|p=82}}).}}</ref> He began his musical training there, and could soon play both [[harpsichord]] and violin. He also sang [[Boy soprano|treble]] parts in the church choir.

There is reason to think that Haydn's singing impressed those who heard him, because in 1739{{efn|{{Harvnb|Finscher|2000|p=12}}. {{harvnb|Jones|2009a|p=7}} dates the visit to early summer, i.e. cherry season, since during the visit, [[Johann Georg Reutter|Reutter]] plied the child with fresh cherries as a means of inducing him to learn to sing a trill.}} he was brought to the attention of [[Johann Georg Reutter|Georg Reutter the Younger]], the director of music in [[St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna|St. Stephen's Cathedral]] in Vienna, who happened to be visiting Hainburg and was looking for new choirboys. Haydn passed his audition with Reutter, and after several months of further training moved to Vienna (1740), where he worked for the next nine years as a chorister.

Haydn lived in the Kapellhaus next to the cathedral, along with Reutter, Reutter's family, and the other four choirboys, which after 1745 included his younger brother [[Michael Haydn|Michael]].<ref>{{harvnb|Jones2009a|pp=12–13}}. A third brother, [[Johann Evangelist Haydn]], also pursued a musical career as a tenor but achieved no distinction and was for some time supported by Joseph.</ref> The choirboys were instructed in Latin and other school subjects as well as voice, violin, and keyboard.{{sfn|Finscher|2000|p=12}} Reutter was of little help to Haydn in the areas of [[music theory]] and composition, giving him only two lessons in his entire time as a chorister.{{sfn|Griesinger|1963|p=10}} However, since St. Stephen's was one of the leading musical centres in Europe, Haydn learned a great deal simply by serving as a professional musician there.{{sfn|Landon|Jones|1988|p=27}}

Like Frankh before him, Reutter did not always bother to make sure Haydn was properly fed. As he later told his biographer [[Albert Christoph Dies]], Haydn was motivated to sing well, in hopes of gaining more invitations to perform before aristocratic audiences, where the singers were usually served refreshments.<ref>{{harvnb|Dies|1810|loc=(in the English translation from {{harvnb|Gotwals|1963|p=87}}).}}</ref>

[[File:WhereHaydnLived.PNG|thumb|upright=1.2|Map showing [[List of residences of Joseph Haydn|locations where Haydn lived]] or visited]]

=== Struggles as a freelancer ===
By 1749, Haydn had matured physically to the point that he was no longer able to sing high choral parts. Empress [[Maria Theresa]] herself complained to Reutter about his singing, calling it "crowing".<ref name=Dies1810_89>{{harvnb|Dies|1810|loc=(in the English translation from {{harvnb|Gotwals|1963|p=89}}).}}</ref> One day, Haydn carried out a prank, snipping off the pigtail of a fellow chorister.{{r|Dies1810_89}} This was enough for Reutter: Haydn was first [[Caning|caned]], then summarily dismissed and sent into the streets.{{sfn|Geiringer|1982|p=27}} He had the good fortune to be taken in by a friend, Johann Michael Spangler,<ref>Or "Spängler" (1722–1794) {{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.musiklexikon.ac.at/ml/musik_S/Spangler_Familie.xml|title=Spangler (eig. Spängler), Familie|trans-title=Spangler (really Spängler), family|author1=Barbara Boisits|author1-link=:de:Barbara Boisits|author2=Christian Fastl|language=de|encyclopedia=[[Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon]]|date=13 September 2018|access-date=13 August 2023}}</ref> who shared his family's crowded garret room with Haydn for a few months. Haydn immediately began his pursuit of a career as a freelance musician.

[[File:Dolní Lukavice castle 01.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Morzin Palace, Dolní Lukavice]], Czech Republic]]
Haydn struggled at first, working at many different jobs: as a music teacher, as a street serenader, and eventually, in 1752, as valet-accompanist for the Italian composer [[Nicola Porpora]], from whom he later said he learned "the true fundamentals of composition".{{sfn|Larsen|1980|p=8}} He was also briefly in [[Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Haugwitz]]'s employ, playing the organ in the Bohemian Chancellery chapel at the [[Judenplatz]].<ref>[[Rita Steblin]], "Haydns Orgeldienste 'in der damaligen Gräfl. Haugwitzischen Kapelle{{'"}}, in: ''Wiener Geschichtsblätter'' 65/2000, pp. 124–134.</ref>

While a chorister, Haydn had not received any systematic training in music theory and composition. As a remedy, he worked his way through the [[counterpoint]] exercises in the text ''[[Gradus ad Parnassum]]'' by [[Johann Joseph Fux]] and carefully studied the work of [[Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach]], whom he later acknowledged as an important influence.<ref name="Geiringer30">{{Harvnb|Geiringer|1982|p=30}}</ref> He said of CPE Bach's first six keyboard sonatas, "I did not leave my clavier till I played them through, and whoever knows me thoroughly must discover that I owe a great deal to Emanuel Bach, that I understood him and have studied him with diligence." According to [[Georg August Griesinger|Griesinger]] and Dies, in the 1750s Haydn studied an encyclopedic treatise by [[Johann Mattheson]], a German composer.<ref name="Dodds-2015">{{Cite book|last=Dodds|first=Glen Lyndon|title=Haydn: The Life & Work of a Musical Genius|publisher=Albion Press|year=2015|isbn=|location=|pages=}}{{page needed|date=January 2021}}{{ISBN missing|date=January 2021}}</ref>

As his skills increased, Haydn began to acquire a public reputation, first as the composer of an opera, ''[[Der krumme Teufel]]'', "The Limping Devil", written for the comic actor Joseph Felix von Kurz, whose stage name was "Bernardon". The work was premiered successfully in 1753, but was soon closed down by the censors due to "offensive remarks".<ref>{{cite book|author1=Tom Beghin|author2=Sander M. Goldberg|title=Haydn and the Performance of Rhetoric|date=2007|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-04129-2|page=94|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TFBILY-jSUsC&pg=PA94|access-date=14 January 2015}}</ref> Haydn also noticed, apparently without annoyance, that works he had simply given away were being published and sold in local music shops.{{sfn|Griesinger|1963|p=15}} Between 1754 and 1756 Haydn also worked freelance for the court in Vienna. He was among several musicians who were paid for services as supplementary musicians at balls given for the imperial children during carnival season, and as supplementary singers in the imperial chapel (the ''[[Wiener Hofmusikkapelle|Hofkapelle]]'') in Lent and Holy Week.<ref>[[Dexter Edge]], "New Sources for Haydn's Early Biography", unpublished paper given at the AMS Montréal, 7 November 1993 (see {{harvnb|Webster|Feder|2001|loc=vol. 11, p. 265}}.</ref>

With the increase in his reputation, Haydn eventually obtained aristocratic patronage, crucial for the career of a composer in his day. Countess Thun,{{efn|Various individuals bore the title "Countess Thun" over time. Candidates for the countess who engaged Haydn are (a) "the elder Countess Maria Christine Thun", {{Harv|Webster|2002}}; (b) [[Maria Wilhelmine Thun]] (later a famous salon hostess and patroness of Mozart), ([[Volkmar Braunbehrens]], 1990, ''Mozart in Vienna'').}} having seen one of Haydn's compositions, summoned him and engaged him as her singing and keyboard teacher.{{efn|{{Harvnb|Webster|2002|p=8}}. Webster expresses doubts since the source is the early biography of [[Nicolas-Étienne Framery]], judged {{Harv|Webster|2002|p=1}} the least reliable of Haydn's early biographers.}} In 1756, Baron Carl Josef Fürnberg employed Haydn at his country estate, [[Weinzierl_Castle|Weinzierl]], where the composer wrote his first string quartets. Their enthusiastic reception encouraged Haydn to write more. Fürnberg later recommended Haydn to [[Count Morzin]], who, in 1757,{{efn|This date is uncertain, since the early biography of {{Harvtxt|Griesinger|1963}} gives 1759. For the evidence supporting the earlier date see {{Harvtxt|Landon|Jones|1988|p=34}} and {{Harvtxt|Webster|2002|p=10}}.}} became his first full-time employer.{{sfn|Geiringer|1982|pp=34–35}} 

===Years as Kapellmeister===
Haydn's job title under Count Morzin was ''[[Kapellmeister]]'', that is, music director. Like many aristocrats of the [[Austrian Empire]] at the time, the Count kept his own small orchestra, which Haydn led and composed for. His salary was a respectable 200 florins a year, plus free board and lodging.{{sfn|Redfern|1970|p=9}} The Count lived the typical aristocractic lifestyle: winters in fashionable Vienna, but in summer escaping the heat and dust of the city for the [[Morzin Palace, Dolní Lukavice|ancestral estate]] in the country; this was at [[Dolní Lukavice|Unterlukawitz]], now in the Czech Republic. Haydn and his musicians served their employer wherever he happened to be living.<ref>Webster and Feder (2001:10)</ref> For Count Morzin Haydn wrote his first symphonies (perhaps about 10-20; the number is unknown).<ref>Webster and Feder (2001:63) give their estimate of which of the Haydn symphonies date from his Morzin employment.</ref> [[Philip Downs]] comments on these first symphonies: "the seeds of the future are there, his works already exhibit a richness and profusion of material, and a disciplined yet varied expression."<ref name="Dodds-2015" /> 

[[File:AnnaHaydn.jpg|thumb|Haydn's wife. Unauthenticated miniature attributed to [[Ludwig Guttenbrunn]]]]
In 1760, with the security of a Kapellmeister position, Haydn married. His wife was the former Maria Anna Theresia Keller (1729–1800),<ref>[[Michael Lorenz (musicologist)|Michael Lorenz]], [http://michaelorenz.blogspot.co.at/2014/09/joseph-haydns-real-wife_11.html "Joseph Haydn's Real Wife"] (Vienna 2014). As Lorenz notes, the identity of Haydn's wife was mistaken for most of the history of Haydn scholarship.</ref> the sister of Therese (b. 1733), with whom Haydn had previously been in love. Haydn and his wife had an unhappy marriage,<ref>See, e.g., {{Harvnb|Geiringer|1982|pp=36–40}}, whose discusses the marriage in detail. Webster (2001) observes that all known records of their relationship come from Haydn's side and represent his point of view.</ref> from which the laws of the time permitted no escape. They produced no children, and both took lovers.{{efn|Mrs. Haydn's paramour (1770) was [[Ludwig Guttenbrunn]], an artist who produced the portrait of Haydn [[#Guttenbrunn|seen above]] {{Harv|Landon|Jones| 1988|p=109}}. Joseph Haydn had a long relationship, starting in 1779, with the singer [[Luigia Polzelli]], and was probably the father of her son Antonio {{Harv|Landon|Jones|1988|p=116}}.}}

[[File:The Esterhazy Palace in Vienna.jpg|thumb|Haydn's in-town work venue: the city palace of the Esterházys on the Wallnerstrasse in Vienna]]
[[File:Eisenstadt - Schloss Esterhazy.JPG|thumb|right|Schloss Esterházy, the family's traditional seat in [[Eisenstadt]]]]
Count Morzin soon suffered financial reverses that forced him to dismiss his musical establishment, but Haydn was quickly offered a similar job (1761) by Prince [[Paul II Anton Esterházy|Paul Anton]], head of the immensely wealthy [[House of Esterházy|Esterházy family]]. Haydn's job title was only Vice-Kapellmeister, but he was immediately placed in charge of most of the Esterházy musical establishment, with the old Kapellmeister [[Gregor Werner]] retaining authority only for church music. When Werner died in 1766, Haydn was elevated to full Kapellmeister.{{anchor|Guttenbrunn}}

[[File:Nikolaus Esterhazy.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Prince [[Nikolaus Esterházy]], Haydn's most important patron]]
[[File:Fertőd - The Eszterházy Castle or Palace.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Eszterháza]], the palace built by Prince Nikolaus in rural Hungary, where Haydn spent much of his career]]
As a "house officer" in the Esterházy establishment, Haydn wore [[livery]] and followed the family as they moved among their various palaces, most importantly the family's ancestral seat [[Schloss Esterházy]] in [[Eisenstadt]] and later on [[Esterháza]], a grand new palace built in rural Hungary in the 1760s. Haydn had a huge range of responsibilities, including composition, running the orchestra, playing [[chamber music]] for and with his patrons, and eventually the mounting of operatic productions. Despite this backbreaking workload,{{efn|{{harv|Landon|Jones|1988|p=100}} write: "Haydn's duties were crushing. We can notice the effect in his handwriting, which becomes hastier as the 1770s turn to the 1780s: the notation starts to become ever more careless in the scores and the abbreviations multiply."}} the job was in artistic terms a superb opportunity for Haydn.{{sfn|Webster|2002|p=13}}{{sfn|Landon|Jones|1988|p=37}} The Esterházy princes (Paul Anton, then from 1762 to 1790 [[Nikolaus Esterházy|Nikolaus I]]) were musical connoisseurs who appreciated his work and gave him daily access to his own small orchestra. During the nearly thirty years that Haydn worked at the Esterházy court, he produced a flood of compositions, and his musical style continued to develop.

Much of Haydn's activity at the time followed the musical taste of his patron Prince Nikolaus. In about 1765, the prince obtained and began to learn to play the [[baryton]], an uncommon musical instrument similar to the bass [[viol]], but with a set of plucked [[sympathetic strings]]. Haydn was commanded to provide music for the prince to play, and over the next ten years produced about 200 works for this instrument in various ensembles, the most notable of which are the 126 [[Baryton trios (Haydn)|baryton trios]]. Around 1775, the prince abandoned the baryton and took up a new hobby: opera productions, previously a sporadic event for special occasions, became the focus of musical life at court, and the opera theatre the prince had built at Esterháza came to host a major season, with (per Jones) "a schedule that soon rivalled any private or public opera house in Europe."<ref>Jones (2009b:75)</ref> Haydn served as ''de facto'' company director, recruiting and training the singers and preparing and leading the performances. He wrote [[List of operas by Joseph Haydn#Composed during Haydn's service for the Eszterházy family|several of the operas performed]] and wrote substitution [[aria]]s to insert into the operas of other composers.

1779 was a watershed year for Haydn, as his contract was renegotiated: whereas previously all his compositions were the property of the Esterházy family, he now was permitted to write for others and sell his work to publishers. Haydn soon shifted his emphasis in composition to reflect this (fewer operas, and more quartets and symphonies) and he negotiated with multiple publishers, both Austrian and foreign. His new employment contract "acted as a catalyst in the next stage in Haydn's career, the achievement of international popularity. By 1790 Haydn was in the paradoxical position ... of being Europe's leading composer, but someone who spent his time as a duty-bound Kapellmeister in a remote palace in the Hungarian countryside."{{sfn|Jones|2009b|p=136}} The new publication campaign resulted in the composition of a great number of new string quartets (the six-quartet sets of Op. [[String Quartets, Op. 33 (Haydn)|33]], [[String Quartets, Op. 50 (Haydn)|50]], 54/55, and [[String Quartets, Op. 64 (Haydn)|64]]). Haydn also composed in response to commissions from abroad: the [[Paris symphonies]] (1785–1786) and the original orchestral version of ''[[The Seven Last Words of Christ (Haydn)|The Seven Last Words of Christ]]'' (1786), a commission from [[Cádiz]], Spain.

The remoteness of [[Eszterháza]], which was farther from Vienna than Eisenstadt, led Haydn gradually to feel more isolated and lonely.{{sfn|Geiringer|1982|p=60}} He longed to visit Vienna because of his friendships there.<ref>For details see {{Harvnb|Geiringer|1982|loc=Chapter 6}}</ref> Of these, a particularly important one was with [[Maria Anna von Genzinger]] (1754–1793), the wife of Prince Nikolaus's personal physician in Vienna, who began a close, platonic relationship with the composer in 1789. Haydn wrote to Mrs. Genzinger often, expressing his loneliness at Esterháza and his happiness for the few occasions on which he was able to visit her in Vienna. Later on, Haydn wrote to her frequently from London. Her premature death in 1793 was a blow to Haydn, and his [[Variations in F minor|F minor variations]] for piano, Hob. XVII:6, may have been written in response to her death.<ref>{{Harvnb|Geiringer|1982|p=316}}, citing Robbins Landon.</ref>

Another friend in Vienna was [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]], whom [[Haydn and Mozart|Haydn had met]] sometime around 1784. According to later testimony by [[Michael Kelly (tenor)|Michael Kelly]] and others, the two composers occasionally played in [[string quartet]]s with [[Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf]] (second violin) and [[Johann Baptist Wanhal]] (cello) for small gatherings attended by [[Giovanni Paisiello]] and [[Giovanni Battista Casti]].<ref>{{harvnb|Deutsch|1965|p=234}}; {{harvnb|Keefe|2023|p=1}}; {{harvnb|Webster|Feder|2001|loc=§3.4}}</ref> Impressed by Mozart's work, Haydn praised it unstintingly to others. Mozart returned the esteem in his [[Haydn Quartets (Mozart)|"Haydn" quartets]]. In 1785 Haydn was admitted to the same [[Masonic lodge]] as Mozart, the "''Zur wahren Eintracht''" in Vienna.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.austria.info/uk/things-to-do/cities-and-culture/joseph-haydn-life-and-works/in-the-services-of-esterhazy|title=In the Services of Esterházy|website=austria.info|access-date=17 December 2018|archive-date=18 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118035258/https://www.austria.info/uk/things-to-do/cities-and-culture/joseph-haydn-life-and-works/in-the-services-of-esterhazy|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{efn|There is no evidence that Haydn ever attended a meeting after his admittance ceremony,{{sfn|Larsen|1980}} and he was dropped from the lodge's rolls in 1787.}}

=== London journeys ===
[[File:Haydnportrait.jpg|thumb|upright|Portrait by [[Ludwig Guttenbrunn]], painted {{circa|1791–92}}, depicts Haydn c.&nbsp;1770]]
In 1790, Prince Nikolaus died and was succeeded as prince by his son [[Anton Esterházy|Anton]]. Following a trend of the time,{{sfn|Jones|2009a}} Anton sought to economize by dismissing most of the court musicians. Haydn retained a nominal appointment with Anton, at a reduced salary of 400 florins, as well as a 1000-florin pension from Nikolaus.{{sfn|Geiringer|1982|p=96}} Since Anton had little need of Haydn's services, he was willing to let him travel, and the composer accepted a lucrative offer from [[Johann Peter Salomon]], a German violinist and [[impresario]], to visit England and conduct new symphonies with a large orchestra.

The choice was a sensible one because Haydn was already a very popular composer there. Since the death of [[Johann Christian Bach]] in 1782, Haydn's music had dominated the concert scene in London; "hardly a concert did not feature a work by him".<ref name="Jones2009b_325">{{harvnb|Jones|2009b|p=325}}.</ref> Haydn's work was widely distributed by publishers in London, including Forster (who had their own contract with Haydn) and Longman & [[Robert Broderip|Broderip]] (who served as an agent in England for Haydn's Vienna publisher [[Artaria]]).{{r|Jones2009b_325}} Efforts to bring Haydn to London had been made since 1782, though Haydn's loyalty to Prince Nikolaus had prevented him from accepting.{{r|Jones2009b_325}}

After fond farewells from Mozart and other friends,<ref>For narratives of Haydn's last days in Mozart's company, see [[Haydn and Mozart]]</ref> Haydn departed from Vienna with Salomon on 15 December 1790, arriving in [[Calais]] in time to cross the English Channel on New Year's Day of 1791. It was the first time that the 58-year-old composer had seen the sea. Arriving in London, Haydn stayed with Salomon in Great Pulteney Street (London, near [[Piccadilly Circus]])<ref name="Jones2009b_137">{{harvnb|Jones|2009b|p=137}}</ref> working in a borrowed studio at the [[Broadwood and Sons|Broadwood]] piano firm nearby.{{r|Jones2009b_137}}

It was the start of a very auspicious period for Haydn: both the 1791–1792 journey, along with a repeat visit in 1794–1795, were greatly successful. Audiences flocked to Haydn's concerts; he augmented his fame and made large profits, thus becoming financially secure.{{efn|According to {{harvnb|Jones|2009b|pp=[https://archive.org/details/haydn0000unse_b4c7/page/144/mode/2up 144–146]}}, the London visits yielded a net profit of 15,000 florins. Haydn continued to prosper after the visits and at his death left an estate valued at 55,713 florins. These were substantial sums; for comparison, the house he bought in Gumpendorf in 1793 (and then remodelled) cost only 1370 florins.}} [[Charles Burney]] reviewed the first concert thus: "Haydn himself presided at the piano-forte; and the sight of that renowned composer so electrified the audience, as to excite an attention and a pleasure superior to any that had ever been caused by instrumental music in England."{{efn|From Burney's memoirs; quoted from {{Harvtxt|Landon|Jones|1988|p=234}}}} Haydn made many new friends and, for a time, was involved in a romantic relationship with [[Rebecca Schroeter]].
[[File:Hanover-Square-Rooms.png|thumb|left|[[Hanover Square Rooms]], principal venue of Haydn's performances in London]]

Musically, Haydn's visits to England generated some of his best-known work, including the ''[[Symphony No. 94 (Haydn)|Surprise]]'', ''[[Symphony No. 100 (Haydn)|Military]]'', ''[[Symphony No. 103 (Haydn)|Drumroll]]'' and ''[[Symphony No. 104 (Haydn)|London]]'' symphonies; the ''Rider'' quartet; and the [[Piano Trio No. 39 (Haydn)|"Gypsy Rondo"]] piano trio. The great success of the overall enterprise does not mean that the journeys were free of trouble. Notably, his first project, the commissioned opera ''[[L'anima del filosofo]]'' was duly written during the early stages of the trip, but the opera's impresario [[John Gallini]] was unable to obtain a license to permit opera performances in the theatre he directed, the [[Her Majesty's Theatre|King's Theatre]]. Haydn was well paid for the opera (£300) but much time was wasted.{{efn|The premier performance did not take place until 1951, during the [[Florence May Festival]]. [[Maria Callas]] sang the role of Euridice. The opera and its history are discussed in {{Harvnb|Geiringer|1982|pp=342–343}}.}} Thus only two new symphonies, [[Symphony No. 95 (Haydn)|no. 95]] and [[Symphony No. 96 (Haydn)|no. 96 ''Miracle'']], could be premiered in the 12 concerts of Salomon's spring concert series in 1791. Another problem arose from the jealously competitive efforts of a senior, rival orchestra, the [[Professional Concerts]], who recruited Haydn's old pupil [[Ignaz Pleyel]] as a rival visiting composer; the two composers, refusing to play along with the concocted rivalry, dined together and put each other's symphonies on their concert programs.

The end of Salomon's series in June gave Haydn a rare period of relative leisure. He spent some of the time in the country ([[Hertingfordbury]]),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hertsmusicfest.org.uk/haydn |title=Hertfordshire's Haydn Connection |publisher=Hertfordshire Festival of Music |access-date=31 March 2022}}</ref> but also had time to travel, notably to Oxford, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the university. The symphony performed for the occasion, [[Symphony No. 92 (Haydn)|no. 92]] has since come to be known as the ''Oxford Symphony'', although it had been written two years before, in 1789.<ref>''Oxford Symphony'', article by Jane Holland in {{harvnb|Jones|2009b|p=266}}</ref> Four further new symphonies (Nos. [[Symphony No. 93 (Haydn)|93]], [[Symphony No. 94 (Haydn)|94]], [[Symphony No. 97 (Haydn)|97]] and [[Symphony No. 98 (Haydn)|98]]) were performed in early 1792.

[[File:John Hoppner (1758-1810) - Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) - RCIN 406987 - Royal Collection.jpg|thumb|upright|Haydn as portrayed by [[John Hoppner]] in England in 1791]]
While travelling to London in 1790, Haydn met the young [[Ludwig van Beethoven]] in his native city of [[Bonn]]. On Haydn's return, Beethoven came to Vienna and [[Beethoven and his contemporaries#Joseph Haydn|was Haydn's pupil]] up until the second London journey. Haydn took Beethoven with him to [[Eisenstadt]] for the summer, where Haydn had little to do, and taught Beethoven some [[counterpoint]].{{sfn|Geiringer|1982|pp=131–135}} While in Vienna, Haydn purchased a house for himself and his wife in the suburbs and started remodelling it. He also arranged for the performance of some of his London symphonies in local concerts.

By the time he arrived on his second journey to England (1794–1795), Haydn had become a familiar figure on the London concert scene. The 1794 season was dominated by Salomon's ensemble, as the Professional Concerts had abandoned their efforts. The concerts included the premieres of the 99th, 100th, and 101st symphonies. In 1795, Salomon had abandoned his own series, citing difficulty in obtaining "vocal performers of the first rank from abroad", and Haydn joined forces with the Opera Concerts, headed by the violinist [[Giovanni Battista Viotti]]. The location of the concerts was shifted from the [[Hanover Square Rooms]], seating an audience of 500, to a new hall in the [[Her Majesty's Theatre|King's Theatre]], seating 800.<ref>Jones (2009a:170)</ref> At these concerts were premiered Haydn's final three symphonies, [[Symphony No. 102 (Haydn)|102]], [[Symphony No. 103 (Haydn)|103]], and [[Symphony No. 104 (Haydn)|104]]. The final benefit concert for Haydn ("Dr. Haydn's night"), at the end of the 1795 season, was a great success and was perhaps the peak of his English career. Haydn's biographer [[Georg August Griesinger|Griesinger]] wrote that Haydn "considered the days spent in England the happiest of his life. He was everywhere appreciated there; it opened a new world to him".{{sfn|Webster|2002|p=37}}

=== Years of celebrity in Vienna ===
Haydn returned to Vienna in 1795. Prince Anton had died, and his successor [[Nikolaus II, Prince Esterházy|Nikolaus II]] proposed that the Esterházy musical establishment be revived with Haydn serving again as Kapellmeister. Haydn took up the position on a part-time basis. He spent his summers with the Esterházys in Eisenstadt, and over the course of several years wrote six [[List of masses by Joseph Haydn|masses]] for them including the [[Lord Nelson mass]] in 1798.

[[File:Haydn by Thaler Wien SAM 350 2.jpg|thumb|upright|Wax sculpture of Haydn by Franz Thaler, c. 1800]]
By this time Haydn had become a public figure in Vienna. He spent most of his time in his home, a large house in the suburb of Windmühle,{{efn|The house, at Haydngasse 19, has since 1899 been a Haydn museum [http://www.wienmuseum.at/de/standorte/haydnhaus.html Haydnhaus], [[Vienna Museum]]).}} and wrote works for public performance. In collaboration with his librettist and mentor [[Gottfried van Swieten]], and with funding from van Swieten's [[Gesellschaft der Associierten]], he composed his two great oratorios, ''[[The Creation (Haydn)|The Creation]]'' (1798) and ''[[The Seasons (Haydn)|The Seasons]]'' (1801). Both were enthusiastically received. Haydn frequently appeared before the public, often leading performances of ''The Creation'' and ''The Seasons'' for charity benefits, including [[Tonkünstler-Societät]] programs with massed musical forces. He also composed instrumental music: the popular ''[[Trumpet Concerto (Haydn)|Trumpet Concerto]]'', and the last nine in his long series of string quartets, including the ''[[String Quartets, Op. 76 (Haydn)#Opus 76 No. 2 ("Fifths")|Fifths]]'', ''[[String Quartets, Op. 76 (Haydn)#Opus 76 No. 3 ("Emperor")|Emperor]]'', and ''[[String Quartets, Op. 76 (Haydn)#Opus 76 No. 4 ("Sunrise")|Sunrise]]''. Directly inspired by hearing audiences sing [[God Save the King]] in London, in 1797 Haydn wrote a patriotic "Emperor's Hymn" "{{lang|de|[[Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser]]|italic=no}}", ("God Save Emperor Francis"). This achieved great success and became "the enduring emblem of Austrian identity right up to the First World War" (Jones).{{incomplete short citation|date=July 2019}} The melody was used for von Fallersleben's {{Lang|de|[[Deutschlandlied]]}} (1841), whose third stanza is today the [[national anthem]] of Germany. 

During the later years of this successful period, Haydn faced incipient old age and fluctuating health, and he had to struggle to complete his final works. His last major work, from 1802, was the sixth mass for the Esterházys, the ''[[Harmoniemesse]]''.

===Retirement, illness, and death===
By the end of 1803, Haydn's condition had declined to the point that he became physically unable to compose. He suffered from weakness, dizziness, inability to concentrate and painfully swollen legs. Since diagnosis was uncertain in Haydn's time, it is unlikely that the precise illness can ever be identified, though Jones suggests [[arteriosclerosis]].<ref>For symptoms see {{harvnb|Jones|2009a|p=146}}; for the arteriosclerosis hypothesis see {{harvnb|Jones|2009b|p=216}}.</ref> The illness was especially hard for Haydn because the flow of fresh musical ideas continued unabated, although he could no longer work them out as compositions.{{efn|Of Haydn's plight, {{harvtxt|Rosen|1997}} wrote, "The last years of Haydn's life, with all his success, comfort, and celebrity, are among the saddest in music. More moving than the false pathos of a [[Death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart#Funeral|pauper's grave for Mozart]] ... is the figure of Haydn filled with musical ideas which were struggling to escape, as he himself said; he was too old and weak to go to the piano and submit to the discipline of working them out."}} His biographer Dies reported Haydn saying in 1806:

{{Blockquote|I must have something to do—usually musical ideas are pursuing me, to the point of torture, I cannot escape them, they stand like walls before me. If it's an [[allegro (music)|allegro]] that pursues me, my pulse keeps beating faster, I can get no sleep. If it's an [[Adagio (music)|adagio]], then I notice my pulse beating slowly. My imagination plays on me as if I were a clavier."{{efn|"Clavier" in the original German is ambiguous; literally "keyboard", it is used by extension to denote a keyboard instrument such as the piano or harpsichord. {{harvnb|Dies|1810|p=141}}.}} Haydn smiled, the blood rushed to his face, and he said "I am really just a living clavier."}}

[[File:HaydnsHouseInVienna.PNG|thumb|left|The house in Vienna (now [[Vienna Museum#Haydn House|a museum]]) where Haydn spent the last years of his life]]
The winding down of Haydn's career was gradual. The Esterházy family kept him on as Kapellmeister to the very end (much as they had with his predecessor Werner long before), but they appointed new staff to lead their musical establishment: Johann Michael Fuchs in 1802 as Vice-Kapellmeister<ref name=Jones2009a_209>{{harvnb|Jones|2009a|p=209}}.</ref> and [[Johann Nepomuk Hummel]] as Konzertmeister in 1804.{{sfn|Jones|2009a|pp=214–215}} Haydn's last summer in Eisenstadt was in 1803,{{r|Jones2009a_209}} and his last appearance before the public as a conductor was a charity performance of ''[[The Seven Last Words]]'' on 26 December 1803. As debility set in, he made largely futile efforts at composition, attempting to revise a rediscovered ''[[Missa brevis (Haydn)|Missa brevis]]'' from his teenage years and complete his [[List of string quartets by Joseph Haydn#Opus 103|final string quartet]]. The former project was abandoned for good in 1805, and the quartet was published with just two movements.{{sfn|Jones|2009a|p=213}}

Haydn was well cared for by his servants, and he received many visitors and public honours during his last years, but they could not have been very happy years for him.<ref>{{harvnb|Geiringer|1982|p=198}} gives the testimony of Haydn's early biographer [[Giuseppe Carpani]].</ref> During his illness, Haydn often found solace by sitting at the piano and playing his "[[Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser|Emperor's Hymn]]". A final triumph occurred on 27 March 1808 when a performance of ''The Creation'' was organized in his honour. The very frail composer was brought into the hall on an armchair to the sound of trumpets and drums and was greeted by Beethoven, [[Antonio Salieri|Salieri]] (who led the performance) and by other musicians and members of the aristocracy.<!--Speculation?:, many of whom probably sensed that they were saying goodbye to the elderly composer--> Haydn was both moved and exhausted by the experience and had to depart at intermission.{{sfn|Geiringer|1982|pp=186–187}}

[[File:Bergkirchemitkalvarienberg.jpg|thumb|The [[Bergkirche (Eisenstadt)|Bergkirche]] in Eisenstadt, site of Haydn's tomb]]
Haydn lived on for 14 more months. His final days were hardly serene, as in May 1809 the French army under [[Napoleon]] launched an attack on Vienna and on 10 May bombarded his neighbourhood. According to Griesinger, "Four [[case shot]]s fell, rattling the windows and doors of his house. He called out in a loud voice to his alarmed and frightened people, 'Don't be afraid, children, where Haydn is, no harm can reach you!'. But the spirit was stronger than the flesh, for he had hardly uttered the brave words when his whole body began to tremble."<ref name=Griesinger1810_50>{{harvnb|Griesinger|1963|p=50}}.</ref> More bombardments followed until the city fell to the French on 13 May.<ref name=Jones2009b_142>{{harvnb|Jones|2009b|p=142}}</ref> Haydn, was, however, deeply moved and appreciative when on 17 May a French cavalry officer named Sulémy came to pay his respects and sang, skillfully, an aria from ''The Creation''.{{efn|1="Mit Würd' und Hoheit angetan", the aria narrating the creation of humankind; {{harvtxt|Griesinger|1810|p=51}}. According to the less-reliable Dies, the date was 25 May, the officer's name was Sulimi, and he sang an aria from ''The Seasons'' ({{harvnb|Dies|1810|loc=in the English translation from {{harvnb|Gotwals|1963|p=193}}}}).}}

On 26 May Haydn played his "Emperor's Hymn" with unusual gusto three times; the same evening he collapsed and was taken to what proved to be his deathbed.{{r|Griesinger1810_50}} He died peacefully in his own home at 12:40&nbsp;a.m. on 31 May 1809, aged 77.{{r|Jones2009b_142}} On 15 June, a memorial service was held in the [[Schottenkirche, Vienna|Schottenkirche]] at which Mozart's [[Requiem (Mozart)|Requiem]] was performed. Haydn's remains were interred in the local [[Haydnpark|Hundsturm cemetery]] until 1820 when they were moved to Eisenstadt by Prince Nikolaus. His head took a different journey; [[Haydn's head|it was stolen]] by [[phrenology|phrenologists]] shortly after burial, and the skull was reunited with the other remains only in 1954, now interred in a tomb in the north tower of the [[Bergkirche (Eisenstadt)|Bergkirche]].