Haydn, M.: Symphonies in C Major / E-Flat Major / B-Flat Major / D Major

Featuring

Hans-Peter Frank
Helsingborgs Symfoniorkester
Michael Haydn

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Composer Biography

Michael Haydn, like his elder brother Joseph Haydn, was a pupil and chorister at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, where he studied music theory from Johann Joseph Fux's famous Gradus ad Parnassum.

Composer Biography

In 1821, a memorial monument was consecrated for Michael Haydn, the composer on this album, in Salzburg's Monastery Church of St. Peter, twenty years before one for Mozart.

Cultural Impact

Two of Mozart's K.V. 104 minuets and all six of K.V. 105 have been identified as works by Michael Haydn since the publication of the New Mozart Edition in 1961.

Composition History

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart helped Michael Haydn by composing two duets for violin and viola when Haydn was too ill to fulfill a commission, and Mozart collegially did not sign them with his own name.

Critical Reception

One of Michael Haydn's symphonies was mistakenly listed in the Köchel catalogue as K.V. 444 and was long performed as an authentic work by Mozart, because Mozart had copied it and added his own introduction.

Composer Biography

Michael Haydn's extensive catalogue of 833 works includes 658 vocal pieces, 404 of which are religious, such as 36 masses and requiems.

Historical Context

At the time of his death, Michael Haydn was better known in Salzburg than Mozart, who had left the city at a relatively early age, and was even considered a greater composer than his more famous elder brother, Joseph Haydn.