Haydn, Joseph

Joseph Haydn – Concerto in A for violin and orchestra, Hob. VIIa: 3 ‘Melk Concerto’

(b. Rohrau , 31 March or 1 April 1732 – d. Vienna, 31 May 1809 in Vienna)

Preface
Around 1765, Joseph Haydn, in his mid-thirties, began his so-called Entwurf-Katalog (“Draft Catalogue”). Contrary to what the title might suggest, it did not contain sketches or planned works, but rather listed his completed compositions, organized by genre. The motivation for such a catalogue was not merely pride in his own work, but rather a highly uncharacteristic event in Haydn’s life: a reprimand. Since 1761, Haydn had served as Kapellmeister (music director) in the employ of Paul Anton Esterházy, who died in 1762. He was succeeded by his brother Nikolaus, who is today the more commonly associated figure when the name Esterházy is mentioned.

Haydn spent the first years of his career under his predecessor Gregor Joseph Werner. Werner, who seemed to be increasingly marginalised by the almost forty years younger Haydn, wrote a letter to the prince shortly before his death in 1766 in which he accused his successor of a series of negligence in the performance of his official duties. The Prince issued the reprimand that Werner had probably intended and recommended to the Kapellmeister Haydn in a separate addendum that he should “devote himself more than before to compositions, and especially to pieces that can be played on the gamba”. The name “gamba” refers to the string instrument that the prince himself played, the baryton, which is no longer in use today and for which Haydn would write a considerable number of works over the next few years. In the draft catalogue, the reprimanded composer begins to document his creative work. …

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