Johann Michael Haydn (1737-1806) - Jubiläumsmesse (1782)

Autor: Johann Michael Haydn (1737-1806) Obra: Missa Sancti Ruperti “Jubiläumsmesse“ (1782) Intèrprets: Domchor & Dombеrg Kammеrorchester; WoIfgang KiеchIе (conductor) Pintura: Vicente López y Portaña (1772-1850) - Boceto para la Alegoría de la Institución de la Orden de Carlos III --- Johann Michael Haydn (Rohrau, 14 September 1737 - Salzburg, 10 August 1806) Austrian composer and organist. The second son of a wheelwright, he displayed a talent for music at an early age and was sent, like his brother Joseph Haydn, to Vienna to sing as a chorister at St. Stephen’s Cathedral under Georg von Reutter Jr. It was said that his voice surpassed that of his brother, and although he was dismissed from the choir when his voice broke in 1753, he continued to study at the Jesuit Church, where he shared organist duties with Johann Georg Albrechtsberger. It was here that he began composing sacred music, eventually attaining a reputation throughout Lower Austria for his music at local churches and monasteries. Around 1757 he was approached by Archbishop Adam Patachich for the position as Kapellmeister in Großwardein (now Oradea, Romania). There the musical establishment was meager, and around 1762 he appears to have returned to Vienna to compose for public concerts. The same year he was hired by Prince-Archbishop Sigismund von Schrattenbach of Salzburg as court composer and concertmaster. By 1782 he had become organist at the Salzburg cathedral, a position he retained his entire life. During this period he was a crucial participant in the attempts to reform Catholic church music under Schrattenbach’s successor, Hieronymus Colloredo, eventually making major contributions to the second edition of the Salzburg Hymnal in 1790 and Anton Diabelli’s compendium, Ecclesiasticon, of 1792. In 1798 he traveled to Vienna to visit his brother and again in 1801 to write music for the Holy Roman court. Haydn’s reputation during his lifetime was as one of the best—if not the best—composers of sacred music of the period, whose gift for counterpoint and harmony could span the gulf between the simple needs of the Josephian reform movement to the pomp and splendor required for cathedrals and monastic churches. His music was a fixture in all of the main Salzburg churches, from the Dom to St. Peter’s Abbey (in whose environs he lived). Indeed, figures such as his own brother and Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann considered his music superior to that of the former. His attention to good contrasting and often lyrical themes and formal structures can be found in his instrumental music, particularly the serenades and symphonies, of which he was a major composer. His students include Sigismund von Neukomm and Carl Maria von Weber. His compositions include 44 symphonies, 12 concertos, 21 serenades, 19 string quartets, six quintets, 10 trio sonatas, 19 keyboard compositions, a number of other chamber works for various combinations (trios, duos, solo sonatas, etc.), four operas, three ballets, 47 Masses, 130 graduals, 65 canticles, 65 offertories, 47 antiphons, 16 hymns, five sacred cantatas, seven oratorios, seven motets, 19 Psalms, 65 canons, 97 part songs, 46 Lieder, 14 secular cantatas, eight concert arias, and around 40 other works. His music has been cataloged several times, with the sacred works known by K (or Klafsky) numbers and the instrumental by P (or Perger) numbers. These have been supplanted by MH numbers in the recent chronological catalog by Sherman and Donely.