This Companion provides an accessible and up-to-date introduction to the musical work and cultural world of Joseph Haydn. Readers will gain an understanding of the changing social, cultural, and political spheres in which Haydn studied, worked, and nurtured his creative talent. Distinguished contributors provide chapters on Haydn and his contemporaries, his working environments in Eisenstadt and Eszterhßza, and humor and exoticism in Haydn's oeuvre. Chapters on the reception of his music explore keyboard performance practices, Haydn's posthumous reputation, sound recordings and images of his symphonies. The book also surveys the major genres in which Haydn wrote, including symphonies, string quartets, keyboard sonatas and trios, sacred music, miscellaneous vocal genres, and operas composed for Eszterhßza and London.

"There is plenty in this book to engage and challenge..." - Gramophone“Coverage of genres is balanced, with chapters on symphonies and concertos, quartets, keyboard sonatas and trios, oratories, songs, and operas. The book concludes with endnotes and extensive bibliographic references.”--Choice

An introduction to the musical work and cultural world of Joseph Haydn.

Part I. Haydn in Context: 1. Haydn’s career and the idea of the multiple audience Elaine Sisman; 2. A letter from the wilderness: revisiting Haydn's Esterházy environments Rebecca Green; 3. Haydn's aesthetics James Webster; 4. First among equals: Haydn and his fellow composers David Wyn Jones; Part II. Stylistic and Interpretive Contexts: 5. Haydn and humour Scott Burnham; 6. Haydn’s exoticisms: ‘difference’and the Enlightenment Matthew Head; Part III. Genres: 7. Orchestral music: symphonies and concertos David Schroeder; 8. The quartets Mary Hunter; 9. Intimate expression for a widening public: the keyboard sonatas and trios Michelle Fillion; 10. Sacred music James Dack; 11. The sublime and the pastoral in The Creation and The Seasons James Webster; 12. Miscellaneous vocal genres Katalin Komlós; 13. Haydn in the theatre: the operas Caryl Clark; Part IV. Performance and Reception: 14. A composer, his dedicatee, her instrument, and I: thoughts on performing Haydn’s keyboard sonatas Tom Beghin; 15. Haydn and posterity: the long nineteenth century James Garrett; 16. The kitten and the tiger: Tovey’s Haydn Lawrence Kramer; 17. Recorded performances: a symphonic study Melanie Lowe.