People actually like Haydn

[Coopmv]

Yeah,  why not?  I love the Kaiser Quartett ...

[Coopmv]

Yeah,  why not?  I love the Kaiser Quartett - which is also the basis of the German national anthem ...

[eyeresist]

Haydn's popularity is a result of the Recession Effect: people need background music for dining at home.

[Valentino]

I have a correction method for that sort of misconception: The Seasons, Autumn, hunting sequence; Jacobs.

[val]

eyeresist
Haydn's popularity is a result of the Recession Effect: people need background music for dining at home.

Background music? The Quartet opus 77/1, the Symphony 82, the Quartet 54/2?
Well, perhaps they are background music, if you consider in this category Brahms 4th Symphony, Mozart string Quintet K 515 or Schubert's Quartet in G.

One thing is certain: Louis XIV would envy your dinners.

[Bunny]

Why is he popular?

What's not to like about Haydn?  Besides it's an anniversary year for him -- 200th anniversary of his death, so you will find a lot of Haydn offerings around. 

He's a tough one. There's the spark of genius in his music but his mind seemed to have several limitations. His music just isn't as challenging as it should be. I think this is a case of a genius being limited by an average brain. The same could probably be said about Manzoni for instance.

The decline of Western civilization begun with the French revolution but the effects weren't felt until the wars of the 20th century. I guess people won't notice something until it hits them in the back of the head like a brick.

Haydn was a master of musical prose and sophisticated wit.  (I think of him as an 18th century equivalent of Cole Porter.)  It's a slightly different esthetic than Bach or Mozart who were more poetic, or Beethoven who was so very pictoral.   Prose, however, can be extremely deep and probing and the insights gathered from reading prose can be as important as those gathered from reading poetry: Only consider the works of George Orwell or Henry James, or for that matter any of the great comedic writers such as Thornton Wilder. 

Not everyone is Shakespeare, but not everyone needs to be Shakespeare either.

[Opus106]

What's not to like about Haydn?  Besides it's an anniversary year for him -- 200th anniversary of his death, so you will find a lot of Haydn offerings around.  

Okay, just to set the record straight, I was trying to imitate and ask questions a la -abe-, and I realise my attempt has failed miserably.

[Bunny]

Okay, just to set the record straight, I was trying to imitate and ask questions a la -abe-, and I realise my attempt has failed miserably.

The question wasn't obnoxious enough!  Besides, it's nicer having a civilized discourse rather than a flame match.

[Gabriel]

Not everyone is Shakespeare, but not everyone needs to be Shakespeare either.

Curiously, Haydn was described during his lifetime as "the Shakespeare of music".

And I'm convinced that this analogy is not an exaggeration. (There is certainly a place for Bach, Mozart, etc., just as there is for Dante, Cervantes, Dostoievsky, etc.).

[FideLeo]

Curiously, Haydn was described during his lifetime as "the Shakespeare of music".

http://www.independent.ie/unsorted/features/haydn-the-shakespeare-of-music-52565.html

It would be nice to have some actual period sources saying this.

[Josquin des Prez]

People knew Shakespeare back then? I though he only became popular when 19th century professors invented the now discredited notion of "genius".

[Antoine Marchand]

People knew Shakespeare back then? I though he only became popular when 19th century professors invented the now discredited notion of "genius".

He's a tough one. There's the spark of genius in his music but his mind seemed to have several limitations. His music just isn't as challenging as it should be. I think this is a case of a genius being limited by an average brain. The same could probably be said about Manzoni for instance.

[Gurn Blanston]

People knew Shakespeare back then? I though he only became popular when 19th century professors invented the now discredited notion of "genius".

Shakespeare was exceedingly popular in Germany after the middle of the 18th century. His works had been translated into German (poorly, but still...) and were performed en masse all over the HRE and Feudal States. One of the main reasons that Haydn was compared to Shakespeare was because of his jocularity and habit of surprising people with his music. He was breaking the mold, so to speak, which is exactly what Shakespeare did with drama 150 years earlier. Neither of them followed the Classical (in the ancient sense) rules of style. Shakespeare, BTW, was NOT popular with exactly the same class of people that Haydn was not popular with; i.e. - artistic conservatives. But the people that we retrospectively call the "Stürm und Drang'ers" loved both.



----------------
Listening to:
Iris Vermillion / Peter Stamm - Bia 502 Op 75 Lieder (6) for Voice & Piano - #1 "Kennst du das Land"

[Josquin des Prez]

Your sarcasm detector must be faulty.

[Antoine Marchand]

Your sarcasm detector must be faulty.

A sarcastic remark!

Now it's totally clear!