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University of California Press

About the Book

This definitive study of the life and works of Joseph Haydn represents half a century of research. As a curator of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, Dr. Geiringer was in charge of one of the world's leading Hayden collections. His scholarly investigations took him to various monasteries, to libraries in Eisenstadt, Prague, Berlin, Paris, London, and Washington, D.C., and, as a guest of the Hungarian government, to the previously almost inaccessible archives of the Princes of Esterhazy in Budapest.
 
In the past decade, Haydn studies have progressed enormously. A thematic catalog is now available, and a substantial part of Haydn's vast creative output is accessible in critically revised editions. The new edition of Hayden: A Creatie Life in Music has been substantially rewritten to incorporate the results of recent research and to remove the tarnish that had assimilated on the picture of Haydn in the earlier years.

About the Author

Karl Geiringer (1899 - 1989) was Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of many books, including Brahms: His Life and Work, Johann Sebastian Bach: The Culmination of an Era, and The Bach Family: Seven Generations of Creative Genius.
 
Irene Geiringer (1899 - 1983) received her Ph.D. from the University of Vienna, where she studied philosophy and German literature. Mrs. Geiringer assisted her husband in his research and collaborated on all of his books, concentrating in particular on the biographical sections.
 

Table of Contents

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
PREFACE

PART ONE LIFE
INTRODUCTION  The Haydns and the Kollers
CHAPTER ONE   Rohrau and Hainburg 1732-1740
CHAPTER TWO   At St. Stephen's 1740-1749
CHAPTER THREE "Making Something Out of Nothing" 1750-1761
CHAPTER FOUR  The Honorable Officer of a Princely Court 1761-1766
CHAPTER FIVE  At Eszterhdza 1766-1779
CHAPTER SIX   Love and Friendship 1780-1790
CHAPTER SEVEN Sweet Liberty 1790-1792
CHAPTER EIGHT Vienna or London? 1792-1795
CHAPTER NINE  On a New Path 1795-1801
CHAPTER TEN   Retiring from Life 1801-1809
CHAPTER ELEVEN An Incongruous Postlude

PART TWO WORKS
INTRODUCTION    The Sources
CHAPTER TWELVE  Youth, The First Period: 1750-1760
CHAPTER THIRTEEN A Phase of Transition, The Second Period: 1761-1770
CHAPTER FOURTEEN A Romantic Crisis, The Third Period: 1771-1780
CHAPTER FIFTEEN  Maturity, The Fourth Period: 1781-1790
CHAPTER SIXTEEN  Consummate Mastery, The Fifth Period: 1791-1803

Conclusion
Bibliography
Index of Persons
Index of Compositions