It is the anniversary of the day Franz Joseph Haydn made his first appearance in the big wide world. March 31st. 1732
~~~~ HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA HAYDN ~~~~
He live through of course enormous changes.
He grew up when the ancien regime must have look as though it would last forever.
Yet by the time he died in 1809, Europe had been plunged into revolution and Europe wide conflict. By the time of his death, he must have thought the world had gone completely insane, compared with the world he grew up in. It must have seemed to him like the madness of Napoleons wars would go on forever and one can only guess at the sadness and despair this induced in this great composer. I think it was rather different with Beethoven, because he grew up in a world that was already changing, and as we know, like Wordsworth, he initially welcomed the revolution, but this most certainly could not be said for Haydn!
who yearned for the old certainties and stability of society.
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