Product Description

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 Eszterháza, 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 Eszterháza and London.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #147302 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 340 pages

Review
'The format is inviting … the book puts professionals in touch with some up to date scholarship, while introducing amateur listeners to the musical and cultural worlds Haydn inhabited … It is a genial read, as engaging as its subject, and though not all contributions show the razor-sharp edge of Haydn's thought, the best are as lean and relevant as any of his compositions.' Musical Times

'This is an erudite and well-rounded collection and will be a valuable contribution to the literature on Haydn.' Contemporary Review

'There is plenty in this book to engage and challenge … the serious Haydn lover.' Gramophone

'This is an important book for music libraries, particularly in its laying to rest of some myths which have grown up around the composer …' Reference Reviews

About the Author
Caryl Clark is Associate Professor of Music at the University of Toronto and Visual and Performing Arts at University of Toronto at Scarborough. Her publications about Haydn’s operas appear in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Studies in Music, Current Musicology, The Haydn Yearbook, and Early Music. She is co-editor of three special opera issues of The University of Opera Quarterly: Voices of Opera (1998); Opera and Interdisciplinarity (2003); and Opera and Interdisciplinarity II (2005).