Great Masters: Haydn - His Life and Music

By: Robert Greenberg, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Robert Greenberg

Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Almost from the moment it was first set to paper, the music of Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) - technically superb, rich in quality, and widely imitated - has exemplified the Classical style, creating not only the Classical-era symphony but setting the standard, through his own 68 string quartets, against which that form has ever after been judged.

And yet Haydn, despite the influence left by more than 1,000 works, seems to no longer get his due, often thought of as an aged figure surpassed and overshadowed by Beethoven and Mozart, who actually credited Haydn, the only contemporary he admired, and with whom he formed a lasting and artistically fruitful friendship, with teaching him how to write string quartets. Even Beethoven, whose relationship with his compositional teacher was troubled and stormy, would never have been able to write his triumphant Ninth Symphony without the influence of Haydn's crowning achievement, the towering 1798 oratorio, Creation.

Now, in a series of eight vivid lectures, you can learn to understand and appreciate the music of one of the most original and influential composers of all time as you explore his origins, influence, and greatest works.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2000 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2000 The Great Courses

Greenberg is entertaining

This is among the best of these classical music courses. Greenberg is a huge personality, enthusiastic and not for everyone. But he is easier to follow on audio than video, at least for me.

The lectures and music examples have an adequate balance with the lectures illustrating the music examples.

It does bother me that the sound quality of the music in these presentations is generally poor and almost always monophonic. After all, the music is polyphonic.

One of the Best

I’ve listened to dozens of Great Courses and this is now one of my all time favorites. There wasn’t a boring moment in this lecture series! The presentation was clear and dynamic. The content was excellent in showing us Hayden’s life and in giving us enough context of the times to understand it. Highly recommend.

Great.

Great, as all the great music courses by Professor Greenberg.
He delivers and transmits his wisdom and passion.

Entertaining and informative

While I am occasionally annoyed at the rollicking and irreverent style Robert Greenberg employs for his lectures on music and famous composers, I have to give it to him that he knows how to put on a "damn good" show and I absolutely recommend his "shows" to listen to!
It IS hard work to educate as well as entertain, and just like Joseph Haydn himself, Greenberg strives for a great balance and combine these two aspects admirably. Also in praise of him: he offers us extensively well-researched material, supported by memoirs of eye-witnesses, correspondence of family, friends, analysis from contemporary newspapers and critics; quotes from old and modern biographies, results of musical analysis and parts of well-chosen musical pieces. He always gives you a narrower and wider historical and cultural context and manages to transport you into the era of his chosen composer and presents his subject in 3D. All his lectures are accompanied by PDF material outlining and summarising the content.

Last but not least, quite a few of his lectures are/were included in The Great Courses series on Audible to borrow for free, for which I am truly grateful.

I learned about Haydn in school as he has had important ties to Hungary and while I also enjoy his music a lot, I have not given him too much thought altogether. But after listening to these biographic lectures by Greenberg, I stand corrected and remorseful ... and am much more appreciative of and impressed by "Papa Haydn" than I was before. Plus I added some more music to listen to for my "Vienna Classics" channel on Youtube. :)

Haydn's life makes for a truly engrossing tale and Greenberg makes the most of it.

The most interesting points for me were the friendship between Haydn and Mozart (who was half Haydn's age when they met and the two men could not have been more different even had they tried), the far from ideal relationship between Haydn and the young Beethoven and the whole musical journey Haydn completed.
He had a long way to travel from starting off as a choirboy in Vienna's St Stephen Cathedral, struggling as a freelancer musician and composer, becoming a music "officer" of the Esterhazy family while slowly establishing himself as an acknowledged composer, to finally reaching celebrity status in London while being made the doctor of music in Oxford, meeting the Prince of Wales (later George IV) and George III and finally being revered by all in Vienna at the end of his life.

The body of music he created is truly staggering, the process of creating his own music among the musical impressions he received (Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach, Mozart, J.S. Bach, Handel) is fascinating.

A much recommended biography/listen.

Haydn. excellent historical narrative.

Haydn. excellent historical narrative. well read, well written. highly interesting. Greenberg has great musical knowledge.

The Venus de Milo, a ’58 Chevy, the music of Haydn

Altered slightly to fit the character count for headlines, that quote from Professor Greenberg neatly sums up what’s to love about these lectures. Concluding his explanation of why “Classical” music is called Classical (like the statue and the car, Haydn defined a genre), they exemplify our professor’s unfailing ability to be articulate, funny, and insightful all at once.

Along the way we gain an understanding of the times and culture that shaped Haydn (I’ve never run across a more succinct discussion of the Holy Roman Empire), his fundamentally cheerful and workmanlike attitude (he was a genius, but not arrogant or tortured) and the predecessors and contemporaries, patrons and artistic movements that helped shape his music. I’ve always loved Haydn’s stuff. Now I understand it, and him, a little better.

Fantastic! I'm a Haydn convert!

Professor Greenberg is animated and erudite. I love both his serious side and his irrepressible humorous side. I have many of his courses in my Audible library, and whenever I finish one, I'm on to the next. Looking forward to queuing up the next one right now!

So Good!

Haydn's story of kindness & generosity is a wonderful counterexample to the celebrated egotistical temperamental artist. As an artist myself & practicing Buddhist, I found inspiration & encouragement from Haydn's hard work, humility, joyful attitude, & spiritual devotion.

Great listen

Informative, amusing, great listen ! Entertaining biography by the very knowledgeable Professor Robert Greenberg, with a happy ending as well!

Hayden ,Great Master

this was a excellent podcast had it not been for the narrator which i feel. he did not do the story justice he was too comical an his tone was silly stupid very interesting podcast but needs a different person to tell story. truly disappointed.