01 - Life of Haydn by Ludwig Nohl

Dive into the captivating life story of Joseph Haydn, as told by German music scholar, Ludwig Nohl. From his humble beginnings to his rise to international acclaim, Nohl paints a vivid picture of Haydns journey, complete with intriguing insights and humorous anecdotes. Explore the complexities of Haydns musical compositions, and discover how his work was both influenced by, and influential to, his contemporaries, including his close relationship with Mozart. Known affectionately as Papa Haydn, he is hailed as the Father of the symphony and the string quartet. (Summary by mkirkpat)

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Section one of Life of Heiden. This is LibriVox recording.
All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Life
of Heiden by Ludwignol, translated by George p. Upton. Introduction

(00:21):
The Abridged Life of Heiden by Doctor Knowl, prepared originally
as a contribution to a series of biographies, which is
issued in popular form in Germany, is so simple in
its narrative that it would hardly need an introduction or
its subject matter. Confined to the record of Heiden's life
with its many musical triumphs, or to the portraiture of

(00:44):
this genial, childlike and lovable master, the trials and troubles
of his youth, their intensification in his married life, his
marvelous musical progress, his seclusion at Eisenstadt, his visits to London,
and his introduction to its gay world in his old age,
followed by such wonderful musical triumphs, make a story of

(01:06):
extraordinary personal interest, which the author has heightened with numerous
anecdotes illustrating his rare sweetness and geniality. There are many discursions, however,
in the work in which doctor Knowle analyzes the component
parts of Haydn's musical creations and traces the effect of
his predecessors as well as of his contemporaries, upon his

(01:29):
development as an artist. To understand these, it must be
remembered that the author deals with music from a philosophical standpoint,
choosing Schopenhauer for his authority, the philosopher whom Wagner admires
so much, and who makes the will the basis of
all phenomena applied in a musical sense. Therefore, music is

(01:52):
not a matter of sweet sounds, whether melody or harmony,
nor is its principal office the creation of pleasure by
these sounds. But it is the chief agent of the
will in giving expression to its impulses. What this theory
is has been stated by Rickard Bogner himself in his
essay on Beethoven in the following words. The mere element

(02:15):
of music as an idea of the world is not
beheld by us, but felt instead in the depths of consciousness.
And we understand that idea to be an immediate revelation
of the unity of the will, which proceeding from the
unity of human nature. Incontrovertibly exhibits itself to our consciousness

(02:36):
as unity with universal nature, also which indeed we likewise
perceive through sound. The definition will afford a clue to
some of the author's statements. It may help to make
clearer some of his musical analyzes. The rest of the
work may safely be left to the reader. It is
the record of the life not only of a great musician,

(02:57):
but of a lovable man, who is known to this
day among his own people, though almost a century has
elapsed since his death, by the endearing appellation of Papa
g Pu end of Section one.