Joseph Haydn: piano pieces, easiest first
Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) was born in a village in Austria and grew up singing in the choir of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. For nearly thirty years he served the Esterházy princes as their music director, writing for their orchestra, their opera house and their family. He was the great shaper of the Classical style: often called the father of the symphony and of the string quartet, he wrote over a hundred symphonies and dozens of keyboard sonatas. Mozart was his friend; the young Beethoven was, for a while, his pupil.
His keyboard music is witty, clear and full of surprises: sudden pauses, unexpected turns of harmony, jokes you can hear.
Haydn in Octotune
- The Sonata in G major, Hob. XVI:27, all three movements: the Allegro con brio, the Menuetto with its trio in G minor, and the Presto.
- The Menuetto from the Sonata in E-flat, Hob. XVI:28, with a trio in E-flat minor.
"Hob." is the number in Anthony van Hoboken's catalog of Haydn's works. They are listed below, easiest first.