The Eighth Hungarian Tribe, 1983 (10. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1983-02-01 / 2. szám
February, 1983 THE EIGHTH HUNGARIAN TRIBE Page 5 JOSEPH HAYDN Hamburg lies along) the Danube about 12 milea north of Rohrau, the village where Haydn was bom. Tétény today is called Tadten and is in Austria, just a stones throw from the Hungarian border. Haydn’s father was bom in Hainburg, 1699, died in Rohrau, 1763, was married to Anna Marie Koller, from Rohrau, where he settled down and had 12 children of which Joseph was the second. There was music in the household constantly, since his father sang a lot, and often accompanied himself on the harp. At the age of six Joseph was sent to school in Hainburg, where a relative was the school principal. He remained here for two years, learning among other things, to read music and to play both the violin and piano. Some of his biographies mention in addition — the drums, as well as several wind and string instruments. When the new choral master from the famous St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna was visiting in Hamburg, he heard Joseph’s fine voice and was immediately enrolled into the boys choir; he was eight years old at the time. He moved to Vienna and lived there the next nineteen years Hungarian Varieties HAYDN IN HUNGARY “If I want to hear a good opera, I have to go to Esterháza”, exclaimed Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary, after seeing the comic opera “L infidelta delosa” in 1733, written by Franz Joseph Haydn, the noted composer. It is noteworthy how greatly the arts in general flourished in Hungary throughout the centuries. An example of this is the Esterházy family, especiaRy in relation to the music composer — Franz Joseph Haydn,who was born almost 251 years ago, in the village of Rohrau, located along the Lajta (Leitha) River located on the border of Austria and Hungary, on March 31, 1732 (some sources say April 1). According to the Zenei Lexikon (Music Lexicon) printed in Budapest,, 1965, the region where Haydn was born was a complex mixture of Austrian, Hungarian and Croation people, since it was located on the Au8trian-Hungarian border within the former Habsburg Monarchy. His father was a poor wheelwright, who greatly loved music. The lifestyle of the Haydn family definitely belonged to that which is considered Austrian: half agricultural, half craftsman. I found it interesting that Haydn never used the name Franz, only the Joseph and in the Italian form: Giueseppe. His family was often given as Haiden, Hayden and Heyden. The proposition of the family being of Hungarian background has cropped up often and is considered an antiquated conception, even though the family’s oldest known ancestor, Káspár Haydn, who died in 1687, moved to Hainburg from Tétény in Moson County, Hungary. Village of Rohrau where Haydn was bom.
