H aydn, J ohann M ichael (1737–1806)

Abstract

Abstract Johann Michael Haydn was born in Rohrau, Lower Austria, and died in Salzburg. Probably no 18th century composer contributed more consistently to sacred music than Michael Haydn. Like his famous elder brother Franz Joseph, Michael received his musical training as a choirboy in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna (1745–c.1757), where he sang and heard works by the leading composers of the time. In 1763 he became Hofmusicus und Concertmeister to the Prince‐Archbishop Sigismund Graf Schratten‐bach in Salzburg, where he remained until his death. He succeeded Anton Adlgasser as organist in the Dreifaltigkeitskirche (1777) and Mozart as court and cathedral organist (1782). From the beginning, Haydn was renowned for his church music. A writer in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung (November 1801) noted: “on the basis of his sacred music, and precisely in the pure church style, [Haydn] certainly has very few among his contemporaries who could claim honorably to be his rivals.”