Experience the musical riches of Franz Joseph Haydn, an artist so technically superb that he has come to exemplify the Classical style. In Great Masters: Haydn-His Life and Music, explore the life, works, and legacy of one of the most original and influential composers of all time. Taught by award-winning Professor Robert Greenberg, this course will reveal Haydn's extraordinary achievements not merely as technical feats or displays of pure talent-but as the work of a whole person, a triumph of generosity and the human spirit.
Great Masters: Haydn-His Life and Music
Explore the unqualified musical success of Franz Joseph Haydn with an esteemed music historian.
Rated 5 out of
5
by
the professor from
Haydn A Master! Taught to us by a Master!
I had enjoyed over one thousand The Great Courses lecture sets and not one of them in the music genre. But, I kept seeing reviews with Dr. Robert Greenberg name mentioned as being an exemplar professor. So, I ventured out of the science and psychology field and tried his 30 greatest Orchestral Works and am now addicted to courses. I have watched all 28 of his courses at least twice, and cannot imagine ending my day without viewing one of his lectures. This course off Hadyn is outstanding! It covers his very interesting life and development of a unique fresh style of music composition. Dr. Greenberg is mesmerizing in his delivery as he injects deep knowledge of the composer, a lively teaching style and thoroughly breakdown the musical composition into the elements that make it a classic. I have also read many of the biographies Professor Greenberg recommends: Those by Maynard Solomon are extremely thorough, very lengthy and a pleasure to read: Mozart and Beethoven biographies I could not put down! I highly recommend the course on Haydn, and also every TGCs set by Dr. Robert Greenberg. The Best investment you make on lifelong learning!!
Date published: 2024-11-10
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Andaman from
Good overview
A clear and balanced exposition of the life and works of this seminal composer.
Date published: 2024-03-09
Rated 5 out of
5
by
GianniMario from
Thank you once again, Dr. Greenberg, for your very informative presentation. I will be purchasing many of your recommendations.
Date published: 2023-06-21
Rated 1 out of
5
by
Squirmy Wormy from
Lost me when he compared Haydn to Jello
In the first ten minutes of this film, Professor Greenburg has repeated the notion that Haydn and the classical styles are synonymous. I counted six different times he repeated the exact same concept, over and over. Haydn is the greatest composer of his time. To repeatedly referring to his "perfection" seems a bit much. After hearing the beautiful, uninterrupted recordings of Symphony Number 42 and his string quartet, I decided to switch channels.
Date published: 2023-05-28
Rated 5 out of
5
by
dibble from
Delightful
As always Prof Greenberg provides information and insight is the most entertaining and instructive way.
Date published: 2022-12-05
Rated 4 out of
5
by
The Dean from
Very thorough
Lots of information about Haydn. Would have preferred more stress on the music and less on his personal life.
Date published: 2022-07-30
Rated 4 out of
5
by
Ueli from
Despite having ordered this course more than 3 weeks ago, and paying an unprecedented A$20.00 for handling and postage here within Australia, the item still has not arrived yet....
Otherwise, I love all the many courses I have bought over many years.
Date published: 2022-04-25
Rated 5 out of
5
by
bsncelflt from
Our favorite of the Great Masters!
We knew a bit about Haydn but Professor Greenberg brings his life and music to a whole new level of knowledge for us. We have played his music in community orchestra for years but never delved deeper into his life. GREAT course. We do jigsaw puzzles while listening to the audio lectures. Highly recommend.
Date published: 2022-02-24
Overview
About
Dr. Robert Greenberg is Music Historian-in-Residence with San Francisco Performances. A graduate of Princeton University, Professor Greenberg holds a Ph.D. in Music Composition from the University of California, Berkeley. He has seen his compositions-which include more than 45 works for a wide variety of instrumental and vocal ensembles-performed all over the world, including New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, England, Ireland, Greece, Italy, and the Netherlands.
He has served on the faculties of the University of California, Berkeley; California State University, Hayward; and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and has lectured for some of the most prestigious musical and arts organizations in the United States, including the San Francisco Symphony, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Van Cliburn Foundation, and the Chicago Symphony. For The Great Courses, he has recorded more than 500 lectures on a range of composers and classical music genres.
Professor Greenberg is a Steinway Artist. His many other honors include three Nicola de Lorenzo Composition Prizes and a Koussevitzky commission from the Library of Congress. He has been profiled in various major publications, including The Wall Street Journal; Inc. magazine; and the London Times.
You can find more music content from Robert Greenberg on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RobertGreenbergMusic.
01: Introduction and Early Life
Haydn's name is synonymous with the Classical style. No other single composer did as much to create and standardize the Classical symphony and quartet. This lecture describes his early years at school and as a choirboy at St. Stephen's Cathedral school in Vienna. In 1749, when his voice broke, he was expelled from St. Stephen's to begin a new life in Vienna at the age of 17....
49 min
02: The Lean Years and the Pre-Classical Style
Haydn eked out a living for years before his compositional career took off. He absorbed the musical traditions of his day: the high Baroque, and the new rococo music of the Enlightenment. This lecture discusses influences on Haydn: the Mannheim orchestra, Italian composer Sammartini as well as Viennese composers Reutter, Monn, and Wagenseil. In 1761, he got the opportunity of his life when he was ...
45 min
03: Haydn's Marriage and Esterhaza
Musically, Haydn's development was an unqualified success but marriage to Maria Anna Keller was not. Prince Paul Anton and his successor, Prince Nicholas Esterhazy, were genuine music lovers. Haydn became the court music director with his own orchestra to conduct and write music for. Haydn was "forced to become original."...
45 min
04: Esterhaza Continued
Life at Prince Nicholas's court at Esterhaza was exactly what Haydn wanted: predictable and calm. Ideas of the new Sturm und Drang cultural movement imbued his music with a greater emotional range. Haydn became famous and wealthy, and he developed a close friendship with Mozart. His music became the template by which we measure the Classical style, perfectly balancing head and h...
45 min
05: The Classical String Quartet and the Classical Symphony
Haydn's string quartets and symphonies are models of the Classical style. He forged the notion of the string quartet as four individuals who collaborate to create a whole that is greater than its parts. As the years passed at Esterhaza, Haydn's fame grew throughout Europe and England. When Prince Nicholas Esterhazy died in 1790, he accepted the invitation of an English impresario to ...
46 min
06: London
Haydn went to London at the invitation of Johann Peter Salomon, a violinist and impresario. The symphonies Haydn wrote for his London audiences are among his finest. He returned to Vienna in 1792, but his reception there was mild. Moreover, he had lost his great friend Mozart and was soon to lose his old friend Marianne von Genzinger. It could not have been a worse time when the young Ludwig van B...
43 min
07: Beethoven, London Again, and Breakthrough
Beethoven's composition lessons with Haydn were disastrous. Beethoven was discourteous and even duplicitous toward Haydn, although he would later forgive the young and rebellious Beethoven. At his second visit to London in 1794, he was as enthusiastically received as the first time. His 12 London Symphonies, written during both visits, are the crowning achievements of his symphonic output. After h...
45 min
08: The Creation, The Seasons, and the End
As he grew old, Haydn's health began to fail, but he still kept a strict daily routine. He lived in the Viennese suburbs, continuing to receive a steady stream of medals, awards, and honors. He wrote The Seasons, his last major work, which was another extraordinary success. In March 1808, a performance of The Creation was given to a distinguished audience in honor of Haydn's 76th birthday; he died...
47 min
