Franz Joseph Haydn

Franz Joseph Haydn was an Austrian composer of the Classical period, born at Rohrau in 1732. As a boy he sang in the choir of St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, and after years of freelance work he entered the service of the Esterházy family. His long career produced symphonies, string quartets, keyboard music, Masses, and major vocal works, and he became one of the most influential composers of the eighteenth century.

The melody commonly used for “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken” was not written for John Newton’s hymn. In 1797 Haydn composed the music for the Austrian imperial hymn “Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser,” with words by Lorenz Leopold Haschka. The melody subsequently circulated as the hymn tune AUSTRIA or AUSTRIAN HYMN and was paired with Newton’s 8.7.8.7 D text in later hymnals. Haydn therefore belongs in this record as the source composer of the familiar tune, not as a collaborator with Newton.

Haydn remained closely connected with Roman Catholic worship and sacred music throughout his life. Among his later large-scale works are the oratorios The Creation and The Seasons. He died in Vienna in 1809.