Joseph Haydn was born in 1732 in the small Austrian town of Rohrau, north of the Neusiedlersee. At the age of eight this son of a wheelwright traveled to Vienna to enter the famous St. Stephen’s Choir School. This trip was the first step in a journey that would fashion Haydn into the most famous composer of his day, and the father of much of the music still enjoyed today.

Haydn’s success as a composer and performer in and around Vienna in the 1750s gave rise to his appointment as a court composer to the influential Hungarian family Esterházy in 1761. He was responsible for providing music for all types of occasions at the Esterházy palaces in Vienna, Eisenstadt, and at Eszterháza what is now Fertőd in Hungary. The growing publishing industry in Vienna, Paris, and London contributed to the rapid promulgation of his fame. By the 1780s Haydn’s music could be heard in most major cities in Europe and North America, including Paris, London, Philadelphia and Boston. The popular appeal of his orchestral music in London prompted the composer to take two celebrated trips there in the 1790s. As the 18th century drew to a close, Joseph Haydn had become the most famous and influential composer in Europe.

Haydn’s music reflects the tastes of his patrons, but also of the emerging middle-class audiences of the 18th century. His works exemplify the Enlightenment artistic ideal of balancing structural clarity with emotional content. They would become models for 19th century composers, beginning with Beethoven.

Below is a chronological outline of some of the important events and people in Haydn’s life, as well as a partial list of compositions. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list, but rather a referential overview.