Music is a never ending series of song.  Music stays with you forever.  Franz Joseph Haydn first saw light in Roharu, Austria in 1732.  He was the son of a wheelwright who played harp and sang in his spare time.  Joseph was known to have a wonderful singing voice. He was sent to Hamburg for school where he learned how to play the clavier, and the violin.  George Reutal, a choirmaster at St. Stephens Cathedral in Vienna, noticed his great singing. There he learned many more musical elements and a general education.
    When his voice changed in 1749 he was dismissed. In 1760 he married Maria Ann Keller. The marriage was an unhappy one.  His first great symphonies were written in about 1762 they were: Symphonies No. 6,7, and 8.  By the 1770's Haydn had become a known figure in the musical world.  He visited royalty and other high-class people.
    In 1781 Haydn met Mozart and called him "the greatest composer known to me either in person or reputation." In London, he performed concerts for the Prince of Wales.  He also received an honors doctorate from Oxford.  In 1792 he gave Beethoven composition lessons.  Because of their differences of personality they did not get along. Haydn said later that Beethoven was very talented.  His health deteriorated and died in 1809.
    Haydn during his whole life and after life has been under the shadow of younger composers in that period of time. His music will be heard forever just as the record of music takes another turn.
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