Franz Joseph Haydn: Devout Catholic

Franz Joseph Haydn is perhaps one of the most unjustly maligned composers of all time, despite having been highly celebrated among his contemporaries. In the eyes of many a modern classical music fan, a Haydn symphony signifies frivolous, formulaic tedium, while the mere mention of his name in a discussion of great composers elicits an eye roll and a patronizing explanation that Haydn is really only great in his historical context.

To be fair to his critics, it should come as no surprise that much of his music is subpar given his prolific output. After all, how could one expect consistently excellent music from a man who composed 108 symphonies, 80 string quartets, 52 piano sonatas, and so on and so forth (he even composed 32 pieces for musical clock)? 

Yet it would be foolish to allow Haydn’s extraordinary prolificacy to shade his brilliance. Not only was he great in his historical context—after all, he is known as the father of the symphony for his mastery of that particular form of composition—and not only did he influence greater composers than himself, such as Mozart and Beethoven (the latter of whom he even taught), but he also composed a number of pieces of the highest quality which ought to be considered among the canons of their respective genres, all the while remaining a devout Catholic both in his personal life and through his compositions themselves.

Haydn led a life to which many of us can only aspire. A devout Catholic, he believed that God granted him the talent with which he composed, as evidenced by his practice of praying the rosary when he experienced difficulties composing (it should be noted that this practice perpetually proved potent). Not only is this an admirable display of faith, but it also demonstrates Haydn’s genuine humility concerning his work. Despite being one of the most celebrated composers of his time, he seemed to truly feel that it was God who was producing music through him.

As further evidence of this, Haydn commonly inscribed the phrase In nomine Domini (In the name of the Lord) atop manuscripts of his compositions, ending the manuscripts with the phrase Laus Deo (Praise be to God). These inscriptions could be found even on his secular works, indicating Haydn’s genuine belief that his music, the fruit of his labors, in some sense belonged to God. One can indeed hear the man’s God-given talent in such works as the peaceful and delightful “Lark” Quartet, the intense and innovative “Farewell” Symphony, the joyful finale of the “London” Symphony, the simple but effective Trumpet Concerto, and the bewitching, statuesque second movement of Symphony No. 93, just to name a few.

The attentive reader will have noted my distinction between Haydn’s secular compositions and his implicitly existent religious ones. It was necessary to draw such a line because, while Haydn devoted his entire body of work to God, he composed a few pieces in which his faith can not only be seen, but felt. Among these are his oratorio The Creation, an ambitious attempt to put into musical form God’s incomprehensibly magnificent act of creation ex nihilo, and his unutterably breathtaking Nelson Mass, described by his biographer H.C. Robbins Landon as his “greatest single composition.” However, I wish to depart from Robbins Landon on this issue, and consider instead a different work of Haydn’s: The Seven Last Words of Christ.As its name suggests, The Seven Last Words of Christ puts into musical form Christ’s final utterances before his death on the Cross. Composed to be played in between reflections on these utterances during a special Good Friday ceremony, the piece itself reflects on Christ’s words in a fuller way perhaps than language could. It is a composition that deserves to be experienced in the grandeur of a cathedral, but if one does not have the opportunity to hear it in such a venue (I, unfortunately, have not), then performances such as Jordi Savall’s 1990 recording are well worth a listen. If one gives to the piece the attention it deserves, one can hear in it not only a deep theological understanding, but also the work of a composer devoting his gifts and labors in their entirety to his Creator.