Editing Michael Haydn (section)

==Life==
Michael Haydn was born in 1737 in the Austrian village of [[Rohrau, Austria|Rohrau]], near the Hungarian border. His father was [[Mathias Haydn]], a [[wheelwright]] who also served as "Marktrichter", an office akin to village mayor. Haydn's mother Maria, {{née}} Koller, had previously worked as a cook in the palace of [[Friedrich August von Harrach-Rohrau|Count Harrach]], the presiding aristocrat of Rohrau. Mathias was an enthusiastic folk musician, who during the [[journeyman]] period of his career had taught himself to play the harp, and he also made sure that his children learned to sing.

Michael went to Vienna at the age of eight, his early professional career path being paved by his older brother [[Joseph Haydn|Joseph]], whose skillful singing had landed him a position as a [[boy soprano]] in the [[St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna]] choir under the direction of [[Johann Georg Reutter|Georg Reutter]], as were [[Johann Georg Albrechtsberger]] and [[Franz Joseph Aumann]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Anderson|first=Robert|page=556|date=August 1982|volume=123|title=Mostly unknown|number=1674|journal=[[The Musical Times]]|doi=10.2307/962794|jstor=962794}}</ref> both composers with whom Haydn later traded manuscripts. By Michael's 12th birthday he was earning extra money as a substitute organist at the cathedral and had, reportedly, performed preludes and fantasies of his own composition. The early 19th-century author [[Albert Christoph Dies]], based on Joseph's late-life reminiscences, wrote:{{sfn|Dies|1810|p=86}}
<blockquote>
Reutter was so captivated by [Joseph]'s talents that he declared to his father that even if he had twelve sons he would take care of them all. The father saw himself freed of a great burden by this offer, consented to it, and some five years after dedicated Joseph's brothers Michael, and still later [[Johann Evangelist Haydn|Johann]] to the musical muse. Both were taken on as choirboys, and, to Joseph's unending joy, both brothers were turned over to him to be trained.</blockquote>

The same source indicates that Michael was a brighter student than Joseph, and that (particularly when Joseph had grown enough to have trouble keeping his soprano voice) it was Michael's singing that was the more admired.

About 1753, he left the choir school because of the breaking of his voice. In 1760 Michael was appointed [[Kapellmeister]] at Großwardein (today [[Oradea]]) and later, in 1762, was appointed concertmaster<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Michael-Haydn |title = Michael Haydn &#124; German musician| date=6 August 2023 }}</ref> at [[Salzburg]], where he remained for 44 years, during which he wrote over 360 compositions comprising both church and instrumental music. From their mutual sojourn in Salzburg, Haydn was acquainted with [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], who held his work in high esteem.

On 17 August 1768 he married singer Maria Magdalena Lipp (1745–1827); their only child, a daughter (Aloisia Josepha, born 31 January 1770) died just short of her first birthday, on 27 January 1771. Although Lipp was disliked by the women in Mozart's family for some reason,{{sfn|Kenyon|p=142}} she still created the role of ''{{Lang|de|Barmherzigkeit}}'' ([Divine] Mercy) in Mozart's first musical play, ''[[Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots]]'' ("The Obligation of the First Commandment"), 1767, and later the role of Tamiri in his short pastoral opera ''[[Il re pastore]]'' of 1775.

[[Leopold Mozart]],<ref>{{harvnb|Kenyon|p=154}}: "Michael Haydn indeed, according to Leopold, was taking to drink. He was sometimes under its influence at the organ during High Mass ..."</ref> along with Wolfgang,<ref>Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to Leopold Mozart, July 9, 1778, in ''Mozart Letters and Documents – Online Edition'', Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg, accessed February 18, 2025, https://dme.mozarteum.at/DME/briefe/letter.php?mid=1026&cat=. Wolfgang wrote to his father: "I had to laugh heartily over Haydn’s drunkenness—if I had been there, I would certainly have whispered Adlgasser quietly into his ear—it is indeed scandalous when such a skilful man, through his own fault, renders himself inert in doing his duty—in a function which is to the glory of God—when the Archbishop and the whole court is present—the whole church full of people—that is disgusting—this is also one of the main things that makes me hate Salzburg—the coarse, roguish and dissolute court musicians—indeed, an honest man who has learned manners cannot live with them;—he must, in fact, far from being able to befriend them, be ashamed of them!"

</ref> criticized Haydn's drinking habits.

In Salzburg Haydn taught young [[Carl Maria von Weber]]<ref>{{harvnb|Kenyon|p=197}}: "In January 1798, Michael Haydn, who had succeeded to one of Leopold Mozart's minor posts, that of teacher to the Cathedral choir boys, found among the new entry a likeable and promising lad of 11 named Carl Maria von Weber."</ref> and [[Anton Diabelli]].

[[File:DSC01378 Crypt 54 (Petersfriedhof Salzburg) Kommunegruft.jpg|thumb|Crypt 54 ([[Petersfriedhof|St Peter's Cemetery]], Salzburg): communal vault in which [[Maria Anna Mozart]] and Michael Haydn are buried]]
Michael remained close to Joseph all of his life. Joseph regarded his brother's music highly, to the point of feeling Michael's religious works were superior to his own (possibly for their devotional intimacy, as opposed to Joseph's monumental and majestic, more secularized, symphonic style).{{sfn|Rosen|1997|p=366}} In 1802, when Michael was "offered lucrative and honourable positions" by "both [[House of Esterházy#Prince Nikolaus II .5BMikl.C3.B3s Ferdin.C3.A1nd.5D .281765.E2.80.931833.29|Esterházy]] and the [[Louis of Etruria|Grand Duke of Tuscany]]," he wrote to Joseph in Vienna asking for advice on whether or not to accept either of them, but in the end chose to stay in Salzburg.<ref>[[H. C. Robbins Landon]], ''The Collected Correspondence and London Notebooks of Joseph Haydn'' (Fair Lawn, New Jersey: Essential Books, 1959; 214), draft of a letter to Haydn's brother, Johann Michael, in Salzburg using the German familiar second-person "Du" form (Vienna, 22 January 1803).</ref> Michael and Maria Magdalena Haydn named their daughter Aloisia Josepha not in honor of Michael's brother, but after Josepha Daubrawa von Daubrawaick, who substituted as godmother at the baptism for Countess de Firmian.

He died in Salzburg at the age of 68.