- by Art Sulit, www.MuSeeks.com/ArthurSulit
Music Timeline Author
Joseph Haydn was the elder peer of Mozart. He composed perhaps more symphonies than any other famous composer, and his style is often difficult to tell between that of early Mozart. There was a recent Artificial Intelligence computer quiz offered at Stanford University, which plays back random themes from either Haydn or Mozart. It asks you to pick who is the composer, and pit your wits against that of the computer. The computer program has an innovative theme-detection algorithm able to predict, with 60% accuracy, who the composer was. This slightly out-performed humans, who averaged around 51%.
Haydn's chief patron was the Esterhazy family, during an age when musicians were (and still are) regarded as low-class servants, and had to enter through the back door. On the upside, he was able to compose as he pleased, and without such patronage for his living expenses, we'd not have his over 120 Symphonies, which are widely hailed as having mostly a "Joyful" sentiment.
Unfortunately, Haydn was reportedly a member of the FreeMason cult, which is well-connected among upper-crust social circles, and historically proven to be an enemy of Christianity, and of the Catholic Church in general. It is probably true, that Haydn influenced Mozart to also join the same cult, although Mozart later on was torn between loyalty to his Church and loyalty to the Brotherly Order of Freemasons. Mozart's last opera, 'The Magic Flute', exposed both the ongoing ideological and spiritual war between Catholic Church and Freemasonry in public, with the Lady of the Night representing the Catholic Church, and members Papageno and the 3 (scribes?) representing Freemasonry. Since Freemasonry was then a very secretive society, it is possible that they had Mozart poisoned for this act of exposure.
While it is true that Haydn greatly lamented Mozart's premature death (at the age of 36), it is perhaps a worthy subject of exploration as to whether or not he realized his errors in joining Freemasonry were to be expunged. That topic, I leave for another contributor. Meanwhile, enjoy his music!