12 Tremendous Composers 12 Composers    

Lesson 7: String Quartet In D Major, Op.64 No.5 'The Lark'

by Franz Joseph Haydn

Performer: Musopen String Quartet

Directions

Study the musical selection for one week.

Over the week:

• Listen to the music daily.
• Read the synopsis.
• Review the vocabulary terms.
• Read about the composer.
• Complete the enrichment activities.
• Study the review questions.

Synopsis

The next tremendous composer for study is the Austrian Franz Joseph Haydn, and the title of his story is 'The Story of the Choir Boy who became a Great Composer' by Thomas Tapper. The first Haydn work is 'String Quartet in D Major, Op.64 No.5 The Lark.' This music includes four movements: 1) Allegro Moderato, 2) Adagio, Cantabile, 3) Menuetto Allegretto, and 4) Finale Vivace. Imagine a little brown lark flying and singing its happy song, perhaps pausing to alight on the ground and hopping about before taking off again. What do you imagine the lark doing during each of the four movements?

Vocabulary

Lark: Any of various small, singing perching birds.
String Quartet: A group of four musicians playing string instruments, usually two violins, a viola and a cello.
Allegro: A tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played in a quick, lively tempo, faster than allegretto but slower than presto.
Moderato: A tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played at a moderate tempo.
Adagio: A tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played rather slowly, leisurely and gracefully.
Cantabile: A tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played in a lyrical manner.
Menuetto: An Italian movement which is part of a longer musical composition such as a suite, sonata, or symphony inspired by characteristics of the traditional minuet dance.
Allegretto: Play rather fast and lively.
Vivace: Play in a very quick and upbeat tempo.

Composer

1. Composer Franz Joseph Haydn was born in Rohrau, a little Austrian village not far from Hainburg. This is Haydn.

2. The River Leitha flows through the town of Rohrau. See the head of the River Leitha, where the Pitten and Scharza rivers merge.

3. Joseph Haydn's parents lived in a very modest little house. The picture of this house is worth studying, and remembering. As you see, it is of one story with a thatched roof. The farm buildings are joined to the house itself. The windows look inviting and pretty. They seem to tell us very plainly that it is warm and cozy within.

4. Today, Joseph Haydn's birthplace has been made into a museum honoring him.

5. It will be easy for you to remember the year in which Joseph Haydn was born, because the United States of America's first President, George Washington, whose picture is here, was born in the same year—1732.

6. Joseph Haydn was born on March 31st of the same year (he used to say that he was born 'in the night' between March 31st and April 1st). This will also be easy to remember, because Joseph Haydn was almost born on April Fools' Day.
7. Washington's father died in the year when he and Joseph Haydn were ten years old. This is a picture of Washington, as a man, bidding his mother goodbye before leaving for a war.

8. Little Joseph Haydn's father and mother were poor, but they loved cleanliness and system. They feared God, worked hard, and loved music. Joseph's father used to sing in a clear tenor voice, accompanying himself on the harp. At home little Joseph was called Sepperl.
9. When Joseph Haydn was old enough, he, too, began to sing. He quite surprised everyone by his sweet voice.
10. In the neighboring town of Hainburg there lived a schoolmaster named Frankh, who used to visit the Haydns and play the violin. Sepperl used to watch him very closely, and one day he, too, began to play the violin while his father and mother were singing. But he had no real violin, of course, so he had to play on a make-believe one of two sticks. But he sang in tune and kept time with his wooden bow.

11. One day the schoolmaster chanced to come up the street while the little boy was playing his make-believe music. Watching him closely, he saw that he was really fond of music. Then Cousin Frankh, as they called him, had a long talk with Sepperl's father and mother. After a while it was agreed that the little boy should go to Hainburg, and there become a pupil of the schoolmaster.
12. They worked hard at the school in those days. Once, when Haydn was an old man, he said: 'I shall be grateful to that man (the schoolmaster) as long as I live, for keeping me so hard at work. But I used to get more floggings than food.'
13. When he was six years old, Sepperl could stand up with great composure and sing masses in the church choir, besides playing a little on the piano and the violin.

Enrichment

Activity 1: Recite the Composition Information

• Recite the name of the composer and the composition.

Activity 2: Study the Music Timeline

Examine the music timeline to answer the following questions.

• What is the year of birth of the lesson composer?
• What is the year of death of the featured composer?
• How old was the composer upon death?
• Which composer (if any) directly precedes the studied composer by date of birth?
• Which composer (if any) directly succeeds the lesson composer by date of birth?
• Which other timeline composers were alive at the same time as the studied composer?

Activity 3: Map the Music

• Joseph Haydn was born in Austria.
• Find Austria on the map of Europe.
• Looking at the map, is Austria flat or mountainous?

Activity 4: Study Facts About Franz Joseph Haydn

• Franz Joseph Haydn was born at Rohrau, in Austria, March 31, 1732.
• He was a few weeks younger than George Washington.
• As a little boy he loved to hear his father and mother sing.
• While they sang, he played on a 'make-believe' violin, of two sticks.
• He left home at the age of six and never lived there again.
• First he became a choir-boy at Hainburg.
• When he was eight years old, he entered St. Stephen's in Vienna as a chorister.
• After he left St. Stephen's he worked hard for many years. Many people whom he met in this time helped him.
• Among his friends of this period were: Metastasio, Porpora, Gluck, Mozart and his father, and Beethoven.
• For a time he was Beethoven's teacher.
• He spent a great part of his life in the Esterhazy family.
• Here he was Vice-Capellmeister and composer to the Prince.
• He was a short, stout man, with kindly gray eyes, and very dark hair.
• He went twice to England to conduct his symphonies.
• Haydn was called the father of the Symphony and of the String Quartette.
• He composed a song which will always be famous. It is called The Emperor's Song.
• He died in 1809, seventy-seven years of age.

Review

Question 1

Where and in what year was Franz Joseph Haydn born?

1 / 4

Answer 1

Joseph Haydn was born at Rohrau, in Austria, March 31, 1732.

1 / 4

Question 2

What famous American was born the same year as Joseph Haydn?

2 / 4

Answer 2

America's first President, George Washington, was born the same year as Joseph Haydn

2 / 4

Question 3

By what name was Joseph Haydn known at home?

3 / 4

Answer 3

Joseph Haydn was also called Sepperl at home.

3 / 4

Question 4

Who was Joseph Haydn's first teacher?

4 / 4

Answer 4

Cousin Frankh was Joseph Haydn's first teacher.

4 / 4

❮ ❯

1. Where and in what year was Franz Joseph Haydn born? Joseph Haydn was born at Rohrau, in Austria, March 31, 1732.
2. What famous American was born the same year as Joseph Haydn? America's first President, George Washington, was born the same year as Joseph Haydn
3. By what name was Joseph Haydn known at home? Joseph Haydn was also called Sepperl at home.
4. Who was Joseph Haydn's first teacher? Cousin Frankh was Joseph Haydn's first teacher.

References

Tapper, Thomas. Franz Joseph Haydn - The Story of the Choir Boy Who Became a Great Composer. Philadelphia, PA. Theodore Presser Co., 1917.