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Joseph Haydn: Living
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A central characteristic of Haydn's music is the development of larger structures out of very short, simple musical motifs, often derived from standard accompanying figures. The music is often quite formally concentrated, and the important musical events of a movement can unfold rather quickly.[37]
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Haydn's productivity is matched by his inexhaustible originality. His manner of turning a simple tune or motive into unexpectedly complex developments was admired by his contemporaries as innovative. Dramatic surprise, often turned to humorous effect, is characteristic of his style, as is a fondness for folklike melodies. A writer of Haydn's day described the special appeal of his music as “popular artistry,” and indeed his balance of directness and bold experiment transformed instrumental expression in the 18th century.
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Haydn's development in composing skill was a very slow one. Although he was talented as a child, he never dashed off music the way Mozart, Schubert or Mendelssohn did. Haydn even indicated,"I was never a quick writer, but composed with great care and efforts,"
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A gruesome epilogue was the theft of Haydn's skull from his grave. Some "scientists" believed the skull would reveal certain marks of genius. The skull made a long and sad odyssey until it was reunited with the rest of Haydn's remains in his tomb in the church in Eisenstadt in 1954.
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