1732   (31st March);    (Franz) Joseph Haydn is born in Rohrau on the Leitha (Lower Austria); Today there is a museum there which commemorates both Joseph Haydn and his brother, Michael.

1740-1749    Choirboy (Sangerknabe) in the choir school of St. Stephen's in Vienna; Haydn receives a musical education, as well as lessons in other subjects. As a choirboy, he takes part in performances of church music at St. Stephen's, at other churches in Vienna and at the Viennese court.

1749-1758(?)   Largely self taught and working as a freelance artist in Vienna, Haydn composes ecclesiastical and operatic music, string trios, sonatas, dances, organ concertos, divertimenti for various arrangements and his first string quartet. In the early 1750s he lives as a tenant in a garret in Vienna's 1^st District.

1753-1757      The Italian composer Nicola Antonio Porpora resides in Vienna. Haydn later describes him as his only teacher.

c. 1758-1761      Haydn is musical director in the service of Count Ferdinand Maximilian Franz Morzin. He lives from time to time at the Count's summer residence, the Palace of Lucavec near Pilsen. It is here that Haydn's First Symphony is written, as well as other compositions.

1760   26th November:    Haydn marries Maria Anna Aloisia Appolonia Keller, the daughter of a Viennese wig maker, in St. Stephen's Cathedral. The marriage remains childless.

1761   1st May:     Haydn enters the service of Prince Esterhazy in Vienna, at first as deputy conductor of his orchestra. Haydn principally in Eisenstadt.

1762    Death of Prince Paul Anton Esterhazy, Haydn's employer.

1762-1790            Prince Nicholas Esterhazy 1, Paul Anton's brother, becomes Haydn's new employer. Haydn succeeds in making the Prince's orchestra into one of the best in Europe at the time. For this he composes overtures, symphonies, concerts, suites, minuets, serenades and operas.

1766       Death of Head Conductor of the orchestra, Gregor Joseph Werner. Haydn succeeds him as Head Conductor. The Prince moves into the newly-built Esterhazy Palace (Esterhaza) at the south-eastern end of Lake Neusiedl and this now becomes the most important location for Haydn's work.

1766-1775            Haydn buys a house in Eisenstadt and seldom visits Vienna.

1768          The opera house in Esterhazy Palace is opened with the premiere of Haydn's opera Lo specziale

1773           Maria Theresia visits Esterhazy Palace.

1775          2nd and 4th April: Haydn conducts the premiere of ll ritorno di Tobia in Vienna.

1778           Haydn sells his house in Eisenstadt.

1785   15th January and 12th February;             Haydn visits Mozart at his Viennese apartment. Mozart's string quartets dedicated to Haydn are played. Haydn and Mozart were friends, even if they did not meet each other very often.

1790   28th September:         Death of Prince Nicholas Esterhazy 1.

1790-1794            Prince Paul Anton Esterhazy II succeeds Nicholas i. He dissolves the orchestra. Haydn immediately moves to Vienna (1790), although he remains the Prince's conductor.

1790-1792            Haydn's first trip to England- He composes his first six London symphonies- Performances of his works in London. organised by Salomon.

1791   8th July:         Haydn is awarded an honorary doctorate of music by Oxford University-

1793  14th August:         Haydn acquires a house in a suburb of Vienna.                                                              

1794-1795            Haydn's second trip to England, together with his copyist and valet Johann Elssler- Six further London symphonies are composed, as well as works for piano and several other pieces. Haydn makes numerous concert appearances and is feted by London society.

1794-1832            Prince Nicholas Esterhazy II succeeds Paul Anton II. Haydn is commissioned to compose a mass for the nameday of the Prince's wife Hermenegild each year. This results in the last six great masses, written between 1796 and 1802.

1796   26th December:     Haydn's Paukenmesse ('Kettledrum Mass'), conducted by the composer himself, is performed for the first time at the Church of the Piarists in Vienna.

1796-1798            Haydn works on his oratorio Die Schöpfung (The Creation).

1797   12th February:     Haydn's anthem Gott erhalte is sung for the

first time at the Vienna's Burgtheater.

Summer 1797:   Haydn moves into his newly-extended house in Vienna.

1798   29th-30th April:     Premiere of the Creation at Schwarzenberg Palace (now demolished)

1799   19th March:     First public performance of the Creation in the Burgtheater.

1800   20th March:     Haydn's wife Maria Anna dies in Baden near Vienna.

1801   24th April:     Premiere of Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons) at Schwarzenberg Palace.

1803       Haydn, presented with many awards in the last years of his life, receives the great gold Salvator Medal from the City of Vienna. Haydn composes the String Quartet op. 103 (only two movements), which is regarded as his last composition.

1804            Johann Nepomuk Hummel succeeds Haydn as Prince Esterhazy's concert master

1808   27th March:     Haydn makes his last appearance in public on the occasion of a performance of The Creation in the main hall of Vienna University;

1809   7th February:     Haydn signs his last will and testament

31st May            Haydn dies of exhaustion at his house in Vienna (Haydngasse 19 in Vienna's 6th District) in the presence of his servants-

Historical Background

1711-1740            Emperor Karl VI becomes Roman-German Emperor

1732       The Archbishop of Salzburg; Baron Leopold Anton von Firmian, expels more than 20,000 Protestants from the province.

1736       Death of the Austrian commander Prince Eugene of Savoy.

1737-1739            War against the Turks under Emperor Karl VI: Austria loses most of the conquests made by Prince Eugene of Savoy.

1740-1780            Rule of Maria Theresia, the eldest daughter of Emperor Karl VI, over Austria, Bohemia and Hungary (the so-called 'Hereditary Lands').

1740-1763     Maria Theresia successfully defends her inheritance despite numerous conflicts.

1745-1765            Maria Theresia's husband, Franz Stephan of Lorraine, becomes Roman-German Emperor.

1749           Start of large-scale reforms in the Austrian system of government.

1753-1792            Count (later Prince) Wenzel Kaunitz-Rietberg is State Chancellor of Austria.

1756   27th January:     Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is born in Salzburg.

1762   5th October:     Premiere of Christoph Willibald Cluck's opera Orfeo ed Euridice at the Burgtheater in Vienna.

1765-1790            As Roman-German Emperor, Joseph II, the eldest son of Maria Theresia, rules the Hereditary Lands from 1765-1780 as co-regent with his mother Maria Theresia.

1772            Austria is involved in the first partition of Poland

1773          The Jesuit Order is dissolved by Pope Clement XIV.

1774            Compulsory education is introduced in Austria.

1776            Torture is abolished in Austria as a result of a petition by Joseph von Sonnenfels.

                    Declaration of Independence by the (13) United States of America.

1778/1779            Bavarian War of Succession.

1780   29th November:         Maria Theresia dies in Vienna.

1780-1790            As her successor, Joseph II introduces many reforms in the Austrian Hereditary Lands (abolition of serfdom and compulsory guild membership, decree of tolerance, reform of the church, introduction of civil marriage etc.).

1781            Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart moves to Vienna.

1782       Pope Pius Vi visits Vienna and Munich.

1786           Mozart's opera Le Nozze .di Figaro is premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna.

1789            Outbreak of the French Revolution;

1789-1797            George Washington is the first President of the United States of America;

1790-1792            Emperor Leopold II revokes some of the reforms introduced by Joseph II;

1791   15th January:             Franz Grillpar./er is born in Vienna.

5th December            Death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Vienna;

1792-1835            Reign of Emperor Franz II (until 1806 the last Emperor of the Roman-German Empire, from 1804 onwards Emperor of Austria as Franz I); Takes an extremely reserved attitude toward democratic movements.

1792            France becomes a republic;

        Ludwig van Beethoven arrives in Vienna;

1792-1809            Wars of Coalition, each interrupted by short periods of peace; European states fight against the expansion of the French Republic and its revolutionary ideas;

1793/1794            'Reign of Terror* in France; mass executions.

1794/1795            Suppression of the 'Jacobin conspiracy* (a movement for reform, in favour of a republican form of government) in Austria and Hungary.

1797   31st January:     Franz Schubert is born in a suburb of Vienna.

1798       The English Admiral Horatio Nelson defeats the forces of Napoleon at the naval battle of Abukir.

1799       In France, Napoleon becomes First Consul by means of a coup d'etat- His reforms revitalise the French state/

1800            Admiral Nelson, accompanied by Sir William Hamilton and his wife Lady Emma, visits Haydn in Eisenstadt.

1801       Joseph Lanner is born in the Viennese suburb of St. UIrich.

1804            Johann Strauss the Elder is born in the Viennese suburb of Leopoldstadt. Franz II proclaims the Austrian Empire, which he rules as Emperor Franz I.

Napoleon has himself crowned 'Emperor of the French’.

1805            Vienna is occupied by Napoleon’s troops; At the Peace Treaty of Pressburg Austria has to cede. among other possessions, Tyrol to Bavaria.

1806            Foundation of the Rhine Confederation as a Napoleonic protectorate. Under pressure from Napoleon, Emperor Franz II (or I) renounces the Roman-German Imperial Crown and dissolves the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.

1809   May:     Vienna is once again occupied by Napoleonic troops- Austrian troops under Archduke Karl defeat Napoleon's forces at Aspern. The Tyroleans drive the enemy out of Tyrol.