Joseph is a masculine given name. It may also refer to:

Person

• Joseph (son of Jacob)
• Saint Joseph (adoptive father of Jesus)

Places

• Joseph, Utah
• Joseph, Oregon

Media

• YosepH, album by Luke Vibert
• Josef (film), a Croatian television movie from 2011
• Various works based on the life of Joseph in the Hebrew Bible:
  • Joseph and his Brethren, oratorio by George Frideric Handel
  • Joseph (film), a German/Italian/American television movie from 1995, which tells the story of Joseph in the Hebrew Bible
  • Joseph (opera), by the French composer Étienne Méhul
  • Josephslegende, 1914 ballet by Richard Strauss
  • Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice

See also[link]

• Joe (disambiguation), listing other uses of the shortened name
• Saint Joseph (disambiguation), for other saints and places
• Yosef (disambiguation), a variation of the name in Hebrew
• Yusuf (disambiguation), as rendered in Islam/Arabic

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

The Fritzl case emerged in April 2008 when a 42-year-old woman, Elisabeth Fritzl (born April 6, 1966), stated to police in the town of Amstetten, Austria, that she had been held captive for 24 years in a concealed corridor part of the basement area of the family home, a condominium-style apartment complex built by her father, Josef Fritzl (born April 9, 1935), and that Fritzl had physically assaulted, sexually abused, and raped her numerous times during her imprisonment. The incestuous relationship forced upon her by her father resulted in the birth of seven children and one miscarriage.

Elisabeth Fritzl's confinement[link]

Three of the children were imprisoned along with their mother Elisabeth for the whole of their lives: daughter Kerstin, aged 19, and sons Stefan, 18, and Felix, 5. One child, Michael, died of respiratory problems three days after birth, having been deprived of all medical help; his body was incinerated by Josef Fritzl on his property. The three other children were raised by Fritzl and his wife Rosemarie in the upstairs home. Fritzl engineered the appearance of these children as foundlings discovered outside his house: Lisa at nine months in 1993, Monika at ten months in 1994, and Alexander at 15 months in 1997. When the eldest daughter, Kerstin, became seriously ill, Josef acceded to Elisabeth's pleas to take her to a hospital, triggering a series of events that eventually led to their discovery.

Josef Fritzl's arrest[link]

Josef Fritzl, aged 73, was arrested on April 26, 2008 on suspicion of serious crimes against family members and went on trial in Sankt Pölten, Austria on March 16, 2009.^[1][2] He was charged with incest, rape, coercion, false imprisonment, enslavement and the negligent homicide of the infant Michael.^[3][4] After a four-day trial from which the public and the media were largely excluded, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.^[5]

Case history[link]

Wikinews has related news: Austrian man kept daughter prisoner in cellar for 24 years Police: Austrian children kept in dungeon were in 'oppressive' conditions Trial date scheduled for Austrian man who kept his daughter in a dungeon for 24 years Austrian man who imprisoned daughter pleads guilty at start of trial

Josef Fritzl was born on April 9, 1935 in Amstetten, Austria. In 1956, at the age of 21, he married Rosemarie, 17, with whom he had seven children: two sons and five daughters including Elisabeth, who was born in 1966. He reportedly began abusing Elisabeth in 1977 when she was 11 years old.^[6]

After completing compulsory education at age 15, Elisabeth started a training course to become a waitress. In January 1983, she ran away from home and, together with a friend from work, went into hiding in Vienna. She was found by police within three weeks and returned to her parents. She rejoined her training course and, upon completion in mid-1984, was offered a job in the nearby city of Linz.

Years of captivity[link]

On August 29, 1984, Elisabeth's father lured her into the basement of the family home under the pretense that he needed help carrying a door. The door was the last piece needed to seal the chamber. Elisabeth held it in place while Josef got it into its frame. When it was fitted Josef held an ether-soaked towel on Elisabeth's face until she was unconscious. He threw her in the chamber after the door was fitted.^[7]

After Elisabeth's disappearance, her mother filed a missing persons report. Almost a month later, her father handed over a letter to the police, the first of several that Elisabeth was forced to write while in captivity. The letter was postmarked Braunau. It stated that she was staying with a friend and was tired of living with her family, warning her parents not to look for her or she would leave the country. Her father told police that she had most likely joined a religious sect.^[8]

Elisabeth revealed that in her first few days, she banged on the walls and clawed at the ceiling, howling for help. She broke her fingernails and clawed away her skin until blood was dripping down her forearms. Sometimes she pretended she was on a hiking holiday. She picked a spot on a distant mountain she had seen before, plot in her mind how long it would take to get there and then set off. She turned off the lights as she paced the dungeon as she knew the number of steps by heart. After two hours, she turned the strip lighting on, pretending a bright dawn had come up and was reflecting the snow-capped mountain she imagined. When drifting off to sleep she would hum an old Austrian carol "Still, Still, Still."^[9]

Over the course of the following 24 years, Fritzl visited her in the hidden cellar every three days on average, to bring food and other supplies. After his arrest, he admitted that he repeatedly had sexual intercourse with his daughter and had done so against her will.

Elisabeth gave birth to seven children during her captivity.^[8] One child died shortly after birth, and three – Lisa, Monika and Alexander – were removed from the cellar as infants to live with Fritzl and his wife. The Fritzls became the three children's foster parents with the knowledge of local social services authorities. Officials said that Fritzl "very plausibly" explained how three of his infant grandchildren had appeared on his doorstep. The family received regular visits from social workers, who did not hear complaints or notice anything to arouse their suspicions.^[10]

Following the birth of the fourth child in 1994, Fritzl enlarged the prison for Elisabeth and her children from 35 m² (380 sq ft) to 55 m² (590 sq ft). The captives had a television, radio, and videocassette player. Food could be stored in a refrigerator and cooked or heated on hot plates.^[11] Elisabeth taught the children to read and write. At times, Fritzl shut off their lights or refused to deliver food for days at a time to punish them.^[12]

Fritzl told Elisabeth and the three children (Kerstin, Stefan, and Felix) who remained in the cellar they would be gassed if they tried to escape. Investigators concluded this was an empty threat to frighten the captives, as there was no gas supply to the basement.^[13] Fritzl stated after his arrest that it was sufficient to tell them they would receive an electric shock and die if they meddled with the cellar door.^[14]

According to his sister-in-law Christine, Fritzl went into the basement every morning at 9 o'clock, ostensibly to draw plans for machines, which he sold to firms. Often he stayed down there for the night - his wife was not allowed to bring him coffee. A tenant, who rented a ground floor room in the house for 12 years, said he heard noises from the basement but Fritzl said it was the gas heating system.^[15]

Discovery[link]

On April 19, 2008, Kerstin, the eldest daughter, fell unconscious, and Josef Fritzl agreed to seek medical attention. Elisabeth helped Fritzl carry Kerstin out of the dungeon and saw the outside world for the first time in 24 years. She was then made to return to the dungeon where she would remain for a final week.^[8] Kerstin was taken by ambulance to a local hospital (Landesklinikum Amstetten) and admitted in serious condition with life-threatening kidney failure. Fritzl later arrived at the hospital claiming to have found a note written by Kerstin's mother. He discussed Kerstin's condition and the note with Dr. Albert Reiter.^[16] Medical staff found aspects of the story to be puzzling and alerted the police on April 21, who then broadcast an appeal via public media for the missing mother to come forward and provide additional information about Kerstin's medical history.^[17][18] The police then reopened the case file on missing Elisabeth. Fritzl repeated his story about Elisabeth being in a cult, and presented what, he claimed, was the "most recent letter" from her, dated January 2008. It was posted from the town of Kematen.^[8]

The police contacted Manfred Wohlfahrt, a church officer responsible for collecting information on religious cults. Wohlfahrt raised doubts about the existence of the cult. He noted that Elisabeth's letters seemed dictated and oddly written. The news covered some of these issues and Elisabeth watched the story on the cellar television.^[8] She pleaded with her father to be taken to the hospital. On April 26, Fritzl released Elisabeth from the cellar along with her sons Stefan and Felix, bringing them upstairs. Fritzl told his wife that Elisabeth had decided to come back after a 24-year absence.^[17] Governor Lenze told ORF that Fritzl had telephoned him and thanked him and the social services for looking after his family during his granddaughter Kerstin's illness.^[10] Fritzl and Elisabeth went to the hospital where Kerstin was being treated on April 26, 2008. Following a tip-off from Dr. Albert Reiter, that Fritzl and Elisabeth were at the hospital, the police detained them on the hospital grounds and took them to a police station for questioning.

Elisabeth did not provide police with more details until they promised her that she would never have to see her father again. Then, over the next two hours, she told the story of her 24 years in captivity.^[8] Shortly after midnight, police officers completed the three pages of minutes of the interrogation. Josef Fritzl was arrested on suspicion of serious crimes against family members, facing possible charges of false imprisonment, rape, manslaughter by negligence, and incest. During the night of April 27, Elisabeth, her children and her mother Rosemarie were taken into care.

Josef Fritzl confessed on April 28, 2008 to having imprisoned his daughter for 24 years and having fathered her seven children. Police said Fritzl told investigators how to enter the basement prison through a small hidden door, opened by a secret keyless entry code. Fritzl's wife, Rosemarie, had been unaware of what had been happening to Elisabeth.

On April 29, 2008, it was announced that DNA evidence confirmed Fritzl as the biological father of his daughter's children.^[19]

Fritzl's defence lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, said that although the DNA test proved incest, evidence was still needed for the other allegations: "The allegations of rape and enslaving people have not been proven. We need to reassess the confessions made so far."^[20]

In their May 1, 2008 daily press conference, Austrian police said that Fritzl had forced Elisabeth to write a letter the previous year indicating that he may have been planning to release her and the children. The letter said that she wanted to come home but "it's not possible yet".^[21] Police believe Fritzl intended to pretend he had rescued his daughter from her fictitious cult.^[22] In the same press conference, police spokesman Franz Polzer said the investigation would probably last a few months, as police planned on interviewing at least 100 people who had lived as tenants in the Fritzl apartment building in the previous 24 years.^[23]

Dungeon[link]

The Fritzl property in Amstetten is a building dating from around 1890 and a newer building, which was added after 1978, when Fritzl applied for a building permit for an "extension with basement". In 1983, building inspectors visited the site and verified that the new extension had been built according to the dimensions specified on the building permit. Fritzl had illegally enlarged the room by excavating space for a much larger basement, concealed by walls. Around 1981 or 1982, according to his statement,^[14] he started to turn this hidden cellar into a prison cell and installed a washbasin, a toilet, a bed, a hot plate and a refrigerator. In 1983, he added more space by creating a passageway to a pre-existing basement area under the old part of the property, of which only he knew.

The concealed cellar had a 5 m (5.5 yd) long corridor, a storage area, and three small open cells, connected by narrow passageways: a basic cooking area and bathroom facilities, followed by two sleeping areas, which were equipped with two beds each. It covered an area of approximately 55 m² (590 sq ft). The ceilings were no more than 1.70 m (5.6 ft) high.

The hidden cellar had two access points: a hinged door that weighed 500 kg (1,100 lb) which is thought to have become unusable over the years because of its weight, and a metal door, reinforced with concrete and on steel rails that weighed 300 kg (650 lb) and measured 1 m (3.3 ft) high and 60 cm (2 ft) wide. It was located behind a shelf in Fritzl's basement workshop, protected by an electronic code entered using a remote control unit. In order to reach this door, five locking basement rooms had to be crossed. To get to the area where Elisabeth and her children were held, eight doors in total needed to be unlocked, of which two doors were additionally secured by electronic locking devices.^[24][25][26]

Key events[link]

The key events, in this case, are as follows:^{[8][17][27][28][29]}

Aftermath[link]

After being taken into care, Elisabeth, all six of her surviving children and her mother were housed in a local clinic where they were shielded from the outside environment and received medical and psychological treatment. A local government official speculated on the need to give members of the Fritzl family new identities but emphasized that it was a choice for the family to make.^[23]

Owing to their lack of exposure to sunlight, the former captives were extremely pale and could not endure natural light. They were reported to have vitamin D deficiencies and were anemic. They were expected to have underdeveloped immune systems. The clinic head, Berthold Kepplinger, said that the family members needed to stay at the clinic for several months, and that Elisabeth and the three children held captive in the cellar required further therapy to help them adjust to the light after years in semi-darkness. They also needed treatment to help them cope with all the extra space that they now had in which to move about.^[30]

In May 2008, a handmade poster created by Elisabeth, her children and her mother at the therapy facility was displayed in the Amstetten town center. The message thanked local people for their support. "We, the whole family, would like to take the opportunity to thank all of you for sympathy at our fate," they wrote in their message. "Your compassion is helping us greatly to overcome these difficult times, and it shows us there also are good and honest people here who really care for us. We hope that soon there will be a time where we can find our way back into a normal life."^[30]

Kerstin was reunited with her family on June 8, 2008, when she was awakened from her artificially induced coma. Doctors said that she would make a full recovery.^[31]

It was revealed that Elisabeth and her children were more traumatized than previously thought. During captivity, Kerstin tore out her hair in clumps, and was reported to have shredded her dresses before stuffing them in the toilet. Stefan was unable to walk properly, due to his height of 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in), forced to stoop in the 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)-high cellar. It has also been revealed that normal everyday occurrences, such as the dimming of lights or the closing of doors, plunge Kerstin and Stefan into anxiety and panic attacks. The other three of Elisabeth's children who were raised by their father are being treated for anger and resentment at the events.^[32]

In late July 2008, it emerged that Elisabeth Fritzl ordered her mother Rosemarie out of the villa they have been sharing in a secret location set up for them by a psychiatric clinic. Elisabeth Fritzl was upset about "the huge issue of Rosemarie's passiveness during Elisabeth's upbringing — a tortured time when, she says, her father Josef began abusing her when she was just 11 years old."^[33][34]

In March 2009, Elisabeth and her children were forced to move out of the family's hide-away home and returned to the psychiatric clinic where medical staff had started trying to heal the family and unite the upstairs and downstairs siblings during the previous year. She was reported to be distraught and close to a breakdown after a British paparazzo had burst into her kitchen and started taking photographs.^{[35][not in citation given]}

On March 18, 2009 Elisabeth Fritzl attended the second day of the criminal trial against her father Josef, in preparation for a book she is to write about her ordeal.^[36] She does not plan to see her father again. ^[37]

After the trial, Elisabeth and her six children were moved to an unnamed village in northern Austria, where they are living in a fortress-like house.^[38] All of the children require ongoing therapy — the "upstairs" children who learned the truth about the lies that their father told them about their mother abandoning them and the abuse they received from their (grand)father during their childhood, the fact that their siblings were imprisoned in the cellar which none of them knew about at first, and the "downstairs children" for their deprivation from normal development and lack of fresh air and sunshine and the abuse that they also received, as their mother Elisabeth had, from their father/grandfather when he visited them in the basement. All of the children might possibly have genetic problems common to children born of an incestuous relationship.^[39] Although Elisabeth is said to be estranged from her mother, Rosemarie — who accepted Fritzl's story about Elisabeth joining a cult and did not pursue the matter further — Elisabeth allows her three children who grew up in Josef and Rosemarie's house to visit their grandmother regularly. Rosemarie lives alone in a small apartment.^[39]

In June 2009, an Austrian newspaper reported that Elisabeth Fritzl had begun a relationship with one of her bodyguards, identified only as Thomas W. The couple are living together.^[40]

Josef Fritzl[link]

Biography[link]

Josef Fritzl was born on April 9, 1935, in Amstetten, Federal State of Austria, to Josef Fritzl, Sr. and Maria Fritzl. He grew up as an only child raised solely by his working mother. His father had deserted the family when Fritzl was four, and never again came into contact with him. His father, Josef Fritzl, Sr, later fought as a soldier in the Wehrmacht during World War II, and was killed in action in 1944. His name appears on a memorial plaque in Amstetten.^[41]

After completing his education at an HTL Technical College with a qualification in electrical engineering, he obtained a job at Voestalpine in Linz. In 1956, at the age of 21, he married Rosemarie, 17, with whom he had two sons and five daughters.

In 1967, he broke into the home of a nurse while her husband was away and raped her while holding a knife to her throat, threatening to kill her if she screamed. He also attempted to rape a 21 year old woman that same year, but she managed to escape. Fritzl was arrested and served an eighteen-month prison sentence.^[42] After his release, he obtained a job in a construction material firm in Amstetten where he worked from 1969–1971. Later, he became a technical equipment salesman, traveling throughout Austria.

In 1972, he purchased a guesthouse and an adjacent campsite at Lake Mondsee. He ran it, together with his wife, until 1996.

He retired from active employment when he became 60 years old in 1995, but continued some commercial activities thereafter.

In addition to the apartment house in Amstetten, where he lived, he owned several other properties which he rented out.^{[10][25][43][44]}

Criminal record[link]

Josef Fritzl was convicted for raping a 24-year old woman in the city of Linz in 1967 and sentenced to 18 months in jail. According to an annual report for 1967 and a press release of the same year, he was also named as a suspect in a case of attempted rape and known for indecent exposure. More than 25 years later, when he applied for the adoption of one child and foster care for two others, of children to whom his daughter Elisabeth had given birth, his criminal record was not made available to local social service authorities since it had been expunged in accordance with Austrian law.^[45]

Self-portrayal and psychiatric assessment[link]

After his arrest, Josef Fritzl claimed that his behaviour toward his daughter did not constitute rape but was consensual. His defense lawyer Rudolf Mayer forwarded extracts from the minutes of his talks with his client to the Austrian weekly News for publication.^[46] According to these statements, Fritzl said that he "always knew during the whole 24 years that what I was doing was not right, that I must have been crazy to do such a thing, yet it became a normal occurrence to lead a second life in the basement of my house."^[14]

Regarding his treatment of the family he had with his wife, he stated, "I am not the beast the media make me to be". Regarding his treatment of Elisabeth and her children in the cellar, he explained that he brought flowers for Elisabeth and books and toys for the children into the "bunker", as he called it, and often watched videos with the children and ate meals with Elisabeth and the children. Fritzl decided to imprison Elisabeth after she "did not adhere to any rules any more" when she became a teenager. "That is why I had to do something; I had to create a place where I could keep Elisabeth, by force if necessary, away from the outside world." He suggested that the emphasis on discipline in the Nazi era, during which he grew up, might have influenced his views about decency and good behaviour. The chief editors of News Magazine noted in their editorial that they expected Fritzl's statement to form the basis of the defence strategy of his lawyer. Critics said his statement may have been a ploy to prepare an insanity defence.^[47]

Reflecting on his childhood, Fritzl initially described his mother as “the best woman in the world” and “as strict as it was necessary”.^[14] Later, he expressed a negative opinion of his mother and claimed that "she used to beat me, hit me until I was lying in a pool of blood on the floor. It left me feeling totally humiliated and weak. My mother was a servant and she used to work hard all her life, I never had a kiss from her, I was never cuddled although I wanted it - I wanted her to be good to me." Eventually, he also admitted he had later locked his mother in her room and bricked up her window after telling neighbors that she died, and kept her locked up until her death in 1980.^[48]

In a report by forensic psychiatrist Adelheid Kastner, Fritzl's mother is described as unpredictable and abusive. Fritzl referred to himself as an "alibi" child, meaning that his mother only gave birth to him to prove that she was not barren and could produce children. Fritzl claims that his pathological behaviour is innate. He admits that he planned to lock his daughter up during his prison stint for the earlier rape conviction so that he could contain and express his "evil side". He said, "I was born to rape, and I held myself back for a relatively long time. I could have behaved a lot worse than locking up my daughter."^[12] The forensic psychiatrist diagnosed Fritzl as having severe combined personality disorder and a sexual disorder and recommended that Fritzl receive psychiatric care for the rest of his life.^[12]

Recent reports have brought to light Fritzl's premeditated plan to lock his daughter up not for discipline but for his own gratification.^[12]

Prosecutor's investigation[link]

In keeping with the agreement that she would never have to see her father again, Elisabeth Fritzl gave a videotaped testimony before Austrian prosecutors and investigators on July 11, 2008. Christiane Burkheiser, a state prosecutor, and Josef’s lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, in an adjoining room took part in the process. Josef Fritzl was not present but remained in the Sankt Pölten jail. The testimony, which was not made public, was presented at Fritzl's trial in March 2009.^[49]

Judge Andrea Humer, who presided over the trial, stated medical experts reported Elisabeth Fritzl and her children were in "relatively good health".

Lawyer Christoph Herbst, who represents Elisabeth Fritzl and family, said, "fortunately, everything is going very well," as they spend time to answer the hundreds of letters sent from all over the world. Felix, Kerstin, and Stefan, brought up underground with their mother, have learned to swim for the first time. And all of Elisabeth's children attended a four-day summer camp organized by firefighters with 4,000 other young campers in the later part of the summer in August 2008. The children along with their mother also made day trips, including swimming outings, on which care was taken to keep them out of reach of the paparazzi and to protect their privacy.^[50]

On November 13, 2008, authorities in Austria released an indictment against Josef Fritzl. He would stand trial for the murder of the infant Michael, who died shortly after birth,^[51] and face between 10 years and life imprisonment. He was also charged with rape, incest, kidnapping, false imprisonment and slavery, which carry a maximum 20-year term.^[52]

Excerpts of Elisabeth's diary were leaked to the media on March 11, 2009. Prosecutors confirmed that the diary was part of their evidence against Josef Fritzl.^[53]

Austria's reputation[link]

Describing the "abominable events" as linked to one individual case, then-Chancellor of Austria Alfred Gusenbauer said he planned to launch an image campaign to restore the country's reputation abroad.^[54]

Trial of Josef Fritzl[link]

The trial of Josef Fritzl commenced on March 16, 2009, in the town of Sankt Pölten, presided over by Judge Andrea Humer.

Journalists during the Fritzl trial

On day one, Fritzl entered the courtroom attempting to hide his face from cameras behind a blue folder, which he was entitled to do under Austrian law. After opening comments, all journalists and spectators were asked to leave the courtroom, whereupon Fritzl lowered his binder. Fritzl pleaded guilty to all charges with the exception of murder and grievous assault by threatening to gas his captives if they disobeyed him.^[55]

In his opening remarks, Rudolf Mayer, the defending counsel, appealed to the jury to be objective and not be swayed by emotions. He insisted Fritzl was "not a monster," noting that Fritzl had brought a Christmas tree down to his captives in the cellar during the holiday season.

Christiane Burkheiser, prosecuting her first case since being appointed Chief Prosecutor, pressed for life imprisonment in an institution for the criminally insane. She demonstrated for jurors the low height of the ceiling in the cellar dungeon by making a mark on the door to the courtroom at 1m 74 cm (5 ft 8.5in), and described the cellar as "damp and mouldy," passing around a box of musty objects taken from the cellar, whose odor made jurors flinch.^[56]

On the first day of testimony, jurors watched an 11-hour testimony recorded by Elisabeth in sessions with police and psychologists in July 2008. The tape is said to have been so "harrowing" that the eight jurors did not watch more than two hours at a time. Four replacement jurors were on standby to replace any of the regular jurors in case they could not bear to hear any more of the evidence.^[35]

Besides the video testimony, Elisabeth's older brother Harald testified, as did a doctor specialising in neonatal medicine and the court psychiatrist.^[57] Josef's wife, Rosemarie, and Elisabeth's children refused to testify.^[56]

Fritzl's attorney, Rudolf Mayer, confirmed that a disguised Elisabeth sat in the visitors' gallery during the second day of proceedings, at the time her video testimony was aired. "Josef Fritzl recognised that Elisabeth was in court and, from this point on, you could see Josef Fritzl going pale and he broke down," Mayer said. "It was a meeting of eyes that changed his mind."^[58] The next day, Fritzl began the proceedings by approaching the judge and changing his pleas to guilty on all charges.^[59]

On March 19, 2009, Fritzl was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 15 years.^[60] He said that he accepted the sentence and would not appeal.^[61] Fritzl is currently serving out his sentence in Garsten Abbey, a former monastery in Upper Austria that has been converted into a prison. He is in a special section of the prison for the criminally insane.^[62]

Follow-up[link]

According to The Independent online newspaper, Elisabeth Fritzl and her children are now coping remarkably well, given the difficult lives they endured for so long.^[63] According to Fritzl's sister-in-law, Christine, Elisabeth enjoys spending her time shopping, taking frequent showers, and driving. She has just passed her driving test without difficulty. Her relationship with Thomas, one of her bodyguards, is ongoing and he has become a big-brother figure to her children. All of Elisabeth's children have developed normal sibling relationships with each other, and after having trouble dealing with the traumatic events, the three "upstairs" children have begun recognizing Elisabeth as their mother. The children enjoy being outdoors, playing video games, and spending time with their mother and grandmother. Despite their strained relationship, Elisabeth and her mother Rosemarie have begun visiting each other more, and Elisabeth has reportedly forgiven her mother for believing her father's story and not pursuing the matter further.

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fritzl case

• Alvarez case
• Kidnapping of Jaycee Lee Dugard
• Lydia Gouardo
• Mongelli case
• Natascha Kampusch
• Sheffield incest case
• Moe incest case
• Armando Lucero
• Cases of children kept in captivity

References[link]

Haydn portrait by Thomas Hardy, 1792

Franz Joseph Haydn (  /ˈdʒoʊzəf ˈhaɪdən/; German pronunciation: [ˈjoːzɛf ˈhaɪdən] ( listen); 31 March^[1] 1732 – 31 May 1809), known as Joseph Haydn,^[2] was an Austrian^[3] composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms. He was also instrumental in the development of the piano trio and in the evolution of sonata form.^[4][5]

A lifelong resident of Austria, Haydn spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Esterházy family on their remote estate. Isolated from other composers and trends in music until the later part of his long life, he was, as he put it, "forced to become original".^[6] At the time of his death, he was one of the most celebrated composers in Europe.^[7]

Joseph Haydn was the brother of Michael Haydn, himself a highly regarded composer, and Johann Evangelist Haydn, a tenor. He was also a close friend of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and a teacher of Ludwig van Beethoven.

Life[link]

Map showing locations where Haydn lived or visited. For discussion, see List of residences of Joseph Haydn.

Childhood[link]

Joseph Haydn was born in Rohrau, Austria, a village near the border with Hungary. 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 Count Harrach, the presiding aristocrat of Rohrau. Neither parent could read music;^[8] however, Mathias was an enthusiastic folk musician, who during the journeyman period of his career had taught himself to play the harp. According to Haydn's later reminiscences, his childhood family was extremely musical, and frequently sang together and with their neighbors.^[9]

Haydn's parents had noticed that their son was musically gifted and knew that in Rohrau he would have no chance to obtain any serious musical training. It was for this reason that they accepted a proposal from their relative Johann Matthias Frankh, the schoolmaster and choirmaster in Hainburg, that Haydn be apprenticed to Frankh in his home to train as a musician. Haydn therefore went off with Frankh to Hainburg (seven miles away) and never again lived with his parents. He was about six years old.

Life in the Frankh household was not easy for Haydn, who later remembered being frequently hungry^[10] as well as constantly humiliated by the filthy state of his clothing.^[11] However, he did begin his musical training there, and soon was able to play both harpsichord and violin. The people of Hainburg heard him sing treble parts in the church choir.

There is reason to think that Haydn's singing impressed those who heard him, because he was soon^[12] brought to the attention of Georg von Reutter, the director of music in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, who happened to be visiting Hainburg. Haydn passed his audition with Reutter, and in 1740 moved to Vienna, where he worked for the next nine years as a chorister, after 1745 in the company of his younger brother Michael.

Haydn lived in the Kapellhaus next to the cathedral, along with Reutter, Reutter's family, and the other four choirboys.^[13] He was instructed in Latin and other school subjects as well as voice, violin, and keyboard.^[14] Reutter was of little help to Haydn in the areas of music theory and composition, giving him only two lessons in his entire time as chorister.^[15] However, since St. Stephen's was one of the leading musical centers in Europe, Haydn was able to learn a great deal simply by serving as a professional musician there.^[16]

Like Frankh before him, Reutter did not always bother to make sure Haydn was properly fed. As he later told his biographer Albert Christoph Dies, Haydn was motivated to sing very well, in hopes of gaining more invitations to perform before aristocratic audiences—where the singers were usually served refreshments.^[17]

St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna

Struggles as a freelancer[link]

By 1749, Haydn had matured physically to the point that he was no longer able to sing high choral parts—the Empress herself complained to Reutter about his singing, calling it "crowing".^[18] One day, Haydn carried out a prank, snipping off the pigtail of a fellow chorister.^[18] This was enough for Reutter: Haydn was first caned, then summarily dismissed and sent into the streets with no home to go to.^[19] He had the good fortune to be taken in by a friend, Johann Michael Spangler, who shared his family's crowded garret room with Haydn for a few months . Haydn immediately began his pursuit of a career as a freelance musician.

During this arduous time, Haydn worked at many different jobs: as a music teacher, as a street serenader, and eventually, in 1752, as valet–accompanist for the Italian composer Nicola Porpora, from whom he later said he learned "the true fundamentals of composition".^[20] He also was briefly in Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Haugwitz's employ, playing the organ in the Bohemian Chancellery chapel at the Judenplatz.^[21]

When he was a chorister, Haydn had not received serious training in music theory and composition, which he perceived as a serious gap. To fill it, he worked his way through the counterpoint exercises in the text Gradus ad Parnassum by Johann Joseph Fux, and carefully studied the work of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, whom he later acknowledged as an important influence.^[22]

As his skills increased, Haydn began to acquire a public reputation, first as the composer of an opera, Der krumme Teufel "The Limping Devil", written for the comic actor Johann Joseph Felix Kurz, whose stage name was "Bernardon". The work was premiered successfully in 1753, but was soon closed down by the censors.^[23] Haydn also noticed, apparently without annoyance, that works he had simply given away were being published and sold in local music shops.^[24] Between 1754 and 1756 Haydn also worked freelance for the court in Vienna. He was among several musicians who were paid for services as supplementary musicians at balls given for the imperial children during carnival season, and as supplementary singers in the imperial chapel (the Hofkapelle) in Lent and Holy Week.^[25]

With the increase in his reputation, Haydn eventually obtained aristocratic patronage, crucial for the career of a composer in his day. Countess Thun,^[26] having seen one of Haydn's compositions, summoned him and engaged him as her singing and keyboard teacher.^[27] In 1756, Baron Carl Josef Fürnberg employed Haydn at his country estate, Weinzierl, where the composer wrote his first string quartets. Fürnberg later recommended Haydn to Count Morzin, who, in 1757,^[28] became his first full time employer.^[29]

The years as Kapellmeister[link]

Haydn portrait by Ludwig Guttenbrunn, painted ca. 1791-2, depicts Haydn ca. 1770

Haydn's job title under Count Morzin was Kapellmeister, that is, music director. He led the count's small orchestra and wrote his first symphonies for this ensemble. In 1760, with the security of a Kapellmeister position, Haydn married. His wife was the former Maria Anna Aloysia Apollonia Keller (1729–1800), the sister of Therese (b. 1733), with whom Haydn had previously been in love. Haydn and his wife had a completely unhappy marriage,^[30] from which the laws of the time permitted them no escape; and they produced no children. Both took lovers.^[31]

Count Morzin soon suffered financial reverses that forced him to dismiss his musical establishment, but Haydn was quickly offered a similar job (1761) by Prince Paul Anton, head of the immensely wealthy Esterházy family. Haydn's job title was only Vice-Kapellmeister, but he was immediately placed in charge of most of the Esterházy musical establishment, with the old Kapellmeister, Gregor Werner, retaining authority only for church music. When Werner died in 1766, Haydn was elevated to full Kapellmeister.

View of Eszterháza

As a "house officer" in the Esterházy establishment, Haydn wore livery and followed the family as they moved among their various palaces, most importantly the family's ancestral seat Schloss Esterházy in Eisenstadt and later on Eszterháza, a grand new palace built in rural Hungary in the 1760s. Haydn had a huge range of responsibilities, including composition, running the orchestra, playing chamber music for and with his patrons, and eventually the mounting of operatic productions. Despite this backbreaking workload,^[32] the job was in artistic terms a superb opportunity for Haydn.^[33] The Esterházy princes (Paul Anton, then from 1762–1790 Nikolaus I) were musical connoisseurs who appreciated his work and gave him daily access to his own small orchestra.

Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, Haydn's most important patron

During the nearly thirty years that Haydn worked at the Esterházy court, he produced a flood of compositions, and his musical style continued to develop. His popularity in the outside world also increased. Gradually, Haydn came to write as much for publication as for his employer, and several important works of this period, such as the Paris symphonies (1785–1786) and the original orchestral version of The Seven Last Words of Christ (1786), were commissions from abroad.

Haydn also gradually came to feel more isolated and lonely, particularly as the court came to spend most of the year at Esterháza, far from Vienna, rather than the closer-by Eisenstadt.^[34] Haydn particularly longed to visit Vienna because of his friendships there.^[35]

Of these, a particularly important one was with Maria Anna von Genzinger (1754–93), the wife of Prince Nikolaus's personal physician in Vienna, who began a close, platonic, relationship with the composer in 1789. Haydn wrote to Mrs. Genzinger often, expressing his loneliness at Eszterháza and his happiness for the few occasions on which he was able to visit her in Vienna; later on, Haydn wrote to her frequently from London. Her premature death in 1793 was a blow to Haydn, and his F minor variations for piano, Hob. XVII:6, may have been written in response to her death.^[36]

Portrait of Mozart by Joseph Lange

Another friend in Vienna was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whom Haydn had met sometime around 1784. According to later testimony by Michael Kelly and others, the two composers occasionally played in string quartets together. Haydn was hugely impressed with Mozart's work and praised it unstintingly to others. Mozart evidently returned the esteem, as seen in his dedication of a set of six quartets, now called the "Haydn" quartets, to his friend. For further details see Haydn and Mozart.

The London journeys[link]

In 1790, Prince Nikolaus died and was succeeded as prince by his son Anton. Following a trend of the time,^[37] Anton sought to economize by dismissing most of the court musicians. Haydn retained a nominal appointment with Anton, at a reduced salary of 400 florins, as well as a 1000-florin pension from Nikolaus.^[38] Since Anton had little need of Haydn's services he was willing to let Haydn travel elsewhere, and the composer accepted a lucrative offer from Johann Peter Salomon, a German impresario, to visit England and conduct new symphonies with a large orchestra.

The visit (1791–1792), along with a repeat visit (1794–1795), was a huge success. Audiences flocked to Haydn's concerts; Haydn augmented his fame and made large profits, thus becoming financially secure.^[39] Charles Burney reviewed the first concert thus: "Haydn himself presided at the piano-forte; and the sight of that renowned composer so electrified the audience, as to excite an attention and a pleasure superior to any that had ever been caused by instrumental music in England."^[40]

Musically, the visits to England generated some of Haydn's best-known work, including the Surprise, Military, Drumroll, and London symphonies, the Rider quartet, and the "Gypsy Rondo" piano trio. The only misstep in the venture was an opera, L'anima del filosofo, which Haydn was contracted to compose, but whose performance was blocked by intrigues.^[41] Haydn made many new friends and was involved for a time in a romantic relationship with Rebecca Schroeter.

Portrait of Beethoven as a young man by Carl Traugott Riedel (1769–1832)

While traveling to London in 1790, Haydn had met the young Ludwig van Beethoven in his native city of Bonn. On Haydn's return, Beethoven came to Vienna and during the time up to the second London visit was Haydn's pupil. For discussion of their relationship, see Beethoven and his contemporaries.^[42]

Final years in Vienna[link]

Haydn returned to Vienna in 1795. Prince Anton had died, and his successor Nikolaus II proposed that the Esterházy musical establishment be revived with Haydn serving again as Kapellmeister. Haydn took up the position, though only on a part-time basis. He spent his summers with the Esterházys in Eisenstadt, and over the course of several years wrote six masses for them. But by this time Haydn had become a public figure in Vienna. He spent most of his time in his own home, a large house in the suburb of Gumpendorf,^[43] and wrote works for public performance. In collaboration with his librettist and mentor Gottfried van Swieten, and with funding from van Swieten's Gesellschaft der Associierten, Haydn composed his two great oratorios The Creation (1798) and The Seasons (1801). Both were enthusiastically received. Haydn frequently appeared before the public, often leading performances of The Creation for charity benefits. He also composed instrumental music: the popular Trumpet Concerto and the last nine in his long series of string quartets, including the Fifths, Emperor, and Sunrise quartets.

During the later years of this successful period Haydn faced incipient old age and fluctuating health, and he had to struggle to complete his final works. By about 1802, his condition had declined to the point that he became physically unable to compose.^[44] This was doubtless very difficult for him because, as he acknowledged, the flow of fresh musical ideas waiting to be worked out as compositions did not cease. Haydn was well cared for by his servants, and he received many visitors and public honours during his last years, but they could not have been very happy years for him. During his illness, Haydn often found solace by sitting at the piano and playing Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser, which he had composed himself as a patriotic gesture in 1797.^[45] This melody was later used for the Austrian and German national anthems.

A final triumph occurred on 27 March 1808, when a performance of The Creation was organized in Haydn's honor. The very frail composer was brought into the hall on an armchair to the sound of trumpets and drums, and was greeted by Beethoven, by Salieri (who led the performance), and by other musicians and members of the aristocracy – many of whom probably sensed that they were saying goodbye to the elderly composer. Haydn was both moved and exhausted by the experience, and had to depart at intermission.^[46]

Haydn lived on for another year. He died, aged 77, at the end of May 1809, shortly after an attack on Vienna by the French army under Napoleon. Among his last words was his attempt to calm and reassure his servants when cannon shot fell in the neighborhood:^[47] "My children, have no fear, for where Haydn is, no harm can fall." Two weeks later, a memorial service was held in the Schottenkirche on 15 June 1809, at which Mozart's Requiem was performed.

Character and appearance[link]

James Webster writes of Haydn's public character thus: "Haydn's public life exemplified the Enlightenment ideal of the honnête homme (honest man): the man whose good character and worldly success enable and justify each other. His modesty and probity were everywhere acknowledged. These traits were not only prerequisites to his success as Kapellmeister, entrepreneur and public figure, but also aided the favourable reception of his music."^[48] Haydn was especially respected by the Eszterházy court musicians whom he supervised, as he maintained a cordial working atmosphere and effectively represented the musicians' interests with their employer; see Papa Haydn and the tale of the "Farewell" Symphony.

Haydn's signature on a musical work. He writes in Italian, a language he often used professionally: di me giuseppe Haydn, "by me Joseph Haydn".

Haydn had a robust sense of humor, evident in his love of practical jokes^[49] and often apparent in his music, and he had many friends. For much of his life he benefited from a "happy and naturally cheerful temperament",^[50] but in his later life, there is evidence for periods of depression, notably in the correspondence with Mrs. Genzinger and in Dies's biography, based on visits made in Haydn's old age.

Haydn was a devout Catholic who often turned to his rosary when he had trouble composing, a practice that he usually found to be effective.^[51] He normally began the manuscript of each composition with "in nomine Domini" ("in the name of the Lord") and ended with "Laus Deo" ("praise be to God").^[52]

Haydn was short in stature, perhaps as a result of having been underfed throughout most of his youth. He was not handsome, and like many in his day he was a survivor of smallpox, his face being pitted with the scars of this disease. His biographer Dies wrote, "he couldn't understand how it happened that in his life he had been loved by many a pretty woman. 'They couldn't have been led to it by my beauty'".^[53]

His nose, large and aquiline, was disfigured by polypus, which he suffered from for much of his adult life.^[54] This was an agonizing and debilitating disease in the 18th century, and at times it prevented him from writing music.^[55]

Haydn's musical handwriting: the original copy of Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser (click to enlarge)

Works[link]

James Webster summarizes Haydn's role in the history of classical music as follows:^[56] "He excelled in every musical genre… He is familiarly known as the 'father of the symphony' and could with greater justice be thus regarded for the string quartet; no other composer approaches his combination of productivity, quality and historical importance in these genres."

Structure and character of his music[link]

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.^[57]

Haydn's work was central to the development of what came to be called sonata form. His practice, however, differed in some ways from that of Mozart and Beethoven, his younger contemporaries who likewise excelled in this form of composition. Haydn was particularly fond of the so-called "monothematic exposition", in which the music that establishes the dominant key is similar or identical to the opening theme. Haydn also differs from Mozart and Beethoven in his recapitulation sections, where he often rearranges the order of themes compared to the exposition and uses extensive thematic development.^[58]

Haydn's formal inventiveness also led him to integrate the fugue into the classical style and to enrich the rondo form with more cohesive tonal logic (see sonata rondo form). Haydn was also the principal exponent of the double variation form—variations on two alternating themes, which are often major- and minor-mode versions of each other.

Perhaps more than any other composer's, Haydn's music is known for its humor.^[59] The most famous example is the sudden loud chord in the slow movement of his "Surprise" symphony; Haydn's many other musical jokes include numerous false endings (e.g., in the quartets Op. 33 No. 2 and Op. 50 No. 3), and the remarkable rhythmic illusion placed in the trio section of the third movement of Op. 50 No. 1.

Much of the music was written to please and delight a prince, and its emotional tone is correspondingly upbeat.^{[citation needed]} This tone also reflects, perhaps, Haydn's fundamentally healthy and well-balanced personality. Occasional minor-key works, often deadly serious in character, form striking exceptions to the general rule. Haydn's fast movements tend to be rhythmically propulsive and often impart a great sense of energy, especially in the finales. Some characteristic examples of Haydn's "rollicking" finale type are found in the "London" symphony No. 104, the string quartet Op. 50 No. 1, and the piano trio Hob XV: 27. Haydn's early slow movements are usually not too slow in tempo, relaxed, and reflective. Later on, the emotional range of the slow movements increases, notably in the deeply felt slow movements of the quartets Op. 76 Nos. 3 and 5, the Symphonies No. 98 and 102, and the piano trio Hob XV: 23. The minuets tend to have a strong downbeat and a clearly popular character. Over time, Haydn turned some of his minuets into "scherzi" which are much faster, at one beat to the bar.

Evolution of Haydn's style[link]

Haydn's early work dates from a period in which the compositional style of the High Baroque (seen in Bach and Handel) had gone out of fashion. This was a period of exploration and uncertainty, and Haydn, born 18 years before the death of Bach, was himself one of the musical explorers of this time.^[60] An older contemporary whose work Haydn acknowledged as an important influence was Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.^[22]

Tracing Haydn's work over the six decades in which it was produced (roughly, 1749 to 1802), one finds a gradual but steady increase in complexity and musical sophistication, which developed as Haydn learned from his own experience and that of his colleagues. Several important landmarks have been observed in the evolution of Haydn's musical style.

In the late 1760s and early 1770s Haydn entered a stylistic period known as "Sturm und Drang" (storm and stress). This term is taken from a literary movement of about the same time, though it appears that the musical development actually preceded the literary one by a few years.^[61] The musical language of this period is similar to what went before, but it is deployed in work that is more intensely expressive, especially in the works in minor keys. James Webster describes the works of this period as "longer, more passionate, and more daring."^[62] Some of the most famous compositions of this time are the "Trauer" (Mourning) Symphony No. 44, "Farewell" Symphony No. 45, the piano sonata in C minor (Hob. XVI/20, L. 33), and the six string quartets of Op. 20 (the "Sun" quartets), all from ca. 1771–1772. It was also around this time that Haydn became interested in writing fugues in the Baroque style, and three of the Op. 20 quartets end with such fugues.

Following the climax of the "Sturm und Drang", Haydn returned to a lighter, more overtly entertaining style. There are no quartets from this period, and the symphonies take on new features: the scoring often includes trumpets and timpani. These changes are often related to a major shift in Haydn's professional duties, which moved him away from "pure" music and toward the production of comic operas. Several of the operas were Haydn's own work (see List of operas by Joseph Haydn); these are seldom performed today. Haydn sometimes recycled his opera music in symphonic works,^[63] which helped him continue his career as a symphonist during this hectic decade.

In 1779, an important change in Haydn's contract permitted him to publish his compositions without prior authorization from his employer. This may have encouraged Haydn to rekindle his career as a composer of "pure" music. The change made itself felt most dramatically in 1781, when Haydn published the six string quartets of Opus 33, announcing (in a letter to potential purchasers) that they were written in "a new and completely special way".^[64] Charles Rosen has argued that this assertion on Haydn's part was not just sales talk, but meant quite seriously; and he points out a number of important advances in Haydn's compositional technique that appear in these quartets, advances that mark the advent of the Classical style in full flower. These include a fluid form of phrasing, in which each motif emerges from the previous one without interruption, the practice of letting accompanying material evolve into melodic material, and a kind of "Classical counterpoint" in which each instrumental part maintains its own integrity. These traits continue in the many quartets that Haydn wrote after Opus 33.^[65]

In the 1790s, stimulated by his England journeys, Haydn developed what Rosen calls his "popular style", a method of composition that, with unprecedented success, created music having great popular appeal but retaining a learned and rigorous musical structure.^[66] An important element of the popular style was the frequent use of folk or folk-like material, as discussed in the article Haydn and folk music. Haydn took care to deploy this material in appropriate locations, such as the endings of sonata expositions or the opening themes of finales. In such locations, the folk material serves as an element of stability, helping to anchor the larger structure.^[67] Haydn's popular style can be heard in virtually all of his later work, including the twelve London symphonies, the late quartets and piano trios, and the two late oratorios.

The house in Vienna where Haydn lived in the last years of his life, now a museum

The return to Vienna in 1795 marked the last turning point in Haydn's career. Although his musical style evolved little, his intentions as a composer changed. While he had been a servant, and later a busy entrepreneur, Haydn wrote his works quickly and in profusion, with frequent deadlines. As a rich man, Haydn now felt that he had the privilege of taking his time and writing for posterity. This is reflected in the subject matter of The Creation (1798) and The Seasons (1801), which address such weighty topics as the meaning of life and the purpose of humankind, and represent an attempt to render the sublime in music. Haydn's new intentions also meant that he was willing to spend much time on a single work: both oratorios took him over a year to complete. Haydn once remarked that he had worked on The Creation so long because he wanted it to last.^[68]

The change in Haydn's approach was important in the history of classical music, as other composers were soon following his lead. Notably, Beethoven adopted the practice of taking his time and aiming high.^[69]

Identifying Haydn's works[link]

Haydn's works are listed in a comprehensive catalogue prepared by Anthony van Hoboken. This Hoboken catalogue provides each work with an identifying number, called its Hoboken number (abbreviation: H. or Hob.). The string quartets also have Hoboken numbers, but are usually identified instead by their opus numbers, which have the advantage of indicating the groups of six quartets that Haydn published together; thus for example the string quartet Opus 76, No. 3 is the third of the six quartets published in 1799 as Opus 76.

Media[link]

Symphony No. 101, the Clock Symphony, 2nd movement (Chamber Arrangement) Performed by the Amigos do JPC with Pedro Carlos Silva (piano) Sonata 62, Hoboken XVI:52, 1st movement Performed by Kristian Cvetković Sonata 62, Hoboken XVI:52, 2nd movement Performed by Kristian Cvetković Sonata 54, Hoboken XVI:40, 1st movement MIDI performance by Bernd Krueger Sonata 54, Hoboken XVI:40, 2nd movement MIDI performance by Bernd Krueger Cello Concerto in D, 1st movement Performed by orchestra with cellist John Michel Cello Concerto in D, 3rd movement Performed by orchestra with cellist John Michel

Problems listening to these files? See media help.

See also[link]

Works[link]

• Hoboken catalogue
• List of concertos by Joseph Haydn
• List of masses by Joseph Haydn
• List of operas by Joseph Haydn
• List of piano trios by Joseph Haydn
• List of solo piano compositions by Joseph Haydn
• List of string quartets by Joseph Haydn
• List of symphonies by Joseph Haydn
• Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser (God save Franz, the Emperor; the melody was later used in Das Lied der Deutschen, which is still Germany's national anthem.)
• The Creation
• The Seasons
• Baryton, for the baryton trios Haydn wrote for prince Nikolaus Esterházy

Contemporaries[link]

• Haydn and Mozart
• Beethoven and his contemporaries, i.e., Joseph Haydn
• Marianne von Martinez—as a child one of Haydn's first students; as an adult a friend and an eminent musician in her own right
• Johann Peter Salomon—organizer of the London journeys
• Gottfried van Swieten—the librettist of The Creation and The Seasons
• List of Austrians in music

Other topics[link]

• Haydn and folk music
• Haydn's head—how it was stolen after his death
• Joseph Haydn's ethnicity—an old controversy: was Haydn a Croatian?
• List of residences of Joseph Haydn
• "Papa" Haydn
• Mannersdorf am Leithagebirge—where Haydn visited and built his career during summer 1753

Notes[link]

References[link]

Biographical sources

• Dies, Albert Christoph (1963). "Biographical Accounts of Joseph Haydn". In Gotwals, Vernon, translator and editor. Haydn: Two Contemporary Portraits. Milwaukee: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0-299-02791-0.  A translation from the original German: "Biographische Nachrichten von Joseph Haydn nach mündlichen Erzählungen desselben entworfen und herausgegeben" ("Biographical accounts of Joseph Haydn, written and edited from his own spoken narratives") (1810). Camesinaische Buchhandlung, Vienna. One of the first biographies of Haydn, written on the basis of 30 interviews carried out during the composer's old age.
• Finscher, Ludwig (2000). Joseph Haydn und seine Zeit. Laaber: Laaber-Verlag. ISBN 3-921518-94-6.  Highly detailed discussion of life and work; in German.
• Geiringer, Karl; Geiringer, Irene (1982). Haydn: A Creative Life in Music (3rd ed.). University of California. ISBN 0-520-04316-2.  The first edition was published in 1946 with Karl Geiringer as the sole author.
• Griesinger, Georg August (1963). "Biographical Notes Concerning Joseph Haydn". In Gotwals, Vernon, translator and editor. Haydn: Two Contemporary Portraits. Milwaukee: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0-299-02791-0.  A translation from the original German: "Biographische Notizen über Joseph Haydn" (1810). Leipzig. Like Dies's, a biography produced from interviews with the elderly Haydn.
• Hadden, James Cuthbert (2010). Haydn (Reissue ed.). London: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 1-108-01987-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=0IXbsEBrSK0C&pg=PA106. 
• Hughes, Rosemary (1970). Haydn (Revised ed.). New York: Farrar Strauss and Giroux. ISBN 0-460-02281-4.  Originally published in 1950. Gives a sympathetic and witty account of Haydn's life, along with a survey of the music.
• Jones, David Wyn (2009a) The Life of Haydn. Oxford University Press. Focuses on biography rather than musical works; an up-to-date study benefiting from recent scholarly research on Haydn's life and times.
• Jones, David Wyn (2009b) Oxford Composer Companions: Haydn. Oxford University Press. A one-volume encyclopedia with detailed contributions from many Haydn scholars.
• Landon, H.C. Robbins (1976–1980). Haydn: Chronicle and Works. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-37003-5.  An extensive compilation of original sources in five volumes.
• Landon, H. C. Robbins; Jones, David Wyn (1988). Haydn: His Life and Music. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-37265-9.  Biography chapters by Robbins Landon, excerpted from Robbins Landon (1976–1980) and rich in original source documents. Analysis and appreciation of the works by Jones.
• Larsen, Jens Peter (1980). "Joseph Haydn". New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.  Published separately as The New Grove: Haydn. New York: Norton. 1982. ISBN 0-393-01681-1. 
• Webster, James; Feder, Georg (2001). "Joseph Haydn". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.  Published separately as a book: The New Grove Haydn. New York: Macmillan. 2002. ISBN 0-19-516904-2.  Careful scholarship with little subjective interpretation; covers both life and music, and includes a very detailed list of works.

Criticism and analysis sources

• Brendel, Alfred (2001). "Does classical music have to be entirely serious?". In Margalit, Edna; Margalit, Avishai. Isaiah Berlin: A Celebration. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 193–204. ISBN 0-226-84096-4.  On jokes in Haydn and Beethoven.
• Clark, Caryl, ed. (2005). The Cambridge Companion to Haydn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-83347-7.  Covers each of the genres Haydn composed in as well as stylistic and interpretive contexts and performance and reception.
• Griffiths, Paul (1983). The String Quartet. New York: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-01311-X. 
• Hughes, Rosemary (1966). Haydn String Quartets. London: BBC.  A brief (55 page) introduction to Haydn's string quartets.
• Rosen, Charles (1997). The classical style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven (2nd ed.). New York: Norton. ISBN 0-393-31712-9.  First edition published in 1971. Covers much of Haydn's output and seeks to explicate Haydn's central role in the creation of the classical style. The work has been influential, provoking both positive citation and work (e.g., Webster 1991) written in reaction.
• Sisman, Elaine (1993) Haydn and the classical variation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-38315-X.
• Sutcliffe, W. Dean (1989). "Haydn's Musical Personality". The Musical Times 130 (1756): 341–344. DOI:10.2307/966030. JSTOR 966030. 
• Sutcliffe, W. Dean (1992). Haydn, string quartets, op. 50. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-39103-2.  Covers not just Op. 50 but also its relevance to Haydn's other output as well as his earlier quartets.
• Webster, James (1991). Haydn’s "Farewell" symphony and the idea of classical style: through-composition and cyclic integration in his instrumental music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-38520-2.  This book focuses on a single work, but contains many observations and opinions about Haydn in general.

External links[link]

	Book: Joseph Haydn
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Joseph Haydn

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Joseph Haydn

Wikisource has the text of an Encyclopaedia Britannica (9th ed.) article about Joseph Haydn.

• Albert Christoph Dies: (German) Biographische Nachrichten von Joseph Haydn. Wien: Camesinaische Buchhandlung, 1810.
• Haydn's Late Oratorios: The Creation and The Seasons by Brian Robins
• Full text of the biography Haydn by J. Cuthbert Hadden, 1902, from Project Gutenberg. The end of book contains documentary material including a number of Haydn's letters. Alternatively scanned copy Haydn at archive.org.
• Works by or about Joseph Haydn in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• No Royal Directive: Joseph Haydn and the String Quartet by Ron Drummond
• musicologie.org, with biography (French)
• 'Haydn – Quartet in F minor, Op.20 No.5', Lecture by Professor Roger Parker, with the Badke Quartet, Gresham College, 8 April 2008 (available for video, audio and text download).
• Haydn anniversary page on Bachtrack, includes lists of live performances

Scores and recordings[link]

• Free scores by Joseph Haydn at the International Music Score Library Project
• Free scores by Joseph Haydn in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Free scores by Joseph Haydn in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• www.kreusch-sheet-music.net – Free Scores by Haydn
• Free scores at the Mutopia Project
• Works by Joseph Haydn at Project Gutenberg
• Kunst der Fuge: Franz Joseph Haydn – Hundreds of MIDI files
• Haydn's page at Classical Archives
• Franz Joseph Haydn on Naxos Records
• Haydn Symphonies from the British Library Sound Archive
• Complete recording of Joseph Haydns Pianosonatas on a sampled Walther Pianoforte
• Complete recording of Joseph Haydns Pianosonatas on a sampled Steinwy D

Franz Joseph I
Emperor Franz Joseph I around age 68, c. 1898
Emperor of Austria; Apostolic King of Hungary; King of Bohemia; King of Croatia; King of Galicia and Lodomeria; Grand Duke of Cracow
Reign	2 December 1848 – 21 November 1916
Predecessor	Ferdinand I
Successor	Charles I
Spouse	Empress Elisabeth of Austria
Issue
Archduchess Sophie Archduchess Gisela Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria Archduchess Marie Valerie
House	House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Father	Archduke Franz Karl of Austria
Mother	Princess Sophie of Bavaria
Born	(1830-08-18)18 August 1830 Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna
Died	21 November 1916(1916-11-21) (aged 86) Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna
Burial	Imperial Crypt
Signature

Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (German: Franz Joseph I., Hungarian: I. Ferenc József, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916. From 1 May 1850 until 24 August 1866 he was President of the German Confederation.^[1]

In December 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of Ministerpräsident Felix zu Schwarzenberg's plan to end the Revolutions of 1848 in Austria, which allowed Ferdinand's nephew Franz Joseph to ascend to the throne. Largely considered to be a reactionary, Franz Joseph spent his early reign resisting constitutionalism in his domains. The Austrian Empire was forced to cede most of its claim to Lombardy–Venetia to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia following the conclusion of the Second Italian War of Independence in 1859, and the Third Italian War of Independence in 1866. Although Franz Joseph ceded no territory to the Kingdom of Prussia after the Austrian defeat in the Austro-Prussian War, the Peace of Prague (23 August 1866) settled the German question in favor of Prussia, which prevented the unification of Germany under the House of Habsburg (Großdeutsche Lösung).^[2]

Franz Joseph was troubled by nationalism during his entire reign. He concluded the Ausgleich of 1867, which granted greater autonomy to Hungary, hence transforming the Austrian Empire into the Austro-Hungarian Empire under his Dual Monarchy. His domains were then ruled peacefully for the next 45 years, although Franz Joseph personally suffered the tragedies of the suicide of his son, the Crown Prince Rudolf in 1889, and the assassination of his wife, the Empress Elisabeth in 1898.

After the Austro-Prussian War, Austria-Hungary turned its attention to the Balkans, which was a hotspot of international tension due to conflicting interests with the Russian Empire. The Bosnian crisis was a result of Franz Joseph's annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908, which had been occupied by his troops since the Congress of Berlin (1878). On 28 June 1914, the assassination of the heir-presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, at the hands of Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist, resulted in Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against the Kingdom of Serbia, which was Russia's ally. This activated a system of alliances which resulted in World War I.

Franz Joseph died on 21 November 1916, after ruling his domains for almost 68 years. He was succeeded by his grand-nephew Karl.

Early life[link]

Imperial monogram

Franz Joseph was born in the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, the oldest son of Archduke Franz Karl (the younger son of Holy Roman Emperor Francis II), and his wife Princess Sophie of Bavaria. Because his uncle, from 1835 the Emperor Ferdinand, was weak-minded, and his father unambitious and retiring, the young Archduke "Franzl" was brought up by his mother as a future Emperor with emphasis on devotion, responsibility and diligence. Franzl came to idolise his grandfather, der Gute Kaiser Franz, who had died shortly before the former's fifth birthday, as the ideal monarch. At the age of 13, young Archduke Franz started a career as a colonel in the Austrian army. From that point onward, his fashion was dictated by army style and for the rest of his life he normally wore the uniform of a junior officer.

Franz Joseph was soon joined by three younger brothers: Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian (born 1832, the future Emperor Maximilian of Mexico); Archduke Karl Ludwig (born 1833), and Archduke Ludwig Viktor (born 1842), and a sister, Maria Anna (born 1835), who died at the age of four.

Following the resignation of the Chancellor Prince Metternich during the Revolutions of 1848, the young Archduke, who it was widely expected would soon succeed his uncle on the throne, was appointed Governor of Bohemia on 6 April, but never took up the post. Instead, Franz was sent to the front in Italy, joining Field Marshal Radetzky on campaign on 29 April, receiving his baptism of fire on 5 May at Santa Lucia. By all accounts he handled his first military experience calmly and with dignity. Around the same time, the Imperial Family was fleeing revolutionary Vienna for the calmer setting of Innsbruck, in Tyrol. Soon, the Archduke was called back from Italy, joining the rest of his family at Innsbruck by mid-June. It was at Innsbruck at this time that Franz Joseph first met his cousin Elisabeth, his future bride, then a girl of ten, but apparently the meeting made little impact.

Austrian Royalty House of Habsburg-Lorraine Francis I (Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor) Children include    Archduchess Marie Louise    Ferdinand I    Archduchess Maria Leopoldina    Archduchess Clementina    Archduke Franz Karl Grandchildren include    Franz Joseph I    Archduke Maximilian    Archduke Karl Ludwig    Archduke Ludwig Viktor Great-grandchildren include    Archduke Franz Ferdinand    Archduke Otto Franz Ferdinand I Franz Joseph I Children    Archduchess Sophie    Archduchess Gisela    Crown Prince Rudolf    Archduchess Marie Valerie Grandchildren include    Archduchess Elisabeth Marie Charles I Children include    Crown Prince Otto    Archduke Robert    Archduke Felix    Archduke Karl Ludwig    Archduke Rudolf Grandchildren include    Archduchess Andrea    Archduchess Monika    Archduchess Michaela    Archduchess Gabriela    Archduchess Walburga    Archduke Karl    Archduke Georg    Archduke Lorenz Great-Grandchildren include    Archduke Ferdinand Zvonimir    Archduke Amedeo

Following victory over the Italians at Custoza in late July, the court felt safe to return to Vienna, and Franz Joseph travelled with them. But within a few months Vienna again appeared unsafe, and in September the court left again, this time for Olmütz in Moravia. By now, Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, the influential military commander in Bohemia, was determined to see the young Archduke soon put onto the throne. It was thought that a new ruler would not be bound by the oaths to respect constitutional government to which Ferdinand had been forced to agree, and that it was necessary to find a young, energetic emperor to replace the kindly, but mentally unfit Emperor.

It was thus at Olmütz on 2 December that, by the abdication of his uncle Ferdinand and the renunciation of his father, the mild-mannered Franz Karl, Franz Joseph succeeded as Emperor of Austria. It was at this time that he first became known by his second as well as his first Christian name. The name "Franz Joseph" was chosen deliberately to bring back memories of the new Emperor's great-granduncle, Emperor Joseph II, remembered as a modernising reformer.

Imperial absolutism, 1848–1860[link]

Franz Joseph I. as young man in 1851, Johann Ranzi

Under the guidance of the new prime minister Prince Schwarzenberg, the new emperor at first pursued a cautious course, granting a constitution in early 1849. At the same time, military campaigns were necessary against the Hungarians, who had rebelled against Habsburg central authority under the name of their ancient liberties. Franz Joseph was also almost immediately faced with a renewal of the fighting in Italy, with King Charles Albert of Sardinia taking advantage of setbacks in Hungary to resume the war in March 1849. Soon, though, the military tide began to turn in favor of Franz Joseph and the Austrian whitecoats. Almost immediately, Charles Albert was decisively beaten by Radetzky at Novara, and forced both to sue for peace and to abdicate his throne. In Hungary, the situation was more grave and Austrian defeat was quite possible. Franz Joseph, sensing a need to secure his right to rule sought help from Russia, requesting the intervention of Tsar Nicholas I, in order "to prevent the Hungarian insurrection developing into a European calamity."^[3] Russian troops entered Hungary in support of the Austrians and the revolution was crushed by late summer of 1849. With order now restored throughout the Empire, Franz Joseph felt free to go back on the constitutional concessions he had made, especially as the Austrian parliament, meeting at Kremsier, had behaved, in the young Emperor's view, abominably. The 1849 constitution was suspended, and a policy of absolutist centralism was established, guided by the Minister of the Interior, Alexander Bach.

The next few years saw the seeming recovery of Austria's position on the international scene following the near disasters of 1848–1849. Under Schwarzenberg's guidance, Austria was able to stymie Prussian scheming to create a new German Federation under Prussian leadership, excluding Austria. After Schwarzenberg's premature death in 1852, he could not be replaced by statesmen of equal stature, and the Emperor effectively took over himself as prime minister.

Assassination attempt in 1853[link]

Assassination attempt on the Emperor, 1853

On 18 February 1853, the Emperor survived an assassination attempt by Hungarian nationalist János Libényi. The emperor was taking a stroll with one of his officers, Maximilian Karl Lamoral O'Donnell, on a city-bastion, when Libényi approached him. He immediately struck the emperor from behind with a knife straight at the neck. Franz Joseph almost always wore a uniform, which had a high collar that almost completely enclosed the neck. The collar of the uniforms at that time was made out of very sturdy material exactly to counter this kind of attack. Even though the Emperor was wounded and bleeding, the collar saved his life. Count O'Donnell (descendant of the Irish noble dynasty O'Donnell of Tyrconnell^[4]) struck Libényi down with his sabre.^[5] O'Donnell, hitherto only a Count by virtue of his Irish nobility, was thereafter made a Count of the Habsburg Empire, conferred with the Commander's Cross of the Royal Order of Leopold, and his customary O'Donnell arms were augmented by the initials and shield of the ducal House of Austria, with additionally the double-headed eagle of the Empire. These arms are emblazoned on the portico of no. 2 Mirabel Platz in Salzburg, where O'Donnell built his residence thereafter. Another witness who happened to be nearby, the butcher Joseph Ettenreich, quickly overwhelmed Libényi. For his deed he was later elevated to nobility by the Emperor and became Joseph von Ettenreich. Libényi was subsequently put on trial and condemned to death for attempted regicide. He was executed on the Simmeringer Heide. After this unsuccessful attack, the Emperor's brother Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph, later Emperor of Mexico, called upon Europe's royal families for donations to a new church on the site of the attack. The church was to be a votive offering for the survival of the Emperor. It is located on Ringstraße in the district of Alsergrund close to the University of Vienna, and is known as the Votivkirche.

Family life[link]

Franz Joseph I. with his family

It was generally felt in the court that the Emperor should marry and produce heirs as soon as possible. Various potential brides were considered: Princess Elisabeth of Modena, Princess Anna of Prussia and Princess Sidonia of Saxony.^[6] Although in public life the Emperor was the unquestioned director of affairs, in his private life his formidable mother still had a crucial influence. She wanted to strengthen the relationship between the Houses of Habsburg and Wittelsbach, and hoped to match Franz Joseph with her sister Ludovika's eldest daughter, Helene ("Nené"), four years the Emperor's junior. However, the Emperor became besotted with Nené's younger sister, Elisabeth ("Sisi"), a girl of sixteen, and insisted on marrying her instead. Sophie acquiesced, despite some misgivings about Sisi's appropriateness as an imperial consort, and the young couple were married on 24 April 1854 in St. Augustine's Church, Vienna.

Their married life was not happy. Sisi never really adapted herself to the court and always had disagreements with the Imperial Family; their first daughter Sophie died as an infant; and their only son, Crown Prince Rudolf, died by suicide in 1889, in the infamous Mayerling Incident. The Empress was an inveterate traveller, horsewoman, and fashion maven who was rarely seen in Vienna. She was stabbed to death by an Italian anarchist in 1898; Franz Joseph never fully recovered from the loss. According to the future Empress-Consort Zita of Bourbon-Parma he usually told his relatives: "You'll never know how important she was to me" or, according to some sources, "You will never know how much I loved this woman." (although there is no definite proof he actually said this).

The 1850s witnessed several failures of Austrian external policy: the Crimean War and break-up with Russia, and defeat in the Second Italian War of Independence. The setbacks continued in the 1860s with defeat in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, which resulted in the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867.

Political difficulties in Austria mounted continuously through the late 1800s and into the 20th century. But Franz Joseph remained immensely respected. His patriarchal authority held the Empire together while the politicians squabbled.

Later reign and death[link]

In 1885 Franz Joseph met Katharina Schratt, a leading actress of the Vienna stage, and she became his mistress. This relationship lasted the rest of his life, and was, to a certain degree, tolerated by Sisi. Franz Joseph built Villa Schratt in Bad Ischl for her, and also provided her with a small palace in Vienna.

After the death of Rudolf, the heir to the throne was his nephew Archduke Franz Ferdinand. When Franz Ferdinand decided to marry a mere countess, Franz Joseph opposed the marriage strenuously, and insisted that it must be morganatic; he did not even attend the wedding. After that, the two men disliked and distrusted each other.

Tomb of Franz Joseph I, in the Imperial Crypt, Vienna

In 1903, Franz Joseph's veto of Cardinal Rampolla's election to the papacy was transmitted to the conclave by Cardinal Jan Puzyna. It was the last use of such a veto, because new Pope Pius X provided penalties for such.

In 1914, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo, leading to World War I. When he heard the news of the assassination, Franz Joseph said that "in this manner a superior power has restored that order which I unfortunately was unable to maintain."

Franz Joseph died in the Schönbrunn Palace in 1916, aged 86, in the middle of the war. He was succeeded by his grand-nephew Karl. But two years later, after defeat in World War I, the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was dissolved.^[7]

His 68-year reign is the third-longest in the recorded history of Europe (after those of Louis XIV of France and Johannes II, Prince of Liechtenstein).

Gallery[link]

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  Franz Joseph with his mother Princess Sophie of Bavaria

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  The young Franz Joseph by Miklós Barabás

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  The young Emperor Franz Joseph in 1855

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  Franz Joseph wearing the uniform of an Austrian Field Marshal

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  Emperor Franz Joseph being greeted, circa 1910

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  Emperor Franz Joseph with Karl and Otto of Habsburg-Lorraine in 1915

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  Franz Joseph and his wife Elisabeth as young couple in 1855

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  Franz Joseph and his mother Sophie of Bavaria in 1848

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  Franz Joseph in 1910

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  Emperor Franz Joseph in 1910

Issue[link]