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A Friend Of Haydn: Among the rest of Haydn's chamber music, the more than 40 trios for piano, violin, and cello deserve mention. The G-Major Trio, with its fiery rondo-finale "all'Ongarese," is a general favorite. Haydn also wrote more than 50 sonatas for the piano, of which the last four, composed in the 1790's, are the most important. Also notable are his poignant piano variations in F Minor, written on the death of a beloved friend.
Haydn's most popular compositions are his oratories. The Seven Words of the Savior on the Cross (1794-1796), adding texts to an earlier instrumental work, was successful in Haydn's lifetime. The Creation (1798), based on the Bible and Milton's Paradise Lost, and The Seasons (1801), based on James Thomson's poem, have kept their vitality undiminished, combining awe-inspiring grandeur with charm and humor.
In early manhood he made triumphantly successful tours of Italy, France and England. Elected leader of Bologna's town orchestra in 1815, he was afterward director of the orchestra of that city's Basilica di S. Pietro and professor of violin at the Liceo Filarmonico. A friend of Haydn, Beethoven, and Romberg, his career was cut short by a fatal accident. His compositions include chamber music, a violin concerto and six or seven operas.
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