As a composer, one can’t do much better than to be graced with the magnificent titles of “Father of the Symphony” and “Father of the String Quartet.” Franz Joseph Haydn earned each of them. He composed prodigiously in both genres, and undoubtedly neither would be the same without him. Yet for all that, the 18th-century composer does not have anywhere near the same kind of name recognition as does Mozart or Beethoven. One might conjecture that, unlike those other spell-bounding names, Haydn simply wasn’t very popular in his own day — and perhaps that contributes to his relative unfamiliarity to us now.
This was most certainly not the case, however, for Haydn was enormously popular during his lifetime. But it is quite in tune with the facts to say that Haydn did not possess the larger-than-life personality of Mozart, or the pensive moodiness of Beethoven. We tend to think of geniuses — musical or otherwise — as having fabulously idiosyncratic, or difficult, or bloated personalities. Perhaps all three. But Haydn was apparently a rather normal person — a bit of a jokester, practical-minded, and generally of good-spirits. He was, it seems, an everyday kind of person — though with exceptional genius.
In Search of Haydn (2012), directed by Phil Grabsky, shines the spotlight on this lesser-known musical giant as well as the world in which he lived and worked. Taking us from his birthplace of Rohrau, to the capital city of Vienna, to the magnificent buildings of the Court of Esterhazy, to the metropolis of London, Grabsky’s film puts Haydn’s 18th-century world right in front of our eyes. It also features dozens of musical performances, including a bit of Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto, which was a kind of “amalgamation of everything he did,” according to Alison Balsom (who plays the selection in the film). A bevy of other musicians, conductors, and historians appear throughout In Search of Haydn.
The film’s principal strength is that it’s packed full of information. Its weakness — one of them — is that it very often lacks spark. One would be hard-pressed to describe this as an absorbing or electrifying film, despite its excellent content. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine In Search of Haydn grabbing the attention of viewers who aren’t already interested in learning something about a long-dead composer. (The lack of explosive events in Haydn’s life certainly won’t help this.)
The film begins with Hadyn’s origins. Born in 1732, the man who would one day acquire an international reputation grew up in modest circumstances in the village of Rohrau. His father, thankfully, imbued the family home with an atmosphere of music; and it was there that Haydn first developed not only into a musician, but, even more so during this time, a singer.
A pivotal moment in Haydn’s childhood came when he had the opportunity to develop his singing abilities while also receiving an education at St. Stephens. The environment was far from joyous or privileged, but it served the young Haydn well. After his voice dropped, his life departed from a path of singing, but it was a life permeated virtually non-stop with music: playing, composing, teaching.
For many years, Haydn lived more or less the life of a freelancer, as one expert puts it. It was a grinding type of existence, but one which Haydn seems not to have frowned upon or regretted. In any case, the trajectory of his career steadily rose. By the end of his life he found himself twice in London — where he was warmly received and treated as the celebrity that he was — composing some of his greatest symphonies. Before that, however, Haydn was in the service of the court of Esterhazy for decades.
In Haydn’s day, there were of course no online platforms in which an artist could independently — and quite easily — get one’s work out to the world, let alone earn a living from doing so. No matter how talented one might have been — and Haydn was the best of the best — elite patronage was absolutely critical during his day.
Fortunately, the composer’s many years spent in the Esterhazy court seem to have been fairly conducive and pleasant. He worked prodigiously and nearly non-stop (a way of life that he rather miraculously maintained for decades), and his salary increased.
Life as Kapellmeister for the court, however, had its various taxing demands. Under Prince Nikolaus I — who liked to indulge in a kind of one-upmanship with the emperor — Haydn spent considerable time at a newly-built, and fabulously spectacular, palace. Known as the “Hungarian Versaille,” this might sound like a treat for Haydn. But the palace was located some distance from Eisenstadt, and the travel and time away from home took its toll on the musicians. Finally, Hadyn had the good sense (and tack) to indirectly express to the Prince these sentiments. Fortunately, “the Prince got the hint, and they returned to Eisenstadt.”
A high point of his career came towards the end of his life. The successor to Prince Nikolaus wasn’t nearly as inclined to keep up an active music scene at the court; this gave Haydn a kind of freedom he had virtually never experienced. During this time, a man by the name of Johann Salom offered Haydn a handsome sum of money to bring his musical genius to London. Haydn accepted, and on two separate occasions he spent a lengthy amount of time there. But ultimately there’s no place like home, and Austria was home for Haydn. He died in Vienna, in 1809.
Grabsky has produced some truly excellent films, but one too many things feel out of balance in this one. Its pitfalls — thankfully, at least — aren’t the kind of absurd “errors” which commonly plague far too many documentaries — e.g., hyper-caffeinated, hand-gesturing TV presenters that seem to think viewers care more about them than the subject of the documentary. Rest assured, that’s not the case here.
Rather, In Search of Haydn stumbles because it never really settles into a comfortable rhythm or manner of presentation. It starts off strong — clear, focused, entertaining — but as its 90-plus minutes tick away, one is likely to feel a bit of unease or restlessness. Its energy level, for instance, all but comes to a screeching halt in a couple of places; and even aside from these lackluster segments, the film never really musters up much steam. Relatedly, some scenes, even if short, feel flat or unnecessary.
But perhaps what contributes more than anything to the film’s sometimes awkward feel is the plethora of scenes featuring experts pontificating on some piece of Haydn’s music. These scenes are a blessing and a curse for the film. While they intimately acquaint viewers with Haydn’s music and offer insightful analyses, they also have the unfortunate effect of being somewhat overwhelming. There are simply far too many experts and musicians that appear in the film (it becomes disorienting, quite frankly).
Furthermore, while the analyses and conversational commentary can be enlightening, the scenes in which they appear are frequently clumsy in nature or excessive in number. Case in point: numerous times we’re plopped down next to this or that pianist, who proceeds to offer his remarks about a specific passage of Haydn’s — how, for example, certain elements are working together, or how he (the pianist) has thought about this piece of music for many years. That’s all perfectly well and fine for a bit, but after a while scenes of this nature grow tedious.
Some of the problems mentioned above might stem partly from the film not having an overly clear idea about what kind of audience it wants to reach. That said, any documentary that strives to reach as broad an audience as possible while still being educational and smart, is deserving of points.
In Search of Haydn isn’t the smoothest or most engrossing of documentaries, but it does offer a lot of substance. If one can overlook — and stay awake during — its handful of awkward scenes and lethargic moments, one will come away from it knowing a considerable amount about the man whom Mozart and Beethoven so deeply admired.
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In Search of Haydn. DVD. philgrabskyfilms.com & Seventh Art Productions, 2012.
Spectatio 