Joseph Haydn was born in 1732. He was the second of twelve children to Mathias and Anna
Maria Haydn, of whom only six survived infancy. Neither of his parents had any musical talent,
but the family would have musical evenings where Mathias would try to play the harp, while the
rest of the family sung.
His first chance of musical advancement came when a relative, Johann Mathias Franck,
visited the family in 1738. Franck was the headmaster at the school in Hainburg and director of
music at the parish church of St Philip and St James. He took Joseph away and started giving
him tutorials. Although fascinated by the new sights and sounds, Haydn did not have a very
happy childhood in the Franck household, nor did he have an easy time at school under Franck's
tutelage since Franck's preferred teaching method was to bash knowledge into the heads of
pupils.
Despite the unpleasant aspects of life in Hainburg, Haydn made significant musical
progress. He learnt to play musical instruments and became a very good singer. Long after he
left Hainburg, Haydn recalled:
I have to honour this man, even though he is long dead, for teaching me so many
different things, even though I got more thrashings than food in the process.
