Page:Pratt - The history of music (1907).djvu/347



He left a considerable property, carefully bequeathed to relatives and the many persons who had shown him kindness.

145. His Works and Style.—Haydn was first of all an instrumental composer, primarily for the chamber or orchestral ensemble. His style was matured in this field, as Bach's was in that of the organ. It is his achievements here that have given him his place in history. Yet he was also an accomplished writer of vocal music, including masses, oratorios, operas and songs. In addition he contributed worthily to clavier literature. The total number of his works must be over 1000 (depending on how the count is made), of which fully two-thirds are instrumental. The one prominent field that he did not enter was that of organ music, and, as will be seen, his predilections led him away from certain customary methods in several of the fields he did cultivate. So far as his experience and opportunities went, he compassed the whole range of musical effort, but his position as an Austrian, with his isolation until past middle life, kept him from feeling various strong influences that were at work elsewhere.

87.—Baryton or Viola di bordone, having sympathetic strings like the viola d'amore.

Without attempting an exhaustive summary, the following statistics are useful. Among his nearly 700 instrumental works are 125 symphonies (for an orchestra varying in size from strings with 2 oboes and 2 horns up to the full band, including clarinets), 30 trios, 77 quartets, about 100 pieces for various chamber combinations, 31 concertos for sundry solo instruments, 175 solos for baryton (Prince Esterhazy's favorite instrument), about 50 sonatas and similar works for clavier alone, and as many for clavier with other instruments. Of these, many of the symphonies, with the trios and quartets, are the most important. (A number of the symphonies are