Haydn's name

Haydn's birth register (click to enlarge)

The name of the composer Joseph Haydn had many forms, following customs of naming prevalent in his time.

Baptismal names and the use of "Franz"

Haydn was baptized shortly after his birth, on 1 April 1732. The baptismal record indicates that he was given the names Franciscus Josephus; these are Latinized versions of the German names Franz Joseph, often used today to refer to Haydn.^[1]

Both Franz and Joseph are names of saints whose saint's days fell close to Haydn's birth date. The choice of such saint's names followed the common practice of Roman Catholicism (the parents' religion) in Haydn's time. Franz designates the saint Francis of Paola, whose saint's day is 2 April, and Joseph designates Joseph the husband of Mary, whose saint's day is 19 March.^[2]

In later life, Haydn "hardly ever"^[3] used the name Franz. Jones (2009:3) explains the situation thus: "As was frequently the practice in Austria, Haydn's parents gave their children two Christian names, the second of which was routinely used."

Foreign-language versions of "Joseph"

Haydn's signature on a musical work, in Italian and using the Italian version of his name: di me giuseppe Haydn, "by me Joseph Haydn".

A contemporary musical edition of three Haydn quartets, with "Giuseppe Haydn".

Although Haydn normally called himself Joseph Haydn, he also used two foreign-language versions of his name. On legal documents and letters, he often used the Latinized version Josephus. In musical contexts—such as the signature on manuscripts of his music—Haydn referred to himself with the Italian version of his name, which is Giuseppe.^[4] Haydn was himself a fluent speaker of Italian (since in his employment he worked constantly with musicians from Italy) and evidently felt that Italian as the "language of music" was the appropriate choice for rendering his name in musical contexts.^[5]

Childhood

As a child Haydn was addressed with a diminutive form of his name, Sepperl.^[6] This form employs the Austrian diminutive suffix -erl, seen elsewhere, for instance, in the childhood name of Mozart's sister Nannerl. The base form Sepp likely originates in an infantile pronunciation of the second syllable of Joseph.^[7]

Modern usage

Contemporary usage concerning Haydn's name is split. Some commercial use, for example on recordings and published scores, adopts the full name Franz Joseph Haydn. Other publishers, and most scholarly researchers, follow Haydn's own usage and omit the "Franz".^{[citation needed]} Haydn scholar James Webster, in the opening of his article on Haydn in the New Grove, goes so far as to encourage his readers to drop the "Franz": "Neither [Haydn] nor his contemporaries used the name Franz, and there is no reason to do so today."^[8]

The spelling Josef is sometimes found. This is evidently not historically authentic but is an adaptation of the original to what is now the standard spelling for this name in German.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Papa Haydn

Notes

1. ↑ Jones (2009:3)
2. ↑ Jones (2009:3)
3. ↑ Jones (2009:3)
4. ↑ Jones (2009:3)
5. ↑ For background on how Italian came to be the "language of music" -- especially in Haydn's own milieu -- see Salzman and Desi (2008:79).
6. ↑ Geiringer (1983, 10)
7. ↑ See Phonological development#Segment substitution processes .28into the early school years.29
8. ↑ New Grove, article "Haydn, Joseph", section 1. On line edition.

References

• Geiringer, Karl (1983) Joseph Haydn: A creative life in music. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Jones, David Wyn (2009) The life of Haydn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Salzman, Eric and Thomas Desi (2008) The new music theater: Seeing the voice, hearing the body. Oxford: Oxford University Press.