Joseph Haydn Stamps

This article features my collection of Joseph Haydn stamps. Composers are very popular on stamps. In fact, 2022 marks a century for composer stamps. The very first composer stamps are from Austria in 1922, exactly one hundred years ago. Check out my article about special stamp set that was meant to raise money for the Musicians’ Fund, helping needy musicians.

While there are many stamps from around the world that feature composers, there are only a handful of composers that appear on stamps from more than one country. That list is especially small. It is not a great mystery, it includes all the usual suspects like Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. Of course, these composers are household names and are popular across the world. Therefore, they appear on stamps from their home countries (like Germany and Austria) as well as many others where their music is popular.

Another of these “household name” composers is Franz Joseph Haydn. Certainly, Haydn is a popular topic on stamps, and that is without including a lot of modern stamps from countries who create the stamps mostly for American and European collectors. I tend to not collect a lot of those type of stamps. However, given his place in the western canon of composers, it is a bit surprising (to me) that there are not more Haydn stamps.

Franz Joseph Haydn

Born in Rohrau, Austria on March 31, 1732, Franz Joseph Haydn grew up in a non-musical household. His father, Mathias, was a wheelwright and his mother a former palace cook. However, his father was a great music lover and a folk musician and self-taught harpist. Haydn must have shown early musical talent, as at the age of six, he was sent to live with his relative Johann Matthias Frankh, who was a choirmaster in Hainburg, to train as a musician. In that household, Haydn learned to play violin and harpsichord, as well as sang in the church choir. His singing was so impressive that it was brought to the attention of the director of music in St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. As a result, haydn moved to Vienna in 1740 where he worked as a chorister for nine years.

After 1745, another boy in the choir was his younger brother, Michael Haydn. After maturing to the point where he could no longer sing treble parts in the boys choir, Franz Haydn pursued a career as a freelance musician in Vienna. He had a variety of music positions, teaching, accompanying the Italian composer Nicola Porpora, and serving as an organist in the Bohemian Chancellery chapel.

Haydn did not receive formal musical training while he was a chorister, so he began to teach himself music theory and composition. He worked through counterpoint exercises and studied the work of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. At the same time, Haydn was composing lots of music, even writing his first opera. With his increasing skills and reputation, he even began to play at court and draw wealthy patrons to hire him.

Esterhazy

In 1757, Haydn was hired as the music director for Count Morzin’s household. Here, he led a small orchestra and began writing symphonies for them to play. The security of this position allowed Haydn to marry in 1760. However, the following year, Morzin’s financial situation fell apart. Luckily, Haydn found employment in a similar position for Prince Paul Anton of the Esterhazy family. Although he was initially only the Vice-Kapellmeister, he was in charge of most of the music except for church services. In 1766, he became the full Kapellmeister.

Haydn had huge responsibilities in the Esterhazy court: running the orchestra, playing chamber music, composing music for concerts and church services, and eventually presenting operas. It was the security of this position, and the access to outstanding musicians, that gave Haydn the opportunity to write prolific amounts of music. The composer would serve more than thirty years in some capacity for the Esterhazy family.

Growing Fame

In 1779, Haydn was able to renegotiate his contract with the court. Previously, all of the music he wrote was the property of the family. Instead, as of that year, he was able to retain ownership of his own music and sell it to publishers. As a result, Haydn began to write many more saleable works, including string quartets and symphonies. His music was popular throughout Europe and by 1790, Haydn was the most famous living composer on the continent. Although rather remote from Vienna, Haydn was able to find time to get to the “Music City” and became friends with musicians there, most notably Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

With the death of his patron, Prince Nikolaus in 1790, Haydn had much reduced responsibilities. He took the opportunity to travel to London where his music was extraordinarily popular. Audiences there loved Haydn and the composer made large profits through concerts and sales of his music. He remained there for a year and returned in 1794-95.

Return to Vienna

Upon his return to Vienna, Haydn was a full blown celebrity. He was able to turn his attention to writing his two great oratorios, The Creation and The Seasons. In the summers, he returned to work for the Esterhazy’s in Eisenstadt. During the 1790s he also wrote masses and the last of his string quartets and became friends with the young composer Ludwig van Beethoven. However, by 1803, Haydn’s health was declining and preventing him from composing or playing music. He lingered on for several more years, dying on May 31, 1809.

The Stamps

For a composer with such an immense output and international reputation, it is no surprise that Haydn has been depicted on many stamps. The very first depiction of Haydn on a stamp comes from the Austrian Musicians Fund issue of composer stamps in 1922. The set includes seven composers all of whom had an association with Austria.

The image on this stamp is from the Thomas Hardy portrait of the composer painted in 1792 and owned by the Royal College of Music in London.

1959 – 150th Anniversary of Haydn’s Death

As in many other cases, the anniversary years of Haydn are when we find the most stamps. Specifically, the 150th anniversary of Haydn’s death in 1959 saw a number of Haydn stamps from Europe. My favorite (and perhaps my favorite Haydn stamp) is the issue from Austria.

The designer of the stamp was Adelbert Pilch and the engraver of the was Rudolf Toth. It places a strong image of Haydn, with a strong jawline, pronounced nose, and big eyebrows, in front of neoclassical columns. It both emphasizes the fact that Haydn was a classical composer and creates a comparison with ancient heroes. He is definitely a heroic composer in this stamp. It is most likely based on an unidentified sketch of Haydn, but Pilch seems to have redrawn the face, making it look less like what we think of Haydn’s appearance.

Hungary

Hungary also can claim Haydn as a favorite son as the composer was born in Rohrau on the border of the two countries that at the time were one empire. In 1959, Hungary made three stamps honoring Haydn, one with his portrait, which looks like it is taken from a bust that I cannot identify. The second stamp depicts sheets of music and Haydn’s monogram “h.” The third stamp depicts the palace at Esterhazy where Haydn worked. I have the trio of stamps on a cover. The stamps exist in both perforated and imperforated forms.

Czechoslovakia

Another country that created a Haydn stamp in 1959 was Czechoslovakia. This is a less succesful stamp, with a rather sloppy portrait of Haydn. It is done in a style that looks a little more caricaturish or cartoonish.

USSR

For me, the surprise in my collection was a stamp from the USSR in 1959. Once again, it depicts the Haydn from the Hardy portrait at the Royal college of music, but the detail is not terribly good. It is an interesting stamp, but not one of the more successful Haydn depictions.

Germany

Finally, the last stamp in my collection from Haydn’s 150th death anniversary year of 1959 comes from Germany. It features a nicer portrait design, again from the Hardy portrait, though just the face (a little spooky). To the right is Haydn’s name and his death date of May 31, 1809. This stamp was a part of a set celebrating the opening of the Beethovenhalle in Bonn that year. In addition to Haydn, the set includes Beethoven, Handel, Spohr, and Mendelssohn.

Austria 1982

The latest Haydn stamp in my collection is from 1982. It is from Austria on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of Haydn’s birth. It also celebrates the exhibition “Joseph Haydn in His Time” in Eisenstadt that year. Once again, the design for this Austria stamp is by Adalbert Pilch and the engraver was Rudolf Toth, the same pair responsible for the 1959 Austrian stamp above. Its unclear what portrait they may be referencing in this stamp design where Haydn is in front of a large building (maybe an Esterhazy building?). His image is inside of a circle that has ornate framing. It is a less successful design than Pilch and Toth’s earlier stamp.

Haydn Death Bicentennial

Another Haydn anniversary took place in 2009. That was the year of the bicentennial anniversary of his death and the above stamp from Hungary commemorated this anniversary. There is no image of the composer, only a piano keyboard and the composer’s name and life dates. On a part of the keyboard, the black piano keys spell out his last name.

Check back as I will surely add Haydn stamps to this collection!

Finally, one of the unusual instruments Haydn wrote for was the baryton. This instrument that you hold and bow like a cello also has open strings you pluck. It is an unusual sound so make sure to check it ou!