Variations in C Major, P. 132, MH 108a (Haydn)
Movements
Notes
Johann Michael Haydn was an Austrian composer of the Classical period, the younger brother of Joseph Haydn. Like his brother, Michael Haydn became a choirboy at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, receiving his early musical instruction there.
During his lifetime Michael Haydn was considered a better composer of church music than his brother. He was an intimate friend of Mozart (who wrote his violin-viola duos to fulfil a commission Haydn was too ill to complete) and was a teacher of Carl Maria von Weber. After his death, Haydn’s reputation suffered a long eclipse, and it was not until after World War II that his merit was again recognized.