Awarding of Honorary Doctorate to Joseph Haydn
- When
- 1790–1791
- Where
- Vienna to England via Calais
- Episodes
- 1
In July 1791, during his first visit to England, Austrian composer Joseph Haydn received an honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford. The award followed the end of Salomon's London concert series and was marked by a performance of Haydn's Symphony No. 92, later known as the Oxford Symphony.
Episodes
Background and detail
Background. Haydn had spent decades as a duty-bound Kapellmeister for the Esterházy princes, who gave him daily access to his own small orchestra. With the death of his patron Nikolaus Esterházy in 1790, Haydn became free to travel, and by then he was regarded as Europe's leading composer.
Journey to England. After fond farewells from Mozart and other friends, Haydn departed Vienna with Salomon on 15 December 1790, crossing the English Channel from Calais on New Year's Day of 1791. The 1791–1792 journey, like a repeat visit in 1794–1795, proved greatly successful.
The Oxford Award. The end of Salomon's concert series in June 1791 gave Haydn a rare period of relative leisure, part of which he spent travelling, notably to Oxford, where the university awarded him an honorary doctorate. The symphony performed for the occasion, No. 92, had been written in 1789 but has since been known as the Oxford Symphony.
People involved
- Joseph Haydn · Austrian composer and recipient of the honorary doctorate
- Salomon · Organizer of the London concert series with whom Haydn travelled to England
Sources
- Joseph Haydn Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-28
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