# Do you prefer the music of Haydn or Mozart? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 1, 2009, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-prefer-the-music-of-haydn-or-mozart/491555 "2009-04-01T06:25:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-prefer-the-music-of-haydn-or-mozart/491555/1 "2009-04-01T06:25:17Z")
This is a poll, but since it is about music, I’m posting it in the Cafe. Today was Haydn’s birthday and I heard a great deal of his music. I strongly prefer the music of Haydn over Mozart. Mozart is a genius and he is an amazing composer. Mozart certainly did more in opera and his concertos are better. Still, I love Haydn’s symphonies and his string quartets. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-prefer-the-music-of-haydn-or-mozart/491555/2 "2009-04-01T06:39:56Z")
Haydn ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-prefer-the-music-of-haydn-or-mozart/491555/3 "2009-04-01T06:53:07Z")
Mozart. I never get tired of his music, like I do with Haydn (who wrote the same symphony 104 times). ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-prefer-the-music-of-haydn-or-mozart/491555/4 "2009-04-01T07:35:15Z")
Symphonies: Haydn Other orchestral works: Mozart Concertos: Mozart String quartets: Haydn Other chamber music: Mozart Piano works: Mozart Vocal works: Mozart Overall, I’d say Mozart. He also wrote at least one piece that woulkd end up in my classical music top 100 (the clarinet concerto), whereas Haydn would probably not make that list. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-prefer-the-music-of-haydn-or-mozart/491555/5 "2009-04-01T08:12:44Z")
Haydn for Symphonies. Mozart for everything else (and overall). ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-prefer-the-music-of-haydn-or-mozart/491555/6 "2009-04-01T14:42:50Z")
No strong persoal opinion, but my daughter is currently a college junior studying music ed. Piano is her primary instrument. And Haydn is by far her favorite composer. It seems that more often than not when I hear her playing a particularly lovely piece and ask her who wrote it, she responds Haydn. Of course, that may reflect her choices… ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-prefer-the-music-of-haydn-or-mozart/491555/7 "2009-04-01T14:50:47Z")
Both are OK, but give me Beethoven or Bach. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-prefer-the-music-of-haydn-or-mozart/491555/8 "2009-04-01T15:07:01Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Both are OK, but give me Beethoven or Bach. Ok, then give me Rachmaninoff (today’s birthday boy, at 136). ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-prefer-the-music-of-haydn-or-mozart/491555/9 "2009-04-01T15:11:45Z")
**Mozart**. Haydn’s ‘cute’, at best. > [@panache45](#): > > like I do with Haydn (who wrote the same symphony 104 times) Well, he did fit a surprise in one. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > Both are OK, but give me Beethoven or Bach Amen. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-prefer-the-music-of-haydn-or-mozart/491555/10 "2009-04-01T15:36:32Z")
Mozart, hands down. Haydn has some marvelous symphonies and chamber pieces, but for sheer variety (of genre, of tone, of complexity), I gotta go with Wolfgang. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-prefer-the-music-of-haydn-or-mozart/491555/11 "2009-04-01T15:51:49Z")
Mozart at his best hits heights that Haydn never reached. It would be overstating things, but would still contain at least a bit of truth, to say that Mozart wrote poetry, Haydn wrote prose. Haydn’s like the popular author who cranks out dozens of volumes of readable, reliable entertainment. Haydn’s music as a whole has given me a great deal of pleasure, maybe even more than Mozart’s music as a whole, and I’ve never met a Haydn piece I didn’t like, and I admire his ability to produce such a quantity of music (some great, some good, some merely pleasant). But Mozart is the greater genius. Comparing Haydn’s greatest works to Mozart’s, Haydn’s are probably easier to enjoy on first listen; Mozart’s reward repeated hearings. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-prefer-the-music-of-haydn-or-mozart/491555/12 "2009-04-01T15:56:56Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Both are OK, but give me Beethoven or Bach. You + Charlotte = beer ---
**Author:** ![vdgg81](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3d9bf3/32.png) [@vdgg81](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vdgg81)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-prefer-the-music-of-haydn-or-mozart/491555/13 "2009-04-01T18:16:57Z")
I’ll side with everybody else and go with Mozart. Haydn has some lovely, sophisticate music and if I’m in the mood for a classical symphony I’ll probably go with one of his, but for everything else except maybe the string quartets I’m much happier with Mozart. I’d trade everything Haydn for just _Don Giovanni_ any day. ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-prefer-the-music-of-haydn-or-mozart/491555/14 "2009-04-01T18:29:00Z")
Haydn. but I do also love mozart. ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-prefer-the-music-of-haydn-or-mozart/491555/15 "2009-04-01T18:58:21Z")
I’ll give Haydn the string quartets but go with Mozart for everything else. (BTW Bach’s B-day was last week. Seems a lot of good composers were born around this time of year.). ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-prefer-the-music-of-haydn-or-mozart/491555/16 "2009-04-01T19:22:23Z")
I hate hate hate hate hate hate HATE Haydn. Just this evening, I successfully conveyed the character of a piece of his to a pupil, by analogising it to her mentally-disturbed attention-seeking dog. I couldn’t see myself doing the same with Mozart. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-prefer-the-music-of-haydn-or-mozart/491555/17 "2009-04-01T19:28:37Z")
This thread is interesting. I once printed out a college thesis by John Harutunian comparing Haydn to Mozart and still have a copy (not in modern computer form, that was ca. 1978). To me, Haydn’s themes are short, poor and not memorable. I once played all the Haydn symphonies in a row and found them instantly forgettable. Mozart, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-prefer-the-music-of-haydn-or-mozart/491555/18 "2009-04-01T20:33:35Z")
Overall, I vote for Mozart as well. Especially since this thread is really just about the two. I do find it amazing that the classical era, short though it was (call it 1740 - 1820, give or take a decade) produced three such giants as Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. ---
**Author:** ![JR\_Brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JR\_Brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JR_Brown)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-prefer-the-music-of-haydn-or-mozart/491555/19 "2009-04-01T20:59:53Z")
In the head-to-head I’ll take Mozart, but another vote for JS Bach overall. Contrapuntal polyphony FTW! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-prefer-the-music-of-haydn-or-mozart/491555/20 "2009-04-01T21:17:45Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > I do find it amazing that the classical era, short though it was (call it 1740 - 1820, give or take a decade) produced three such giants as Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Maybe we’ve just forgotten all the midgets it produced as well. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-prefer-the-music-of-haydn-or-mozart/491555.md?page=2)