Franz Joseph Haydn was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led him to be called "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String quartet".
St. Stephen's Cathedral. In the foreground is the Kapellhaus (demolished 1804) where Haydn lived as a chorister.
Morzin Palace, Dolní Lukavice, Czech Republic
Haydn's wife. Unauthenticated miniature attributed to Ludwig Guttenbrunn
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers, with one performer to a part. However, by convention, it usually does not include solo instrument performances.
Frederick the Great plays flute in his summer palace Sanssouci, with Franz Benda playing violin, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach accompanying on keyboard, and unidentified string players; painting by Adolph Menzel (1850–52)
Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates and Galen play a piece on viols in this fanciful woodcut from 1516.
Baroque musicians playing a trio sonata, 18th-century anonymous painting
Copy of a pianoforte from 1805