Haydn-Haus, Josef-Haydn-Gasse 12. Tel .: +43 2682 719 6000, Fax: +43 2682 719 6051, E-Mail: office@haydnhaus.at. Open: Tue-Sat 9 am-5pm; Sun + Holidays 10 am-5pm; Closed Monday March to May, June to November 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Approx. closed from mid-November to the end of March (winter break). Price: Entry 4.50 euros; Reduced 4 euros; Group and family rates available.
Haydn Haus or House of Haydn is a historic building of Eisenstadt most famous for being a former residence of a famous composer Joseph who lived here between 1766 and 1778. Haydn moved to Eisenstadt in 1761 after he accepted a job of a Kapellmeister (music director) for the powerful Estarhazy noble family. Many of his music works were first performed in this house.
The main building of the property,
facing Joseph-Haydn-Gasse (formerly Klostergasse), is a two-storey
building, four window axes wide and has a gently sloping gable roof.
The light gray facade has a simple baroque white plaster decor on
the upper floor.
A wide gate with indicated pilasters leads
through the house into a small inner courtyard. The yard is
separated from the neighboring property on the left by a wall. This
pair of courtyards can be found on several properties on
Joseph-Haydn-Gasse. On the right, the front building is followed by
a side building that leads to a final rear building. This rear end
formerly bordered the old city wall of Eisenstadt. An outside
staircase leads to the upper rooms, which are also accessible from
the inside.
A Gothic window uncovered in the front
building indicates that the house was built in the 16th century. The
1747, which can be read at the basement entrance, refers to the last
renovation before Joseph Haydn, royal conductor at the Esterházy
court, bought the house from a widow in 1766. She lived on the
ground floor until her death in 1767. After that, Haydn's students
moved in here. Haydn and his wife lived in the five rooms on the
upper floor. Installment payments had been agreed for the house, and
when the balance fell due after the widow's death, Haydn had to
approach his employer for a loan. This also took over the costs when
the house was affected by two city fires in 1768 and 1776.
When the Esterházys' court was relocated to Eszterháza Castle, Haydn
sold the Eisenstadt house in 1778 and had his main residence here.
The subsequent owners made some extensions. The side and rear
buildings were built where previously there were only stables and
hayloft.
In 1898 a memorial plaque reminding of Haydn was
attached to the house. In 1935, the Burgenland Heritage and Nature
Conservation Association was able to rent three rooms in the
courtyard wing for a first Haydn Museum. After the Second World War,
together with various collections, became the property of the
Province of Burgenland, and in the 1970s the building was converted
into a museum memorial dedicated to Haydn. During the renovation and
restoration work for the Haydn Year 2009, the original wall designs
from the Haydn period were uncovered in two rooms.
In the permanent exhibition, which is particularly geared towards
Haydn's private life, the rooms "Zimmer, Kuchl and Cammer" are
recreated with the original wall paintings and furniture from his
time. Original portraits of him, personal letters, notes and musical
dedications are shown, as well as an Anton Walter fortepiano from
1780, a portrait medallion of Haydn's wife Maria Anna Theresia and
much more.
In 1998 the neighboring house was acquired. Since
then, there have been annually changing special exhibitions in the
additional exhibition rooms in addition to the permanent exhibition
of the Haydn House, for example 2015 Haydn and the Freemasons and
2016 Haydn and the Women.
At the same
time as the house in Klostergasse, in 1766, Haydn bought a small
vegetable garden outside the city wall, the “Kuchlgärtl beym or
behind the Spittal”, today in Bürgerspitalgasse 2 behind the
Burgenland bank (location). Haydn and his wife Anna Aloisia planted
spices and other plants for the kitchen as well as flowers and
ornamental plants there. The complex includes a garden shed that
already existed in Haydn's time, in which he is said to have
composed occasionally and in which he was able to recover from the
strenuous work of making music. The garden remained in the hands of
the Haydn until 1778 and was later sold.
The garden was
revitalized in 2002 and redesigned and planted based on the baroque
model. Organizationally, the garden belongs to the Haydn House
Museum. In the summer months there are occasional guided tours on
the cultivation and use of baroque aromatic, medicinal and aromatic
plants.
In 2018, a Haydn memorial was unveiled in
Bürgerspitalgasse next to the herb garden. The monument, made of a
ten-ton, three-meter-high marble block, was designed by the sculptor
Heidi Tschank, the bronze head shows the young Haydn smiling.