250th birthday - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 1987 - 4 Shilling

The life's work of Michael Haydn is in the shadow of his famous younger brother Joseph. But he was a notable independent personality of the Austrian music scene of the 18th century. Baptized on September 14, 1763 in Rohrau / Lower Austria, he left like his brother the small hometown to become choirboy to St. Stephen in Vienna. His life position was Michael Haydn at the Archbishop of Salzburg as a court musician and concertmaster. Domkapellmeister was at that time by the way Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's father Leopold, who faced him for a long time critical. Later, Michael Haydn also received the post of organist of the Trinity Church and, after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's break with Archbishop Hieronimus Colloredo, also the post of cathedral organist. Michael Haydn, trained in the strict compositional art of Johann Joseph Fux, succeeded in continuing his teaching and transferring it to the classical musical language. He made Salzburg a significant center for unaccompanied choir composers. Examples of his imposing art are Propian songs and Responsories for the Holy Week or the double-choral antiphon "Ave Regina coelorum" (Hail, You Queen of Heaven).