Although Johann Joseph Fux was employed for six years as organist at the Schottenkirche In Vienna, his position does not appear to have spurred him on to great activity. In 1768 Kaiser Leopold I passed him over for the post of Kapellmeister and appointed Him Court Composer. Later he became first Vice- Kapellmeister and finally Kapellmeister at the royal court and at the cathedral of St. Stephan. That made him the most important composer during the reigns of Leopold I, Joseph I and Charles VI, and provided him witch plenty of work composing operas as well as orchestral and church music. But Fux also wrote keyboard music during a period – after the peace treaty with Louis XIC in 1714 – when a new interest in French culture had developed.

Haydn’s genius appeared slowly. His first works differed very little from those of his contemporaries. The sonatas can be classified between the divertimento , the concerto and the suite. Little by little his personality showed itself in the transformation of the traditional clichés, in the relationship of melody and rhythm. He created a new tension, a strict balance.

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