The first extended study of the combined reception of Haydn and Mozart in the long nineteenth century, this book generates new, holistic understandings of their musical, cultural and historical significance in the Germanic, French and Anglophone worlds. It places a wide range of written sources under the microscope, including serious and popular biographies, scholarship, musical and non-musical criticism, and a diverse body of fiction, and evaluates the impact of anniversary commemorations. Haydn and Mozart in the Long Nineteenth Century determines how reputations, images and narratives for the two composers converge, diverge, develop at different speeds, and influence one another. Countering received wisdom about Haydn's reputational decline and reassessing Mozart reception through consideration of a broad spectrum of publications, we hear Haydn and Mozart speaking to the long nineteenth century in more nuanced, powerful, and persuasive voices than previously recognized.

“This enlightening volume mines an astonishing array of source materials to trace the intertwining legacies of Haydn and Mozart from the 1790s to 1914. The vast trove of information assembled here, all meticulously organized and elegantly explained, uncovers converging and diverging reception histories. Its commanding narrative provides a compelling and most welcome reinterpretation of Haydn's legacy alongside Mozart's that will surely influence generations to come.”

Caryl Clark - Professor of Music, University of Toronto

“In this important book, Simon Keefe traces a compelling joint historiography of Haydn and Mozart, with a biographer's eye for detail and a chronicler's grasp of the sweep of time. Deftly navigating a rich variety of period sources, he uses a wide-angle lens to challenge monolithic tendencies in well-known “master narratives” and reveals the long nineteenth century as a vital context for understanding Haydn and Mozart today.”

Jessica Waldoff - Professor of Music, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester