While not as in-depth as most serious biographies, this book combines a solid overview of Haydn's life with a wonderful selection of photos, paintings, and illustrations of the people and places he knew. In addition, the text features plenty of excerpts from letters and articles written by, to, and about Haydn that really bring his story alive. There is no musical detail about his works (in other words, don't expect any discussions of theory or examples in notation); it's purely the story of the man. Look elsewhere if your goal is to study the music itself. However, Haydn led a long and interesting enough life to make for good reading on its own. Note that I cannot comment on this book's scholarship -- it was written around 1980 and may have been superceded by more recent work. It's aimed more at casual readers than at those doing serious research, though, so any minor inaccuracies shouldn't be a problem for the target audience.
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