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What did Joseph Haydn learn as a chorister at St. Stephenâs Cathedral?
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Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn, detail of a portrait by Thomas Hardy, 1791; in the collection of the Royal College of Music, London.
During his nine years as a chorister at St. Stephenâs Cathedral in Vienna, Joseph Haydn acquired an enormous amount of practical musical knowledge through constant performance. However, he received very little formal instruction in music theory during his time at the choir school, a fact he found disappointing.1