James Cuthbert Hadden was a Scottish organist and a writer who wrote biographies of Chopin, Handel, Haydn, and Mendelssohn. His writing style is both highly accessible and generously endowed with a capacity for information. The present work traces the development of Haydn as a man and Haydn as composer from his early days in Rohrau to his years in Vienna and Eisenstadt, to his London visits, to his last years. Much attention is given to his compositions, but also to such details as his face and features, social habits, humour, piety, industry, and so on.

A useful inclusion is a catalogue of Haydn’s works, and most readers will find the selection of Haydn’s letters included as an appendix, as well as his last will and testament, highly informative.