Composer Joseph Haydn, popularly known as the father of the symphony and the string quartet, excelled in every musical genre, a combination of artistry and diversity that made him famous across Europe.

"Haydn was a genuine celebrity from 1791-on," said Haydn scholar and Goldwin Smith Professor of Music James Webster. Haydn's fame, he said, "had to do with the change to a public mode of the consumption of art -- a fundamental change. And so in that sense, for a creative artist to be a celebrity was altogether a new thing in Haydn's day."

Webster will give a pre-concert lecture Nov. 21 at 7:15 p.m. in Barnes Hall, as part of a four-concert Haydn Festival presented by Cornell's Department of Music, Nov. 19-22, commemorating the 200th anniversary year of Haydn's death.

Haydn composed symphonic and vocal music, piano trios and sonatas, string quartets and concertos. The concerts at Cornell will illustrate that breadth of accomplishment, beginning with three piano sonatas performed by visiting scholar Christina Bratterud, Daniel Anastasio '12 and graduate student Stefania Neonato, Nov. 19 at 12:30 p.m. in B20 Lincoln Hall.

Professor emeritus Malcolm Bilson opens an evening of Haydn's chamber music with a solo sonata, Friday, Nov. 20, at 8 p.m. in Barnes Hall, a program with cellist John Haines-Eitzen and violinists Nicholas DiEugenio, Bee-seon Keum and Joseph Lin; the Ithaca College Chamber Orchestra will perform the complete "Drum Roll" Symphony.

"The program on Friday is more nearly similar to what a concert program in Haydn's day would have been than to a modern concert program, precisely because of the mixture of genres, which was typical then," Webster said. "The concerts in London in the 1790s consisted of orchestral music, primarily symphonies; arias and other instrumental works of various kinds."

The Nov. 21 concert features the Cornell Chamber Orchestra (conducted by Chris Younghoon Kim) performing the "Farewell" Symphony, Sinfonia in D Major and Piano Concerto in G Major with Bilson on fortepiano.

The festival grand finale is the "Lord Nelson" Mass by the Cornell Chorale (conducted by Holland Jancaitis), Nov. 22 at 3 p.m. in Sage Chapel, with members of the Cornell Symphony Orchestra; music major John Chambers '10, bass; and guest soloists Melanie Russell, soprano, Sylvia Aiko Rider, alto, and Steven Caldicott Wilson, tenor.

Webster has written and lectured extensively on Haydn and the "Farewell" Symphony in particular. He is co-author of "The New Grove Haydn" (2002) and author of "Haydn's 'Farewell' Symphony and the Idea of Classical Style" (1991). The Haydn anniversary has kept Webster busy this year; he has given plenary and public lectures at large scholarly conferences in Toronto and Budapest, a celebration of sacred vocal music in Ottawa and a festival of string quartets in Montreal, where all 68 of Haydn's quartets were performed.