【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[听力原文]
Joseph Haydn was born in a tiny Austrian village. His father made wagon wheels, and until the age of six, Haydn"s musical background consisted of folksongs his father loved to sing and the peasant dances that whirled around him on festive occasions. Haydn"s eager response to music was recognized, and he was sent to live with a relative who gave him basic music lessons for two years. At eight, he went to Vienna to serve as a choirboy in the Cathedral of St. Stephen. There, though his good voice was appreciated, he had no chance for composition lessons or for perfecting an instrumental technique. And when his voice changed, Haydn was dismissed from St. Stephen"s and turned out on the street without a penny. He managed to stay alive by giving music lessons to children for about eight years. Throughout those years he struggled to teach himself composition and also took odd jobs, including playing violin in the popular Viennese street bands that offered evening entertainment.
Gradually, aristocratic patrons of music began to notice Haydn"s talent. For a brief time he was music director at the court of Bohemian count, but the orchestra was dissolved because of his patron"s financial problems. At the age of twenty-nine, Haydn"s life changed for the better, forever.
In 1761, Haydn entered the service of the Esterhazys, which was the richest and most powerful of the noble Hungarian families. As a highly skilled servant, Haydn composed most of his music for performances in the palaces of the family. He was to compose all the music requested by his patron, conduct an orchestra of about twenty-five players, coach singers, and oversee the condition of instruments and the operation of the music library. Thought today it seems degrading for a genius to be dependent on the will of a prince, in the eighteenth century patronage was taken for granted. Composers had definite advantages in that they received a steady income and their works were performed.
Over a period of twenty years, Haydn"s music became immensely popular all over Europe. After the death of Prince Nicholas Esterhazy in 1790, Haydn was free to go to London where a concert series was planned around his compositions. And so, a servant had become a celebrity. Rich and honored, Haydn returned to Vienna in 1795. He died in 1809 at the age of seventy-seven when Napoleon"s army occupied Vienna.