This Jause is an excerpt from Classical Cake, Op. 3. In this excerpt, we’re talking with Alexander Krakhofer from the Haydn Birth House about the strange 145-year journey to reunite Joseph Haydn’s head with his body.

TRANSCRIPT

Joseph Haydn died in 1809. A memorial service was held at the Schottenkirche, where Mozart's Requiem was performed. Unfortunately, the story is not quite over for this deceased Haydn... for his body.

Alexander Krakhofer: No. So, this is kind of a Halloween story. 

Men with lanterns and black coats came during the night. Maybe it was even raining. You can imagine, you can picture it. And they dug out Haydn’s grave with shovels and then opened the coffin. And you have deceased Haydn in there, probably not very fresh anymore. They just took his head. 

A man named Johann Nepomuk Peter had the head stolen and he wanted to research about the genius of Haydn. This would not be scientific in any way, but this was 200 years ago. 

The second man to own the head of Haydn was a man called Rosenbaum. Then it went back to Peter.

From Mr. Peter, it was passed on to a Dr. Heller.

This doctor Heller passed the head on to a Dr. Rokitansky.

And, from this Dr. Rokitansky, the head of Haydn was given to the Society of Friends of Music — Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde — in Vienna, which was actually intended two generations earlier but never happened, for some reason. 

During all that time, the head of Haydn was kept in a wooden shrine with glass to keep it free of dust. 

In 1954, they said Mr. Haydn must be reunited with the rest of his body — referring to his head, of course. The rest of Haydn's body had been reinterred in Eisenstadt, in the tomb. But, they decided not only to reinter the head of Mr. Haydn, but to give him his last and greatest show.

They made a funeral procession, and visited all stations of Haydn's life with the car. Haydn's head, then on a red satin pillow, was held by a famous artist with funny white hair. They even came back to the Haydn Birth House in Rohrau, where they carried the head of Haydn around the house. Let's have a last look, Joseph, where you have been born. 

All streets were full of people — even outside the villages — people were standing, cheering, waving the flags of red, white and red, which are the colors of Austria.

At the end, Haydn's head was brought to Eisenstadt, where they had a big requiem with the federal president, the Landeshauptmann — which is the head of the local government of Burgenland — and all the people of the church.

Finally, Haydn's head found its last resting place with the rest of his bones.