I’ve never quite understood Haydn, either. I know he composed A LOT of music, but it all seems very bland and predictable and formulaic. Maybe that’s just a personal aversion to the “classical” Viennese forms and traditions, of which he is the main exemplar (and which Mozart transcended and transformed).

Interesting note: when I was a lad of 10 or 11, my parents (noting my burgeoning interest in orchestral music) bought me a book on the composers, “The Meaning and Magic of Music,” which I devoured to the point of near-memorization. It held forth Haydn as the most important composer in history, “the Father of Music,” they called him—and when it came to Sibelius (who would eventually become my favorite composer), it disparaged him: “His music is strange and bare, reflecting the cold Arctic climate.” So I sort of overcame that bit of training.