Claude Meurisse Haydon was an Australian-born New Zealand composer, musician and teacher.
Haydon was born on 8 November 1884 in South Yarra in Melbourne in Australia, the son of Harry Haydon, a school teacher and later Treasurer and then Secretary of the Melbourne Harbour Trust, and Amicie Meurisse, who was French. Harry Haydon died of typhoid fever on 14 April 1900. The household included a German governess, so Haydon and his brother and sister grew up speaking English, French and German. They were later to share their parentsâ intellectual, literary and artistic interests.
HaydonâÂÂs early training was devoted to languages, literature and music in all of its branches. He trained at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, and in 1911 he gained the degree of Bachelor of Music. HaydonâÂÂs teachers, all well-known Melbourne musicians, were H. A. Thomson (a pupil of Leschetizky); Dr A. E. Lloyd; and Dr W. G. Price.
In time, Hayden became known as âÂÂa composer of thoughtful and beautiful chamber music of various kinds. A composition that helped gain Haydon recognition was a Phastasie [sic] Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano. The work that eclipsed all his others was a five-act âÂÂromantic grand operaâÂÂ, Paolo and Francesca. It was based on Edward A. VidlerâÂÂs play Rose of Ravenna which was an elaboration of the episode of Francesca da Rimini in the fifth canto of DanteâÂÂs Inferno and was performed at the Melbourne Playhouse on 6 and 7 May 1920. The work was warmly received to relatively minor criticism. A recital of excerpts was organised by the Australian Institute of Arts and Literature on 6 October 1923 in the Queens Hall in Melbourne.
In 1920, Haydon came to New Zealand with his mother and sister, when his sister was appointed Principal to Queen Margaret College, Wellington. They settled in Lower Hutt. As a teacher of counterpoint, harmony and piano, Haydon began to attract pupils.
On 7 July 1926, Paolo and Francesca was presented in the Concert Chamber of the Wellington Town Hall, performed by the Wellington Harmonic Society under its conductor Harold Temple White. Due to mixed reviews, a second performance took place on 24 July 1926.
HaydonâÂÂs compositions, which he occasionally succeeded in having broadcast, covered a vast range â choral items, instrumental and piano pieces, and songs. Manuscripts include two oratorios: The Gift (1932) and a sacred cantata called Life through His Name (1946); an undated Victory Piano Concerto, and three symphonies: Symphony in G minor (composed in 1936, orchestrated 1951-1952), an undated Waterloo Symphony, and an undated Australian Jubilee Symphony. In 1953, Haydon was commissioned by the New Zealand Broadcasting Service to compose a Coronation Ode. It was completed but the Broadcasting Service changed its mind and did not want it. The rejection left a deep and lasting scar. The most ambitious of HaydonâÂÂs later undertakings was an unfinished opera, The Golden Sword.
HaydonâÂÂs pupils included the composer Robert Burch and Sydney Josland.
Haydon had intended to become a concert pianist but disease led to the amputation of his left leg in 1917. Haydon married one of his pupils, Lily Edith Hall, in 1930. She too, taught the piano. Haydon died at Silverstream on 25 July 1960 at the age of 75. His widow presented all his manuscripts to the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington.