Haydn's music was initially imported to the United States while the composer was still alive. During the nineteenth century, opinion on the composer experienced a lull in America that paralleled that in Europe, but the oratorios, and in particular The Creation, remained enormously popular among professional and semiprofessional ensembles in the newly founded nation. While some of the early twentieth-century American reassessments of Haydn's reputation occurred through the direct actions of Europeans visiting or working in the United States, American-born writers and American-based periodicals played a significant role as well. To say that Haydn was imported to the United States twice is actually partially accurate, since the second rise in the popularity of his music—occurring in the 1920s and 1930s—was at least nominally domestic in origin.

The Haydn revival in the United States revolved around New York City circa 1925–26. A number of America's most distinguished musical personalities— especially Arturo Toscanini and other guest conductors of the New York Philharmonic—showed more than a passing interest in his compositions. The same is true of prominent critics, commentators, and program-note writers, many of whom played an important role in shaping audience perception and taste. When considered as individuals, these figures offer glimpses into specific viewpoints on the composer which, when viewed as a whole, demonstrate Haydn's growing significance in American musical life from the 1920s onward. The beginning stages of the American revival of Haydn was largely based on direct connections to the concert hall and apparently occurred for reasons that were purely musical: partly because commentators simply liked the works and partly in an effort to demonstrate that forward-looking music, whether from the eighteenth or twentieth century, required thought to appreciate. These justifications stand in stark contrast to the largely political or stylistic underpinnings of his revival in France, Germany, and Austria.

Toward an American Appreciation of Haydn in the New Century

Despite the dawn of a new century and 1909 Haydn Centennial activities in Europe, American attitudes toward Haydn changed very little through the end of the First World War, as noted in chapter 2.