Joseph Haydn dedicated a set of six keyboard sonatas to Marianna Auenbrugger and her sister Katharina, published by Artaria in Vienna in 1781.
In 1781, the composer Joseph Haydn dedicated a set of six keyboard sonatas — published by the Viennese firm Artaria — to the sisters Marianna and Katharina Auenbrugger. This dedication (Hob. XVI:35–39, 20) is one of the most celebrated honors a female keyboardist of the era could receive, since Haydn rarely dedicated major instrumental works to amateur or semi-professional performers unless he held their musicianship in the highest regard.
The dedication reflects the sisters' considerable reputation as pianists within Vienna's musical circles. Contemporary accounts and later musicological research (including work compiled by scholars such as Monica Jakuc Leverett) describe Marianna Auenbrugger as an exceptionally skilled performer whose playing was admired by prominent musicians, including Haydn himself and possibly members of the Mozart circle.
Historically, this dedication is significant because it is one of relatively few surviving documented instances in the Classical era of a major composer publicly honoring women performers through a formal published dedication. It offers valuable evidence of women's active, respected participation in Vienna's elite music scene at a time when women were largely excluded from professional composition and public concert careers. The exact publication day within 1781 is not confirmed in surviving sources, so this event is recorded at year-level precision.