Beethoven and His ForerunnersMason, Daniel Gregory
History
Beethoven and His Forerunners
Mason, Daniel Gregory
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827; Music -- 18th century -- History and criticism; Music -- 19th century -- History and criticism
Both men were clearly aware of their obligations to each other. In
the midst of the petty jealousies and the malicious efforts to stir
up ill-feeling which characterized musical Vienna in their day, they
remained warm friends and mutual admirers. Mozart dedicated his six
finest string quartets to Haydn, with the comment: “It was due from me,
for it was from Haydn that I learned how quartets should be written.”
“It was affecting,” says a contemporary observer, “to hear him speak
of the two Haydns or any other of the great masters; one would have
imagined him to be one of their enthusiastic pupils rather than the
all-powerful Mozart.” Haydn’s respect for Mozart was equally profound,
and even more creditable, in that he was older and less appreciated
by the Viennese public than the man he lost no opportunity to praise.
He often asserted that he never heard one of Mozart’s compositions
without learning something from it; and once when “Don Giovanni” was
being discussed he made a period to the argument by saying: “I cannot
decide the questions in dispute, but this I know, that Mozart is the
greatest composer in the world.” Mozart was thus much more than a mere
successor of Haydn in the usual course of musical evolution; he gave
fully as much as he received. His short though full life, moreover,
came to an end eighteen years before Haydn’s more leisurely one; so
that in a purely human as well as an artistic sense, we can look upon
him, in relation to Haydn, as a sort of brilliant younger brother.
Johann Chrysostum Wolfgang Theophilus Mozart, generally known to the
world as Wolfgang Amadeus[33] Mozart, was born at Salzburg, a small
town southwest of Vienna, in Austria-Hungary, on January 27, 1756.
His father was Leopold Mozart, a professional musician of excellent
abilities, court-composer to the Archbishop of Salzburg, and author of
a School for the Violin which in its day was known throughout Europe.
He was a devoted father, and although there has been some difference
of opinion as to his character, it is certain that he spared no pains
in the education of his son, which he considered the chief business of
his life. He has been charged with penuriousness, with narrowness and
bigotry, and with having forced his son to be a prodigy for the sake
of gain; but there is no evidence that he ever acted unconscientiously,
and the very thoroughness and almost mechanical regularity of the
training he gave Wolfgang were invaluable in laying the foundations of
his remarkable technique.
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