♫ And they are a particularly great gift to Beethoven. The reason I’ve gone on this Haydn tangent is that without him, Beethoven and his piano sonatas would not have been possible. Beethoven and Haydn had something of a relationship. Beethoven apparently intended to study with Mozart when he arrived in Vienna, but it doesn’t seem that that ever came to pass. However, Beethoven did study with Haydn. It’s a bit unclear what they thought of one another: you could study the available evidence and come to the conclusion that Haydn thought Beethoven was enormously talented, or that he thought he was ungrateful, or that he was envious of him – perhaps all three are true. And you could study the evidence and decide that Beethoven thought he had much to learn from Haydn, or that he found Haydn stuffy and old-fashioned, or that he couldn’t stand the idea of being someone’s student, rather than fully independent – again, there is probably truth in all those theories. What is certain is that Beethoven not only took lessons with Haydn, but remained aware of him and his music until Haydn’s death, when Beethoven was 39 years old. Equally certain is that the forms Beethoven chose to focus his energies on -- sonata, quartet, symphony – are forms that Haydn created and immediately took to greater heights than could have reasonably been expected. Even more than Mozart, Haydn was Beethoven’s point of reference. One hears this in Beethoven’s piano sonatas over and over again. That mix of sacred and profane, earthy and spiritual – that is a hugely important aspect of Beethoven’s music, and it ties him to Haydn. Beethoven’s spirituality is so moving because his music so often reminds us that he is a flesh and blood human being; Haydn, in the same way, is pious but never precious. In terms of personality and style, there is ultimately more that binds them than separates them. So. If Haydn and his music are so critical to an understanding of Beethoven, why am I talking about this now, in lecture number...17, I think? Well, first of all, there was plenty of other stuff to talk about! But also, this sonata -- op. 2 no 2 – feels like the perfect vehicle to show just how much Beethoven owes to Haydn. First of all, op 2, a set of three sonatas, is dedicated to Haydn – the only works Beethoven dedicated to him. And of those three sonatas, this one is the most Haydnesque – both the most playful and, in the slow movement, the most prayerful. The complexity of Beethoven’s relationship with Haydn can be seen in their interaction over Beethoven’s opus 1 trios, written in 1795, when Beethoven was still a pupil of Haydn, at least in Haydn’s mind. Beethoven didn’t like to be beholden to anyone; according to one account, Haydn suggested that Beethoven identify himself as “student of Haydn” in the published edition of these trios; Beethoven liked that suggestion about as much as you might expect, having sat through the previous 16 lectures! Matters would become still worse between the two when Haydn suggested that Beethoven not publish the 3rd trio in c minor – probably the most daring of the set. Haydn did not lack for daring himself, so it’s hard to say what his objection to the piece was. Regardless, Beethoven was not pleased, and completely ignored Haydn. In spite of all of that, Beethoven still dedicated the opus 2 sonatas, written the next year, to Haydn. Whether this means the famously short-tempered Beethoven got over the slight, or if he was simply being pragmatic, knowing that the name of Haydn carried a lot of weight, is impossible to say. One way or another, his first piano sonatas, his first works in the genre in which he would be the most prolific and have the most to say, are dedicated not to some wealthy patron, but to Haydn: and that is a meaningful gesture. And the second of these sonatas – again, the subject of today’s lecture and the only one of the three we’ve yet to cover – is an excellent forum for addressing the question of Haydn’s influence on Beethoven: how significant it was, but at the same time, Beethoven’s refusal to be hemmed in by it. Haydn’s creative persona made it possible, but every note of it could have been written only by Beethoven.
