ever hope to rival his father must have
rendered him all the more willing to yield to it. But the influence of
his father could not be wholly cast aside, and Emanuel was, as it
were, drawn in opposite directions; it is really wonderful what he
actually achieved. True lovers of John Sebastian Bach know well that
his music, though of a contrapuntal character, is by no means dry; but
the formal aspect of it must have made its mark on the son ere he
could feel the power, and realise the splendour of his father's
genius.

Haydn and Mozart, on the other hand, were born and bred in the very
midst of Italian music. Of Haydn's early days we have already spoken,
and those of Mozart were not unsimilar. Otto Jahn, in his life of that
composer, says of the father Leopold, that "his ideas were firmly
rooted in the traditions of Italian music"; so firmly, indeed, that he
could not appreciate the mild innovations of a Gluck. This paternal
influence was deepened, besides, by Mozart's early visits to Italy.

Then, again, so far as we can make out, the clavier compositions of
John Sebastian Bach, and, especially the "Well-tempered Clavier," were
unknown both to Haydn and Mozart in their days of childhood and early
manhood. What a difference in the case of Beethoven, who, it will be
remembered, could play the greater number of the forty-eight Preludes
and Fugues before he was twelve years of age! The beauty of Italian
music not only impressed Haydn and Mozart, but kindled their creative
faculties; while its simple, rhythmical character probably aided them
materially in giving utterance to their thoughts and feelings. Nature
had bestowed on them in rich measure the gift of melody, and they soon
began to compose.

Emanuel Bach, we have said, was drawn in two opposite directions.
Haydn and Mozart, though they were spared this dual influence, had,
however, to face a difficulty. They found a form ready to hand, yet
one which, as we have attempted to show, required modifications of
various kinds. The former had to make the old fit in with the new; but
the latter, the new with the old. Hence their inspiration was
handicapped. They were to some extent constructing as well as
creating; and then their sense of order, balance, and proportion was
so strong, that they often turned out movements more remarkable for
their clearness of form than for the strength of their contents.

Mozart profited by Haydn's early attempts, and his best sonatas are
v