us composers from Kuhnau
onwards, we have tried to show the special, also the earliest,
influences acting on them; and we shall still pursue the same course
with regard to Beethoven. When he went to Vienna in 1792 he found
himself in the very centre of the musical world. Haydn, though past
sixty years of age, was at the zenith of his fame; and Beethoven, for
a time, studied under him. Mozart had died in the previous year, so
his name was still in everybody's mouth. The early works of Beethoven
give strong evidence of the influence exerted over him by these two
composers. Then Prince Lichnowsky, the friend and pupil of Mozart, and
Baron van Swieten, the patron and friend of both Haydn and Mozart,
were among the earliest to take notice of the rising genius and to
invite him to their musical _matinees_ and _soirees_; and one can
easily guess what kind of music was performed on those occasions. But
the little story of Beethoven remaining at van Swieten's house, after
the guests had departed, in order to "send his host to bed with half a
dozen of Bach's Fugues by way of _Abendsegen_" reminds us of another
strong, and still earlier, influence. At Bonn, under the guidance of
his master, Christian Gottlob Neefe, Beethoven was so well-grounded in
the "Well-tempered Clavier," that already, at the age of twelve, he
could play nearly the whole of it. But, if we are not mistaken, he
also made early acquaintanceship with the sonatas of Emanuel Bach. For
in 1773 Neefe published "Zwoelf Klavier-Sonaten," which were dedicated
to the composer just named. In the preface he says: "Since the period
in which you, dearest Herr Capellmeister, presented to the public your
masterly sonatas, worked out, too, with true taste, scarcely anything
of a characteristic nature has appeared for this instrument.[94] Most
composers have been occupied in writing Symphonies, Trios, Quartets,
etc. And if now and then they have turned their attention to the
clavier, the greater number of the pieces have been provided with an
accompaniment, often of an extremely arbitrary kind, for the violin;
so that they are as suitable for any other instrument as for the
clavier." Then, later on, Neefe acknowledges how much instruction and
how much pleasure he has received from the theoretical and practical
works of E. Bach (we seem to be reading over again the terms in which
Haydn expressed himself towards Bach). May we, then, not conclude that
young Beethoven's attention was