Expert: Marbeth - 9/20/2010

Question
before I forget, you might remember that you had asked me to
get a copy of Schubert's arpeggione sonata. yes, I do have
it. quite extraordinary difference, compared to the usual
cello substitute.

now in a prior conversation you had suggested that all
composers were influenced by Bach, well, German ones,
anyway. this may seem impertinent, but I am not so sure.
Bach strikes me in one sense as an explicator of harmony,
but also a baroque composer with a unique style. it's quite
one thing to consider that everyone learned counterpoint,
canon, and fugue, and another to have direct exposure to the
Master, as Mozart did, and as Beethoven did to a different
degree. in Mozart's Viennese works after, say, 1783, there
it is clear that he has absorbed much from Bach's handling
of inner voices. this incorporation was not that easy - you
can hear the struggle in the C-minor mass for one, which
brings to my mind a rather infelicitous image, involving a
python. the incorporation of Bach's style seems fairly
complete by 1786, but if you REALLY listen to the piano
concertos from this time, especially  the A major, and the
c-minor, you can hear the influence of the baroque.

also listen to the opening movement of the waldstein sonata,
and tell me there is no bachian presence there in the
counterpoint...

now, did Haydn have the same exposure to Bach? I doubt it.
van Swieten seems to have figured in Haydn's creative life
rather later, and in a very different way.  

Answer
You obviously have delved into specifics more deeply than I (ex.: Swieten's influence), however, Haydn and Mozart frequented the same circles and were contemporaries, so I don't see how Bach would have influenced Mozart and not Haydn!

Thanks for your very thoughtful reply.

Glad you have the arpeggione sonata on an arpeggione.
mb