He was now a wealthy man. He returned to Vienna by way of Bonn, where
Beethoven submitted a composition to him. As every one knows, Beethoven
soon followed him to Vienna, and took lessons, and complained that Haydn
took no pains with him. Now, Haydn was no pedant; with him the final
court of appeal was the ear. When the theorists said that the celebrated
false relations at the opening of Mozart's C major quartet were wrong,
Haydn was merely impatient; he said that if Mozart wrote them we might
depend upon it Mozart had an excellent reason for doing so. Probably he
did not want Beethoven to waste his time on piffling schoolboy
exercises. Anyhow, Beethoven always spoke of him with respect, and Haydn
said Beethoven's septet was sublime.
His stay in Vienna was not a long one. He again agreed with Salomon to
compose six new symphonies, and come to London to conduct them. On
January 17, 1794, he set out. Prince Anton was unwilling for him to
leave, and died three days afterwards. In many respects this visit was a
duplicate of the first. The symphonies he wrote were the "Military" in
G, and the D minor, both 1794; the E flat, apparently composed in 1793,
and the B flat, E flat, and D minor and major, all 1795. The last, one
of his finest, with certainly his finest introductory adagio, is
probably the last symphony he wrote.
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