The years 1794-1795 represent a period of particularly intense growth in Beethoven's early compositional style. His encounter and subsequent training with Haydn was an important factor in this, and Beethoven's compositional development at this time can partly be explained as an attempt to absorb the impact of Haydn's London symphonies in particular, while at the same time establishing his own independence. Beethoven's use and reinterpretation of Haydn's style can be seen in three major areas: (1) the enrichment of texture through polyphony, (2) the coherent assimilation of remote tonal relationships into the tonal language, and (3) the substitution of organic procedures for mechanical ones. In order to illustrate this relationship, a detailed comparison is made between Haydn's Symphony No. 95 in C Minor and Beethoven's Trio Op. 1, No. 3 in the same key.

Index Classifications: 1700s

Contributed by: J. Sterling Lambert