The Rewards of Second Looks Piano Works by Mozart and Beethoven
Paul Thomason
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven both initially achieved fame as keyboard virtuosos, and so the music they wrote for the piano—both as a solo instrument and as part of an ensemble—inevitably reflected their ideas about performing. In 1798, Mozart’s first biographer, Franz Xaver Niemetschek, wrote, “In Vienna, above all, his piano playing was admired… His admirable dexterity, which particularly in the left hand and the bass were considered quite unique, his feeling and delicacy, and beautiful expression of which only a Mozart was capable, were the attractions of his playing.” Even rival composer and pianist Muzio Clementi was moved to exclaim, “Until then I had never heard anyone play with so much spirit and grace.” (For his part, Mozart did not think much of Clementi’s playing. In 1782 he wrote to his father, “Clementi plays well, so far as execution with the right hand goes. His greatest strength lies in passages in thirds. Apart from this, he has not a kreuzer’s worth of taste or feeling—in short he is simply a mechanicus.”) Apparently Beethoven had a slightly less exalted view of Mozart’s skills at the piano. When Beethoven was 17 years old, he visited Vienna for the first time, and there is a possibility that he took some lessons from Mozart before being summoned back to Bonn where his Mother was extremely ill. In his Life of Beethoven, Alexander
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