According to legend Beethoven not only met Mozart, but was lucky enough to receive a few lessons from him in composition. We like to mix fantasy and reality, a wishful thinking and facts. There are many layers of false traditions sticking to the heroes of humanity, Beethoven is not exception. Let us take a closer look and see if these two giants of music have ever met!
Beethoven visited Vienna for the first time in 1787, that is a fact. There are two versions concerning the exact period of his stay. It was either from January till March or April, or he arrived in April and left three weeks later (his mother was dying and had to return home). Mozart was not in Vienna the whole time during this time frame, as sometime in the beginning of the year he stayed in Prague. Regardless this travel, in the overlapping time the two easily could have met in Vienna.
One anecdote of the meeting(s) is coming from Otto Jahn, who was not a witness himself, but talked to someone, who gave the account. As he put it “it was communicated to me in Vienna on good authority”. His story is the following:
“Beethoven made his appearance in Vienna as a youthful musician of promise in the spring of 1787, but was only able to remain there a short time; he was introduced to Mozart, and played to him at his request. Mozart, considering the piece he performed to be a studied show-piece, was somewhat cold in his expressions of admiration. Beethoven, noticing this, begged for a theme for improvisation, and, inspired by the presence of the master he revered so highly, played in such a manner as gradually to engross Mozart’s whole attention; turning quietly to the bystanders, he said emphatically, “Mark that young man; he will make himself a name in the world!“.
This is the strongest account of the meeting we have. No other written evidence can be found on this matter!
On the other side there are many circumstances that would suggest the opposite, meaning that they never met!
First, Mozart’s father was in bad shape, his health was declining, that had to be a major distraction. Second, Mozart was occupied with his worrisome financial situation and composing vast amount of music at the time. Third, he just started working on Don Giovanni, an opera. Fourth, he was already having a student living in his home, the nine years old Johann Nepomuk Hummel. Among such hardships and occupations, it is hard to imagine that Mozart would accept another pupil, even if this one had eminent backers (like Waldstein).
Another strong argument against the possible meeting is that later it never appeared in any form of communication, neither in Beethoven’s life nor in Mozart’s family.
One thing we know and has a much higher probability is that Beethoven heard Mozart playing. Karl Czerny, student of Beethoven, told a story to Otto Jahn about this event. According to Czerny, Beethoven found Mozart’s play fine, but choppy, without legato.
In the conversation books kept by Beethoven for communication, when he became deaf, we find two entries by Karl, his nephew. The first: “You knew Mozart; where did you see him?”. The second: “Was Mozart a good pianoforte player? It was then still in its infancy.” Unfortunately the answers from Beethoven are missing here, as he usually answered these written questions orally.
Considering all the facts and circumstances discussed above, we can conclude with some confidence, that the two Masters probably never met in person or did meet, but just briefly.
