Haydn and Mozart - Haydn As Mozart's Mentor

Haydn As Mozart's Mentor

Mozart in many ways did not need a mentor by the time he met Haydn; he was already rather successful and for most of his life up to then had been under the very active tutelage of his father Leopold. However, two aspects of the historical record suggest that Haydn did in some sense take Mozart under his wing and offer him advice.

First, during the early Vienna years, when Mozart was influenced by Baron van Swieten to take up the study of Baroque counterpoint, Haydn loaned him his personal copy of the famous counterpoint textbook Gradus ad Parnassum, by Johann Joseph Fux, a copy heavily covered with Haydn's personal annotations.

There is also the observation that, like many other younger musicians, Mozart addressed Haydn with the honorific term "Papa". For details of this form of address, see Papa Haydn.

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