II. MOZART AND THE SONATA-FORM.
Though Haydn (1732-1809) was not only by many years the senior of Mozart (1756-1791), but also outlived him, the relations between the two were most cordial and close. Haydn had done much of his best work before 1788, when Mozart wrote his three greatest symphonies, and so may be said to have served as Mozart's model. Yet he in turn learned much from his younger but more brilliant friend, and did not write his own greatest symphonies (the twelve so-called "Salomon" symphonies, which were written for Salomon, a London orchestral conductor, in 1791 and 1794, and of which the "Surprise" is one) until after Mozart's untimely death. How thoroughly each man respected the other, we know from their own words. Mozart in dedicating his six finest string quartets to Haydn, said: "It was due from me, for it was from him that I learned how quartets should be written." As for Haydn, he once put an end to an argument on the merits and defects of "Don Giovanni" by remarking: "I cannot decide the questions in dispute, but this I know, that Mozart is the greatest composer in the world."
Mozart not only had the great advantage of building on Haydn's secure foundations, but he brought to the task a genius much more supreme than his predecessor's. From his earliest composition, a minuet written when he was only five years old,[28] to the three great symphonies in G-minor, E-flat major, and C-major ("Jupiter") produced at the end of his career, a movement from the first of which we shall presently study, all his work shows a spontaneity of inspiration, a graciousness of melody, a stoutness and symmetry of musical construction, a finish of style, a depth of emotional expression, and a classical lucidity and purity, perhaps not to be found all together in the work of any other musician. Especially does he excel Haydn in profundity of feeling, versatility of resource, and a certain aristocratic distinction. All these qualities are shown in his great G-minor Symphony, one of his supreme masterpieces.