Haydn wanted Beethoven to include the words “Schüler von Haydn” — Pupil of Haydn — on the title page of his first published compositions. Other students of Haydn had been proud to do it!
But Beethoven refused. He said he hadn’t learned anything from Haydn (even though he had).
Although Beethoven refused to state on his published compositions that he was a student of Haydn, he did dedicate his Opus 2 Piano Sonatas to the great master.
Beethoven had actually learned a lot from the works of Haydn (and those of Mozart and Muzio Clementi and Bach and …).
#Beethoven250 Day 47
Piano Sonata No. 2 in A Major (Opus 2, No. 2), 1795
Igor Levit at about 18 years of age, performing in Tel Aviv almost a decade before his first spectacular recordings of Beethoven and Bach.