Which of Beethovens early works were influenced by Haydn?
It’s hard to say which ones exactly, because Haydn was so popular in Vienna at the time Beethoven was beginning his career.Beethoven studied with Haydn in 1792 and dedicated his first three piano sonatas, opus 2, to his teacher. The first movements of Symphonies No. 1, 2, 4 (and later, 7) have “slow introductions” of the kind typical of Haydn’s symphonies. There’s a famous anecdote that Beethoven remarked of his Septet Opus 20 (one of his most popular early works) that it was “my Creation,” referring to Haydn’s oratorio, The Creation. (Beethoven composed his own oratorio in 1803, Christ on the Mount of Olives). The “Pastoral” Symphony was probably influenced by Haydn’s three Pastoral Symphonies (Nos. 6, 7, and 8) as well as by the many pastoral moments in his other oratorio, The Seasons.