What is the Difference Between Mozart and Haydn?

The differences between the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn can be attributed to their individual styles, personal lives, and the influence of their respective environments. Some key differences include:

1. Themes and Development: Haydn's themes tend to be short and succinct, with long and eventful development, whereas Mozart's themes are longer and highly developed, with shorter development.
2. Orchestration: Haydn's orchestration is often more adventurous and extraverted, while Mozart's is more subtle.
3. Opera and Vocal Style: Mozart was a master of opera, incorporating a more lyrical and operatic style into his compositions. Haydn, on the other hand, did not compose opera, and his music is more instrumentally grounded.
4. Key Structures: Haydn's key structures can be more daring than Mozart's, using more minor keys and exploring a wider range of emotions.
5. Personal Lives: Haydn and Mozart led very different personal lives. Haydn was a life-long employee of the nobility, deeply religious, and a competent musician whose favorite instrument was the orchestra. Mozart, on the other hand, was self-employed, irreverent, a Mason, and possibly an atheist. Mozart was a virtuoso instrumentalist, while Haydn was a competent musician with a focus on the orchestra.
6. Influence: Both composers were influenced by the Italian comic opera tradition, but Mozart's music is more overtly based on a vocal style, while Haydn's is more instrumentally grounded.

Despite these differences, both composers had a significant impact on the development of classical music and were friends, with Mozart dedicating six string quartets to Haydn.

Comparative Table: Mozart vs Haydn

Here is a table highlighting the differences between Mozart and Haydn:

Both Mozart and Haydn were influential composers of the Classical era, and while there are similarities between their symphonies, they also have distinct differences in their styles, themes, and orchestration.