There is a very popular anecdote about the meeting of Mozart and Beethoven. According to this, when Beethoven first visited Vienna in 1787 (at age 17), he was introduced to Mozart. The young talent played a piece and when he saw Mozart was not impressed, he begged for more time to improvise. This finally convinced Mozart, who said: “Mark that young man; he will make himself a name in the world!“
In our article, Did Mozart and Beethoven ever meet?, we concluded that this story most probably is not true. It may be, in fact almost certain, that Mozart even was not in Vienna during this period, but in Prague.
In summary we can say, that although a very romantic picture, Mozart did not teach Beethoven, as they never met personally.
Despite this, Mozart’s music had great impact on Beethoven, especially in his early life, his first period in his musical development.
