David Stewart wrote:

>Nick Perovich wrote:
>
>>I read Andrew Carlan's remark as simply a typo, "Haydn" for "Handel."
>>Wasn't it Handel whom Beethoven seemed to worship as the ultimate master,
>>declaring him "the father of us all," or something of that sort?
>
>No. That was Haydn (in tears, apparently) about Handel after he had heard
>the Hallelujah chorus.  Oh, what a tangled web we weave.

Apparently Handel had several noteworthy admirerers.  Beethoven was one of
them.  According to *The Beethoven Encyclopedia* by Paul Nettl (Professor
of musicology at Indiana University), Beethoven, "in a conversation with
Stumpf (1824)...call[ed] Handel the greatest composer who ever lived."
Shortly before he died, Beethoven had obtained Handel's complete works.

Walter Meyer