Bernard Chasan said: >Lebrecht's comments are particularly hard to take seriously given Mozart's >almost symbiotic relationship with Haydn, and his strong influence on >Beethoven. I would agree with you that there is not much value in taking Lebrecht's anti-Mozart statements seriously; but, rather, to use them as a catalyst to free us from preconceptions. In fact, one might argue that Mozart used Haydyn by adopting ideas from him, and Beethoven was not very impressed with Mozart, so might object to the idea of influence. Beethoven, in fact, did not seem to have ears to hear the uniqueness of Mozart's music; in fact, he seemed to prefer Salieri, who did not move music forward at all. Pamela McElwain-Brown www.themagicflute.org