pre-1761

Updated: May 4, 2025

Had he continued to write in the pre-1761 manner, he would never have by 1790 won his world-wide fame, and made London seek him and so draw from him his finest work. After, say, 1785, the old contrapuntal smack has gone out of his writing, and his form has grown definite.

John F. Runciman - Haydn