Mozart and Beethoven

Two composers who are frequently compared are: Mozart and Beethoven.  These two are sort of a natural pair to select for the exercise because they were both in Austria, about the same time, wrote works that were similar in spirit, and both had strong connections to Haydn, not that that makes much of a difference.

Mozart's music manuscripts are neatly set out, as if he conceived his works in his head, and didn't set them down until they were perfect.  With Beethoven, we can almost see the process of creation.  We only know anything about these two men from second and third hand, so it would be arrogant in the extreme to present a detailed psychological profile of them for comparison.  But it does sound convincing that Mozart was very much aware of how he was perceived, whereas we get the impression that Beethoven wouldn't give a damn.  (That's only true to some degree; there seem to be anecdotes that suggest that Beethoven could be easily embarrassed.)

What does the perfection of Mozart's manuscripts mean, really?  Someone, a contemporary, has said: always Mozart, always the same!  Does this mean that there was something predictable about Mozart's music?  I don't think it means exactly that; but he had such complete control over his idiom, that he didn't need to fiddle with details, but rather larger chunks of music; and he could do that in his head.

Beethoven was more concerned with actually building his idiom anew each time; the stateliness, the majesty of what he wanted needed tinkering at the finest level; he probably adjusted the notes of each chord to get what he wanted.

As I said, I don't want to presume to have an insight into the compositional procedure of anyone, even myself; I had to rework a movement a dozen times before it sounded halfway decent!  Most of all, it is impossible for us to imagine what is going on in Beethoven's head, simply because we've heard the final completed piece.  We've also heard a lot of Beethoven, which he had not heard at the time he was writing.

I would imagine it's the same with writing text.  Some writers would tinker with their dialog until they arrive at the precise tone of a sentence they want.  Others can hear the entire conversation already, and can't write it down fast enough!

I would like to continue with some musical examples, not to make any conclusions, but for the contrasts they may show.  But I can't do that on my phone ...