Influences on Mozart?

Question

which composer with works like Acis, Galatea and Alexanders feast, had the most influence on Mozart

Answer 1

If you're talking about Handel, I'd say he was probably a little farther down on the list of Mozart's influences. Certainly Haydn had a bigger hand in the young composer's development than Handel did.

Answer 2

Mozart studied the music of Bach, Handel, Allegri and Haydn but perhaps the largest 'influence' on Mozart as a young composer was JS Bach's youngest son, Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782). In fact one or two of JC Bach's pieces were misattributed to Mozart because he had copied them out by hand to study them. If you compare Mozart's very early symphonies with those of JC bach you will soon see where the real infulence came from for the young Mozart.

I think this influence was greater in purely compositional terms than that of Handel, which is who the questioner is referring to.

Answer 3

Mozart was devoted to Handel's music. Did you know that he arranged the orchestration for Messiah to something more akin to the tastes of his day? I don't think that he had a great deal of influence on Mozart's composing style. Mozart took the techniques and forms of the second half of the 18th century and used them in his own inimitable way.