How do Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven differ in their treatment of the recapitulation?

In the context of sonata form, the recapitulation serves as the final synthesis where the musical arguments of the exposition are reconciled in the tonic key. While all three Classical masters typically prepare for this moment with a long passage of gathering tension, their approaches to the arrival of the recapitulation differ in style and execution:1

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: He is noted for managing the return of the tonic key and subject with understated punctuality. In his works, the actual moment of recapitulation often glides in almost unnoticed. He also frequently reshapes his second subjects drastically when they reappear in the recapitulation.12
• Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven: Both composers tend to celebrate the advent of the recapitulation with greater panoply.1
• Structural Modifications: While the recapitulation often repeats the exposition's material, the degree of literalness varies. Mozart sometimes achieves the necessary change of key perspective with only tiny modifications to the transition. Conversely, Beethoven—notably in the first movement of his Eroica symphony—and Haydn often employ far-reaching modifications and reshufflings of the original material to achieve the reconciliation of opposites.1