Give Me the Ducats

Plenty of great composers had little patience for medals and ribbons. Oxford University made Haydn a Doctor of Music—and you can imagine how Beethoven would have taken that kind of pomp.

His attitude showed clearly when the Prussian Ambassador in Vienna offered him a choice: fifty ducats in cash, or the insignia of a high order. Beethoven didn’t hesitate: “Give me the ducats.”

Jean‑Philippe Rameau was just as unimpressed. Louis XV awarded him the Order of St. Michael. When the King learned Rameau hadn’t registered it with the proper official, he assumed it was because the fees were too expensive and offered to pay the charges. Rameau thanked him—then asked for the money instead: he could find a better use for it.

Mozart, too, might have preferred cash over orders, rings, and gold snuff‑boxes. He was showered with such gifts, yet often had barely enough income to keep his family comfortable. The author ends with a dry aside: today the artist gets more money, and fewer snuff‑boxes.