Mozart’s Acknowledgment

Real genius isn’t afraid to take a hint—sometimes from the least expected place.

In Mozart’s opera *The Marriage of Figaro*, one character is a stuttering judge. Mozart wanted the singer Michael Kelly to stutter throughout the opera—except in one beloved number, a sextet. He feared the stutter would spoil the music.

Kelly pushed back. If the judge stuttered everywhere else, he said, then he should stutter in the sextet too—otherwise the character would suddenly change for no reason. He apologized for arguing with Mozart, but insisted: he would sing it that way or not at all.

Mozart finally gave in. Kelly stuttered in the sextet, and the audience erupted; even the Emperor shouted “Bravo!” Mozart ran onstage, took Kelly by the hand, and said, “Young man, I’m obliged to you. You were right—and I was wrong.”