Mozart’s Sharp Reply to the Emperor

Plenty of great composers benefited from royal patronage—Haydn, for instance, owed a great deal to Prince Esterházy. Over time, from Haydn to Wagner, courts increasingly learned to value musical genius.

But patronage could come with a price: some musicians grew servile, while others kept their independence. Mozart was in the second camp. After the first performance of his opera Il Seraglio, the Austrian Emperor Joseph II offered a critique.

“My dear Mozart,” he said, “this is too fine for our ears; there are too many notes.”

Mozart shot back, “I beg Your Majesty’s pardon—there are just sufficient notes.” It was a brilliant line… and it didn’t exactly increase his popularity at court.