Anecdotes of Great Musicians/Anecdote 146
146.—A SHARP REJOINDER.
Many of the great musicians have been the recipients of the bounty of royalty. While some of the great composers have been allowed to live in obscurity and to suffer in penury, others have, for a time at least, enjoyed the good graces of kings, queens, and princes. To the bounty of Prince Esterhazy we are beholden for much of the work of Haydn; and from that day to the period when Wagner was surrounded by royal patronage, we find the appreciation of the genius of the great composers continually increasing.
While in some cases, that of Haydn, for example, servility to royalty is the result, in others the musician has retained his native independence of spirit. Of the latter, Mozart was one. This is instanced in a reply he made to Austrian Emperor, Joseph II, when that royal personage criticized his opera, "Il Seraglio," on the first appearance.
"My dear Mozart," said he, "this is too fine for our ears; there are too many notes."
"I beg your majesty's pardon," Mozart sharply replied, "there are just sufficient notes," a rejoinder which did not add to the esteem in which Mozart was held by the court.