In Jan Swafford’s excellent 2020 Mozart biography The Reign, he intimately weaves the composer’s life story with the music he created. Along the way, he confirms a legendary scene. Played to the hilt in , Milos Forman’s 1984 film adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s play, the then-reigning Hapsburg monarch, Joseph II, rushes backstage after the premiere of Mozart’s first operatic blockbuster, , and opines, “Too beautiful for our [Viennese] ears, my dear Mozart, and monstrous many notes.” Sassy by nature or perhaps just stung by the implied criticism, Mozart supposedly replied, “Exactly as many as necessary, Your Majesty.”
