I write for all ears

When Mozart was writing his opera Idomeno, his father warned him to make sure it was accessible to all the audience. Mozart replied:

As far as the so-called Popular style is concerned, don’t worry about it; in my Opera you’ll find Musick for every kind of listener = except for those with the long ears [i.e., asses].

In an letter to his father,Munich 16 December 1780.  Cited in:Spaethling, Robert (2000) Mozart’s Letters, Mozart’s Life.  London: Faber and Faber,  p.221.

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