Editing Die Entführung aus dem Serail (section)

==="Too many notes"===
The complexity of Mozart's work noted by Goethe also plays a role in a well-known tale about the opera which appeared in the early (1798) biography of Mozart by [[Franz Xaver Niemetschek]]. In the version of the anecdote printed in ''[[John Bartlett (publisher)|Bartlett]]'s Book of Anecdotes'', a reference work, the story is told like this:

{{quote|text=The Emperor [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Joseph II]] commissioned the creation of ''The Abduction from the Seraglio'', but when he heard it, he complained to Mozart, "That is too fine for my ears – there are too many notes." Mozart replied, "There are just as many notes as there should be."{{sfn|Bernard|Fadiman|2000|loc=339}}}}

The authenticity of this story is not accepted by all scholars.<ref>See Schmidt-Hensel, and references cited there.</ref> Moreover, the version given by the Bartlett reference (and many other places) includes a translation of the original German that is dubious. The original reads: "{{lang|de|Zu schön für unsere Ohren, und gewaltig viel Noten, lieber Mozart!}}"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/nc/ueber-uns/presse/detail/article/2006-10-16-362.html|url-status=dead|title='... gewaltig viele Noten, lieber Mozart!'. Die Mozart-Autographe der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin|language=de|date=October 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101224154541/http://staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/nc/ueber-uns/presse/detail/article/2006-10-16-362.html|archive-date=2010-12-24|type=exhibition notes by Roland Dieter Schmidt-Hensel|publisher=[[Berlin State Library]]}}</ref>

"Too many notes" is not a plausible translation of the German phrase "{{lang|de|gewaltig viel Noten}}". Mautner, translating Niemetschek, renders this as "an extraordinary number of notes",{{sfn|Niemetschek|1956|loc=33}} while [[Peter Branscombe|Branscombe]] translates it simply as "very many notes".{{sfn|Branscombe|2006|loc=165}} William Stafford translates the phrase as "Too beautiful for our ears, and an enormous number of notes, dear Mozart!"<ref>{{cite book|last=Stafford|first=William|year=1991|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0F06FBa3eQC&pg=PA14 14]|title=The Mozart Myths: A Critical Reassessment|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=9780804722223}}</ref> The anecdote, which is often repeated, is considered by some scholars to unfairly give the Emperor a bad reputation concerning both his musical abilities and his appreciation and support of Mozart.{{sfn|Beales|2006|loc=238–239}}