The term "classical music" suggests that a sense of humor and distance are not its most common traits. We find most of these qualities in the classical era, a time when sound artistry was approached with perhaps the least reverence, and refined music served the entertainment of the wealthy. The Horn Quintet, written by Mozart for his acquaintance, the musician Joseph Leutgeb, with whom the composer enjoyed jesting, is essentially a chamber ensemble concert. In the finale, the strings seem to gently mock the limitations of the solo instrument.
Mozart's biographer, Alfred Einstein, hypothesized that the perfectly crafted "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" was meant to counterbalance the earlier-written Musical Joke – a satire on inept composers, in which Wolfgang Amadeus contradicts his entire craftsmanship. Indeed, these two works placed side by side complement each other perfectly.
