Musical performances were the customary evening entertainments given by distinguished or wealthy persons, in default of better, such as the theatre. Those who maintained their own _Kapelle_ required daily performances, and in the evening, whether they were alone or entertaining company, a well-appointed concert. Sometimes noble gentler men became so proficient on some instrument that it pleased them to take personal part in such concerts. Not to mention the noted examples of Frederick the Great and the Emperor Joseph, the Elector Maximilian III. of Bavaria was a performer on the bass-viol, and took part in the court concerts, where his sister, Maria Antonia of Saxony, appeared as a singer; sometimes also he played the violin in the symphony.[8] The flute was an instrument much in vogue with noble amateurs, and was played by the Margrave Friedrich von Bayreuth,[9] Duke Karl von INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC. (288) Curland,[10] and Prince Joseph Friedrich von Hildburghausen;[11] the Elector Karl Theodore, played the violoncello,[12] Prince Nicolaus Esterhazy the baritone,[13] Archduke Maximilian the tenor.[14] Archbishop Hieronymus adopted the violin[15] as his instrument, after the example of the Emperor Peter III.[16] and the Crown Prince Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand von Braunschweig, and he amused himself with it alone after dinner;[17] in the evening he took part in the concerts given by his choir.[18] L. Mozart writes to his son, who had a great dislike to violin-playing in court music: "As a connoisseur, you will not be ashamed of the violin-playing in the first symphony, any more than the Archbishop and all the cavaliers who take part in it." The distinguished amateurs did not indeed always improve the orchestra. On one occasion, the Empress Maria Theresa having remarked in an undertone to Haydn that she wondered what would become of four noble amateurs, who were performing with him, if left to themselves, he played her the joke of quietly absenting himself with his next colleague, and enjoyed the complete discomfiture of the gentlemen. Brunetti, who always stood at the Archbishop's side, used at difficult places quietly to take down his viola and strike in; the Archbishop let it pass, and used even to say when he came to these places, "now Brunetti will come in." Mozart had not the most favourable opinion of the Archbishop's musical knowledge. He writes to his father (Vienna, September 26, 1781) about the famous bass singer, Fischer, "who has certainly an excellent bass voice, although the Archbishop told him he sang too low for a bass, upon which I assured His Grace that he would sing higher next time." {COURT CONCERTS---THEIR LENGTH.} (289)