The letters recount Mozart traveling between cities to audition and petition patrons for a salaried court position, meeting polite admiration without secure appointment. His musical gifts did not translate automatically into stable income or institutional standing.
Mozart tailors arias to the specific voice, range, and limitations of the particular singer who will perform them, treating the performer's abilities as a constraint that shapes the music. He describes fitting a part to a singer as a tailor fits a garment to a body.
In private correspondence Mozart assesses other composers and performers bluntly, praising technical skill while mocking shallowness or vanity, revealing standards he would not voice publicly. The letters show evaluative opinions held backstage that differ from the courtesies of professional life.