On today's date in 1785, Wolfgang Mozart dedicated his six latest string quartets to his friend and older colleague, Joseph Haydn. Earlier that year, Haydn heard some of these quartets performed at a private concert in Vienna. Leopold Mozart, Wolfgang's father, was also present, and must have been over the moon when, after the performance, Haydn told him, "Before God and as an honest man I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name." The six quartets Mozart dedicated to Haydn were published by the Viennese firm Artaria, and generated some much-needed income for Wolfgang. Whether they sold well enough to make money for their publisher as well is another matter. Three years later, one of Mozart's lesser contemporaries, Karl Maria von Dittersdorf, offered Artaria six of HIS string quartets at the same price they paid Mozart, with a note that read, "I am certain you will do better with MY quartets than you did with Mozart's, which deserve the highest praise, but which, because of their overwhelming and unrelenting artfulness, are not to everyone's taste." Apparently Mozart's quartets were regarded as a little too "brainy" to suit the public taste. Well, Dittersdorf's quartets may have sold better in the 1780's, but these days, performers and audiences have pretty much decided that Mozart's "unrelenting artfulness" appeals more to contemporary taste than Dittersdorf's sugary confections.