Frederick William II
of Prussia
played the cello
fate had it that
Frederick met Mozart
a revolutionary fellow
and ordered from him
six quartets for strings
perhaps upon mere whim
Wolfgang managed three
before dying young and
some believe mysteriously
but he cut the first violin
down to size
and upped the cello
equal voice
for all four strings
and in allegretto
Amadeus overturned
autocracy and made
a stringed democracy
Frederick never bought
the works and that’s okay
because Mozart never wrote
them for him anyway
but for his cello.
