“Dr. Sun Yat-sen,” an opera by Huang Ruo scheduled to open at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing in late September, was canceled due to “official objections to the music,” according to the New York Times.

The performance, which was to be presented by Opera Hong Kong, is about China’s first president. The staging was to coincide with celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the Chinese revolution, in which Sun Yat-sen was a central figure.

According to the composer’s management company, Karsten Witt Music of Berlin, government officials attended rehearsals of the opera and decided the music “was inappropriate,” though it wasn’t clear what exactly it was about the music that was objectionable.

“I guess maybe it’s not romantic enough,” said an unidentified representative of the company.

In any case, it wasn’t the content that caused problems because the government received the libretto a long time ago.

The representative characterized the music as “not at all avant-garde” and assumed the authorities “wanted something to glorify” Sun even more.

The opera was performed last May in New York.