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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
went by many different names in his lifetime. This resulted partly from the church traditions of the day, and partly from Mozart being multilingual and freely adapting his name to other languages.


Baptismal record

Mozart was baptized as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart on 28 January 1756, the day after his birth, at St. Rupert's Cathedral in
Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...
. The baptismal register of the cathedral parish contains the entry shown below, written down in
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
by city chaplain Leopold Lamprecht. A transcription with editorial additions by
Otto Erich Deutsch Otto Erich Deutsch (5 September 1883 – 23 November 1967) was an Austrian musicologist. He is known for compiling the first comprehensive catalogue of Franz Schubert's compositions, first published in 1951 in English, with a revised edition pu ...
follows. Mozart's father Leopold announced the birth of his son in a letter to the publisher Johann Jakob Lotter with the words "... the boy is called Joannes Chrisostomus, Wolfgang, Gottlieb" ("''der Bub heißt Joannes Chrisostomus, Wolfgang, Gottlieb''" in German). The baptismal names "Joannes" and "Chrysostomus" also have German equivalents, namely "Johann" and "Chrysostomos" (or less frequently, "Chrysostom"). The widely used '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' employs these versions in the heading name for its Mozart article, which parenthesizes the little-used baptismal names: "(Johann Chrysostom) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart." Here are the details of the various names given on the register: *Mozart's first two baptismal names, "Joannes Chrysostomus", represent his saint's name, following the custom of the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
. They result from his birthday, 27 January, being the feast day of St.
John Chrysostom John Chrysostom (; ; – 14 September 407) was an important Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and p ...
. The document also records that Mozart was of legitimate birth and gives the names of his parents and his father Leopold's occupation as court musician. The first paragraph indicates that the baptism took place at 10:30 in the morning, and that Mozart had been born at 8:00 the night before. The baptismal name "Joannes Chrysostomus" was in conformance to Catholic custom and was not used by Mozart in everyday life. " Chrysostomus" means "golden mouth." *"Wolfgangus" is " Wolfgang", adapted to the Latin used in the parish register. Mozart used "Wolfgang" in German-speaking contexts. Wolfgang was the name of his maternal grandfather, . *"
Theophilus Theophilus is a male given name with a range of alternative spellings. Its origin is the Greek word Θεόφιλος from θεός (''theós'', "God") and φιλία (''philía'', "love or affection") can be translated as "Love of God" or "Friend ...
" comes from Greek and is variously rendered as "lover of God" or "loved by God." "Gottlieb" is its German form, and the familiar "Amadeus" is its Latin form. In later life, Mozart himself would use the Italian and French equivalents, respectively "Amadeo" and "Amadé". "Theophilus" was a name of Mozart's godfather, the merchant Joannes Theophilus Pergmayr, whose presence is recorded in the fourth paragraph.


Later life

The musicologist
Otto Erich Deutsch Otto Erich Deutsch (5 September 1883 – 23 November 1967) was an Austrian musicologist. He is known for compiling the first comprehensive catalogue of Franz Schubert's compositions, first published in 1951 in English, with a revised edition pu ...
, who studied all available letters and documents about Mozart, arrived at the following conclusion about what he had called himself: "In Italy, from 1770, Mozart called himself 'Wolfgango Amadeo', and from about 1777, 'Wolfgang Amadè'." The use of multiple language versions of the same name was common in Mozart's day.
Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...
went by "Joseph" (German, English and French), "Josephus" (Latin) and "Giuseppe" (Italian); and
Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
published his works as "Luigi" (Italian) and as "Louis" (French). Mozart's preference for "Wolfgang Amadè" can be seen on the wedding contract for his marriage to Constanze Weber, dated August 3, 1782, where his signature says "Wolfgang Amadè Mozart". In the St. Stephen's parish register entry for the marriage, dated August 4, Mozart is referred to as "Herr Wolfgang Adam Mozart", which is a different name but probably a misspelling for "Amadé" (or Amadeus). Mozart spelled "Amadè" variously in regard to the accent on the final letter. Robert Spaethling, who translated many of Mozart's letters, writes, he "is especially nonchalant in his placement of Italian and French accents: sometime he writes 'chèr papa', at other times 'chér papa,' and even his own name appears variously as 'Amadé', 'Amadè', and plain 'Amade'." Mozart's preference for "Amadè" was not in general respected by others. Frequently, he was called either "Wolfgang Amadeus" or "Wolfgang Gottlieb". Here are examples: *The day Mozart died, his name was entered in the death records of the Vienna Magistrate as "Wolfgang Amadeus". This is the earliest posthumous source that uses the Latin version of his name. In this time it was common practice to use a latinized form for all death records. *In a letter dated December 11, 1791, Mozart's widow Constanze, in severe financial straits, asked to be given a pension by the Emperor (the appeal was ultimately successful). She signed herself "Konstantia Mozart,
née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
Weber, widow relict of the late Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart." Imperial officials, replying to her request, used the same name. *A benefit concert for Mozart's family was held in
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
on December 28, 1791, billed as "Concert in memory of Wolfgang Gottlieb Mozart". The signature on the autograph scores is commonly "(di) Wolfgango Amadeo Mozart", although sometimes "Amadeo Wolfgango Mozart" is seen, for example on Symphony No. 1 and the Haffner Symphony. The violin concertos also show this variation, with the autographs of numbers 1 (K. 207) and 3 (K. 216) autographs in Krakow showing "Amadeo Wolfgango" and the remaining, including Violin Concerto No. 5 (K. 219) held at the U.S.
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
, showing the more common Wolfgango Amadeo.


The rise of "Amadeus"

It is possible that the now-standard "Amadeus" originated as a facetious name. He signed some letters in mock Latin as "Wolfgangus Amadeus Mozartus"; this was certainly no accident as in one letter he did the same to the date of the letter as well: adding "-us" to the end of each word. But he never signed any letter as "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart" himself. Mozart's only mention as "Wolfgang Amadeus" in an official document made during his lifetime was found in 1998 by Mozart scholar Michael Lorenz in the registers of the Lower Austrian Governorship, where in May 1787 "Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus" is referred to as having applied for the return of his written
surety In finance, a surety , surety bond, or guaranty involves a promise by one party to assume responsibility for the debt obligation of a borrower if that borrower defaults. Usually, a surety bond or surety is a promise by a person or company (a ''sure ...
for his friend . Other uses of "Amadeus", from immediately after Mozart's death in 1791, are given above. The 19th century saw the gradual victory of "Amadeus" over alternative middle names. The earliest (18th century) biographers of Mozart, such as Friedrich Schlichtegroll and Franz Niemetschek, used "Gottlieb". However, in 1798 the publishing firm of
Breitkopf & Härtel Breitkopf & Härtel () is a German Music publisher, music publishing house. Founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf, it is the world's oldest music publisher. Overview The catalogue contains over 1,000 composers, 8,000 works ...
began to issue a (partial) Complete Works edition under the name "Amadeus". The dominance of "Amadeus" began around about 1810; Romanticism, notably in the person of E. T. A. Hoffmann, "seized upon this name to proclaim its veneration for Mozart". Although various scholars since that time have made use of "Amadè" or "Gottlieb", "Amadeus" remains by far the most familiar term for the general public.Source for this paragraph:


Facetious names

In the frequently playful letters of his youth Mozart would sometimes spell his name backwards, viz., "Mozart Wolfgang" or "Trazom". See above for the possible origin of "Amadeus" as facetious.


Notes


References

Sources * * This work contains English translations of all of the documents cited above. *


Further reading

* Anderson, Emily (1938) ''The Letters of Mozart and His Family''. Currently in print with Palgrave Macmillan (1989) * * Solomon, Maynard (1996) ''Mozart: A Life''. Harper Perennial. {{Portal bar, Biography, Classical music
Name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A person ...
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
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