Mozart and scatology

Reproduction of the original manuscript of Mozart's canon "Difficile lectu". The words "lectu mihi mars" were intended to be heard as "Leck du mich im Arsch" ("lick my arse"), a phrase commonly used in Mozart's family circle.[1]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart displayed scatological humour in his letters and multiple recreational compositions. This material has long been a puzzle for Mozart scholarship. Some scholars try to understand it in terms of its role in Mozart's family, his society and his times; others attempt to understand it as a result of an "impressive list"[2] of psychiatric conditions from which Mozart is claimed to have suffered.

  1. ^ Buch, David J. (2016). "Mozart's Bawdy Canons, Vulgarity and Debauchery at the Wiednertheater". Eighteenth Century Music. 13 (2): 283–308. doi:10.1017/S1478570616000087. ISSN 1478-5706. S2CID 163849057.
  2. ^ Kammer, Thomas (2007) "Mozart in the Neurological Department – Who Has the Tic?". In J. Bogousslavsky and Hennerici M. G. (eds.), Neurological Disorders in Famous Artists – Part 2. Frontiers in Neurology and Neurosciences, vol. 22. Basel: Karger, pp. 184–192. Archived 2012-02-07 at the Wayback Machine