Mozart's name
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The composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart went by many different names in his lifetime. This resulted partly from the church traditions of the day, and partly from the fact that Mozart was multilingual and freely adapted his name to other languages.
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[edit] Baptismal record
Mozart was baptized January 28, 1756, the day after his birth, at St. Rupert's Cathedral in Salzburg as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. The baptismal register of the cathedral parish contains the entry shown below, written down in Latin by city chaplain Leopold Lamprecht. The parallel five-column format of the original document is rendered here as five consecutive paragraphs. Material in brackets represents editorial additions by Otto Erich Deutsch (see below), intended for clarification.
- Januarius. 28. med[ia hora] 11. merid[iana] baptizatus est : natus pridie h[ora] 8. vesp[ertina]
- Joannes Chrysost[omus] Wolfgangus Theophilus fil[ius] leg[itimus]
- Nob[ilis] D[ominus] Leopoldus Mozart Aulae Musicus, et Maria Anna Pertlin coniuges
- Nob[ilis] D[ominus] Joannes Theophilus Pergmayr Senator et Mercator Civicus p[ro] t[empore] sponsus
- Idem Leopoldus Lamprecht Capellanus Civicus
Mozart's first two baptismal names, "Joannes Chrysostomus," represent his saint's name, following the custom of the Roman Catholic Church. They result from the fact that his birthday, 27 January, was the feast day of St. John Chrysostom. 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.
Here are the details of the various names given on the register:
- "Wolfgangus" is "Wolfgang", adapted to the Latin used in the parish register. The composer used "Wolfgang" in German-speaking contexts. "Wolfgang" was the name of the composer's maternal grandfather.
- "Theophilus" comes from Greek and is variously rendered as "lover of God" or "loved by God". The familiar form "Amadeus" is the Latin version of this name. "Theophilus" was a name of Mozart's godfather, the merchant Joannes Theophilus Pergmayr, whose presence is recorded in the fourth paragraph.
- The baptismal name "Joannes Chrysostomus" was in conformance to Catholic custom and was not used by Mozart in everyday life.
[edit] Later life
Otto Erich Deutsch, who studied all available letters and documents about the composer, arrived at the following conclusion about what the composer 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 perhaps common for composers in Mozart's day. Joseph Haydn went by "Joseph" (English and French), "Josef" (German), and "Giuseppe" (Italian); and Ludwig van Beethoven likewise published as "Luigi" (Italian) and as "Louis" (French)..
Mozart's preference for "Wolfgang Amadè" can be seen on the wedding contract for his marriage to Konstanze Weber, dated August 3, 1782, where the composer's signature is "Wolfgang Amade Mozart". In the parish register entry for the marriage, dated August 4, Mozart is oddly referred to as "Herr Wolfgang Adam Mozart", perhaps a clerical error caused by the unfamiliarity of the name "Amadè". Mozart biographer Maynard Solomon has developed a number of speculations on the meaning of "Adam", under the assumption that its appearance is deliberate.
Mozart's preference for "Amadè" was not in general respected by others. Frequently, he was called either "Wolfgang Amadeus" or "Wolfgang Gottlieb", "Gottlieb" being yet another translation (German) of "Theophilus". Here are examples, all dating from shortly after Mozart's death.
- In a letter dated December 11, 1791, Mozart's widow Konstanze, in severe financial straits, asked to be given a pension by the Emperor (the appeal was ultimately successful). She signed herself "Konstantia Mozart, née Weber, widow relict of the late Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart." Imperial officials, replying to her request, used the same name.
- The parish register that recorded Mozart's death gave his name as "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart".
- A benefit concert for Mozart's family was held in Prague on December 28, 1791, billed as "Concert in memory of Wolfgang Gottlieb Mozart".
[edit] Anecdotes
In the frequently playful letters of his youth Mozart sometimes would spell his name backwards, viz., Mozart Wolfgang or Trazom. More often he would sign letters 'Mzt'.
Mozart also on one occasion made fun of the name 'Amadeus' and signed himself in a letter as "Wolfgangus Amadeus Mozartus" (this was certainly no accident as he did the same to the date of the letter as well: adding "us" to the end of each word).
[edit] Books
- Anderson, Emily (1938) The Letters of Mozart and His Family. Currently in print with Palgrave Macmillan (1989)
- Deutsch, Otto Erich (1965) Mozart: A Documentary Biography. English translation by Eric Blom, Peter Branscombe, and Jeremy Noble. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. This work contains English translations of all of the documents cited above.
- Solomon, Maynard (1996) Mozart: A Life. Harper Perennial. ISBN 0-06-092692-9
