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. Jump to: navigation, search W. A. Mozart, 1790 portrait by Johann Georg Edlinger Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (January 27, 1756 – December 5, 1791) is among the most significant and enduringly popular composers of European classical music. ...

Baptismal record

Mozart was baptized January 28, 1756, the day after his birth, at St. Rupert's Cathedral in Salzburg as Johannes 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. Jump to: navigation, search January 28 is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1756 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search Flag of Salzburg Salzburg (population 145,000 in 2003) is a city in western Austria and the capital of the federal state of Salzburg (population 520,000 in 2003). ... Jump to: navigation, search Latin is an Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Otto Erich Deutsch (September 5, 1883 - November 23, 1967) was an Austrian musicologist. ...

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. Johann Georg Leopold Mozart (November 14, 1719 – May 28, 1787) was a composer, music teacher and violinist. ... Anna Maria Mozart (1720-1778) was the mother of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. ... A saint’s name is the name of a saint given to individuals at their baptism within the Catholic Church. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest church or organizational body of Christians, with a membership of over one billion people worldwide. ... Saint John Chrysostom John Chrysostom (347 - 407) was a notable Christian bishop and preacher from the 4th and 5th centuries in Syria and Constantinople. ...

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.

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). Jump to: navigation, search (Franz) Joseph Haydn, (March 31 or April 1, 1732 – May 31, 1809) was a leading composer of the Classical period, called the Father of the Symphony and Father of the String Quartet. Although he is still often called Franz Joseph Haydn, Haydn himself actually never used... Jump to: navigation, search Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptized 17 December 1770; died 26 March 1827) was a German composer of classical music, who predominantly lived in Vienna, Austria. ...

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 bureaucratic error caused by the unfamiliarity of the name "Amadè".

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".

Jump to: navigation, search A benefit concert is a concert featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate humanitarian crisis. ... Jump to: navigation, search Prague (Czech: Praha, see also other names) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. ... Jump to: navigation, search December 28 is the 362nd day of the year (363rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 3 days remaining. ... 1791 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...

Anecdote

In the frequently-playful letters of his youth Mozart sometimes would spell his name backwards.

Books

• 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.

External link

• a source for the backward-spelling anecdote