User:Avatar/Mozart and scatology2

Reactions of family and friends
In 1798, Constanze sent her late husband's Bäsle letters to the publishers Breitkopf & Härtel, who at the time were gathering material in hopes of preparing a Mozart biography. In the accompanying letter she wrote "Although in dubious taste, the letters to his cousin are full of wit and deserve mentioning, although they cannot of course be published in their entirety."

In the 18th century
Schroeder (1999) suggests that in the 18th century it was far more public and "mainstream". The German-language popular theater of Mozart's time was influenced by the Italian commedia dell'arte and emphasized the stock character of Hanswurst, a coarse and robust character who would entertain his audience by pretending to eat large and unlikely objects (for instance, a whole calf), then defecating them.

Schroeder suggests a political underlay to the scatology in popular theater: its viewers lived under a system of hereditary aristocracy that excluded them from political participation. The vulgarity of scatological popular theater was a counterpoint to the refined culture imposed from above. One of Mozart's own letters describes aristocrats in scatological terms; he identified the aristocrats present at a concert in Augsburg (1777) as "the Duchess Smackarse, the Countess Pleasurepisser, the Princess Stinkmess, and the two Princes Potbelly von Pigtail".

In German culture
The folklorist and cultural anthropologist Alan Dundes suggested that interest in or tolerance for scatological matters is a specific trait of German national culture, one which is retained to this day:


 * In German folklore, one finds an inordinate number of texts concerned with anality. Scheiße (shit), Dreck (dirt), Mist (manure), Arsch (ass), and other locutions are commonplace. Folksongs, folktales, proverbs, folk speech—all attest to the Germans' longstanding special interest in this area of human activity. I am not claiming that other peoples of the world do not express a healthy concern for this area, but rather that the Germans appear to be preoccupied with such themes. It is thus not so much a matter of difference as it is of degree.

Dundes (1984) provides ample coverage of scatological humor in Mozart, but also cites scatological texts from Martin Luther, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Heinrich Heine and other luminaries of German culture. Karhausen (1993) asserts that "scatology was common in Mitteleuropa [central Europe]", noting for instance that Mozart's Salzburg colleague Michael Haydn also wrote a scatological canon.

Some of the phrases used by Mozart in his scatological material were not original with him but were part of the folklore and culture of his day: Mieder (2003) describes the Bäsle letters as involving "Mozart's intentional play with what is for the most part preformulated folk speech". An example given by Robert Spaethling is the folkloric origin of a phrase seen above, "Gute Nacht, scheiß ins Bett dass' Kracht", claimed by Spaethling to be a "children's rhyme that is still current in south German language areas today". Likewise, when Mozart sang to Aloysia Weber the words "Leck mich das Mensch im Arsch, das mich nicht will" ("The one who doesn't want me can lick my ass") on the occasion of being romantically rejected by her, he was evidently singing an existing folk tune, not a song of his own invention.

Medical accounts
An early 20th-century observer who suspected that Mozart's scatological materials could be interpreted by psychological pathologies was the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, who amassed a large collection of musical manuscripts. His collection included the Bäsle letters (at the time, unpublished) as well as the autographs of Mozart's scatological canons "Difficile lectu" and "O du eselhafter Peierl". Zweig sent copies of the Bäsle letters to the celebrated psychiatrist Sigmund Freud with the following suggestion:
 * These nine letters ... throw a psychologically very remarkable light on his erotic nature, which, more so than any other important man, has elements of infantilism and coprophilia. It would actually be a very interesting study for one of your pupils.

Freud apparently declined Zweig's suggestion. As Schroeder notes, later psychobiographers seized on the letters as evidence for psychopathological tendencies in Mozart.

Some authors in the 1990s interpreted the material as evidence that Mozart had Tourette syndrome (TS). Simkin catalogued the scatological letters and compared their frequencies with similar vulgarisms from other members of Mozart's family—they are far more frequent. The scatological materials were combined by Simkin with biographical accounts from Mozart's own time that suggested that Mozart suffered from the tics characteristic of Tourette syndrome. His claim was picked up by newspapers worldwide, causing an international sensation, and internet websites have fueled the speculation.

While often discussed, the Mozart/Tourette hypothesis has failed to sway mainstream opinion on this issue. Indeed, Kammer (2007) states that the work proposing the hypothesis has been "promptly and harshly" criticized. The critical commentary asserts both medical misdiagnosis and errors of Mozart scholarship. Kammer concluded that "Tourette's syndrome is an inventive but implausible diagnosis in the medical history of Mozart". Evidence of motor tics was found lacking and the notion that involuntary vocal tics are transferred to the written form was labeled "problematic". Neurologist and author Oliver Sacks published an editorial disputing Simkin's claim, and the Tourette Syndrome Association pointed out the speculative nature of this information. No Tourette's syndrome expert or organization has voiced concurrence that there is credible evidence to conclude that Mozart had Tourette's. One TS specialist stated that "although some websites list Mozart as an individual who had Tourette's or OCD, it's not clear from the descriptions of his behavior that he actually had either".

In letters
Benjamin Simkin's compilation lists scatological letters by Mozart to the following individuals:


 * his father, Leopold Mozart: twenty letters
 * his wife, Constanze Mozart: six letters
 * his cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart: six letters
 * his sister Maria Anna Mozart (Nannerl): four letters
 * his mother Anna Maria Mozart: one letter
 * his mother and sister jointly: one letter
 * his Salzburg friend Abbé Joseph Bullinger: one letter
 * his friend, the choirmaster Anton Stoll, for whom he wrote Ave verum corpus: one letter

In music
The canons were first published after Mozart's death with bowdlerized lyrics; for instance "Leck mir den Arsch fein rein" ("Lick me in the arse nice and clean") became "Nichts labt mich mehr als Wein" ("Nothing refreshes me more than wine"). In some cases, only the first line of the original scatological lyrics is preserved. The following list is ordered by Köchel catalog number. Voices and conjectured dates are from Zaslaw and Cowdery (1990:101–105); and links marked "score" lead to the online edition of the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe.


 * "Leck mich im Arsch" ("Lick me in the arse"), K. 231 (K6 382c), for six voices. . Composed some time in the 1780s. First published as "Lass froh uns sein" ("Let us be joyful").
 * "Leck mir den Arsch fein recht schön sauber" ("Lick my arse right well and clean"), K. 233 (K6 382d). . First published as "Nichts labt mich mehr als Wein" ("Nothing pleases me more than wine"). The music of this canon was once thought to be by Mozart but was shown in 1988 by Wolfgang Plath to be by Wenzel Trnka, originally to the Italian words "Tu sei gelosa, è vero". As the editors of the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe note, the work almost certainly should be considered a work of Mozart's, but as the author of the lyrics rather than as the composer.
 * "Bei der Hitz im Sommer eß ich" ("In the heat of summer I eat"), K. 234 (K6 382e). . As with K. 233, the music is not by Mozart; originally it was the canon "So che vanti un cor ingrato" by Wenzel Trnka.
 * "Gehn wir im Prater, gehn wir in d' Hetz", K. 558, for four voices. . 1788 or earlier.
 * Difficile lectu mihi Mars, K. 559, for three voices. . Ca. 1786–1787.
 * O du eselhafter Peierl, ("Oh, you asinine Peierl") for four voices, K. 560a. . Ca. 1786–1787. A slightly revised version, "O du eselhafter Martin", is catalogued as K. 560b.
 * "Bona nox" ("Good night") K. 561, for four voices. . 1788 or earlier.

General

 * Abert, Hermann (2008) W. A. Mozart. Edited by Cliff Eisen and translated from the German by Stewart Spencer. New Haven: Yale University Press.
 * Anderson, Emily (1938) The Letters of Mozart and his Family. Macmillan.
 * Berke, Dietrich and Wolfgang Rehm (with collaboration of Miriam Pfadt) (2007) Die Neue Mozart-Ausgabe: Texte – Bilder – Chronik, 1955–2007. Kassel: Bärenreiter. Available online
 * Dundes, Alan (1984) Life is like a Chicken Coop Ladder: Studies of German National Character through Folklore. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.
 * Link, Dorothea (2006) "'È la fede degli amanti' and the Viennese operatic canon", in Simon Keefe, ed., Mozart Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 * Mersmann, Hans, ed. (1972) Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Dover Publications.
 * Mieder, Wolfgang (2003) "Now I Sit Like a Rabbit in the Pepper": Proverbial Language in the Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Journal of Folklore Research 40: 33–70. Available online.
 * Shaffer, Peter (1981) Amadeus (fictional drama). Samuel French, Inc.
 * Schroeder, David P. (1999) Mozart in revolt: strategies of resistance, mischief, and deception. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-07542-1.
 * Solomon, Maynard (1996) Mozart: A Life. New York: Harper Perennial.
 * Spaethling, Robert (2000) Mozart's letters, Mozart's life: selected letters. New York; W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-04719-9.
 * Zaslaw, Neal, and William Cowdery (1990) The Compleat Mozart: a guide to the musical works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

Tourette syndrome hypothesis
The following articles have advanced the theory that Mozart had Tourette syndrome:


 * Gunne, L.M. (1991) Hade Mozart Tourettes syndrom? Läkartidningen 88: 4325–4326. [cited in Kammer 1983]
 * Fog, R. (1995) Mozart’s bizarre verbal behavior: a case of Tourette syndrome? Maledicta 11:59–62. [cited in Kammer 1983]
 * Fog, R. and L. Regeur (1983) Did W.A. Mozart suffer from Tourette’s syndrome? World Congress of Psychiatry, Vienna. [cited in Kammer 1983]
 * Schaub, S. (1994) Mozart und das Tourette-Syndrom. Acta Mozartiana 41: 15–20. [cited in Kammer 1983]
 * Simkin, Benjamin (1992) Mozart's scatological disorder. BMJ 305: 1563–7. Available online.

The following articles direct criticism at the hypothesis:


 * Ashoori A, Jankovic J. "Mozart's movements and behaviour: a case of Tourette's syndrome?" J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2007 Nov;78(11):1171–5
 * Davies, Peter J. (1993) Letter to the Editor. BMJ 306: 521–522. Available online.
 * 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. Available online
 * Karhausen, L. R. (1993) Letter to the Editor. BMJ 306:522. Available online.
 * Karhausen, L. R. (1998) Weeding Mozart's medical history. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 91: 546–550. Available online.
 * Sacks, Oliver Tourette's syndrome and creativity. BMJ. 1992 Dec 19–26;305(6868):1515–6.
 * Tourette Syndrome Association. Did Mozart really have TS? Retrieved on 14 August 2002