Leck mich im Arsch
{{Short description|Canon by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart}}
File:Mozart (unfinished) by Lange 1782.jpg
"{{Lang|de|Leck mich im Arsch|italic=no}}" (German for "Lick me in the arse") is a canon in B-flat major composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, K. 231 (K. 382c), with lyrics in German. It was one of a set of at least six canons probably written in Vienna in 1782.Eisen, Cliff, et al.: "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart", Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed 9 September 2007), {{Subscription required}} Sung by six voices as a three-part round, it is thought to be a party piece for his friends.
English translation
The German idiom used as the title of the work is equivalent to the British English "Kiss my arse!" or American English "Kiss my ass!"{{cite book|last1=Schemann|first1=Hans|author1-link=:de:Hans Schemann|last2=Knight|first2=Paul|title=English-German Dictionary of Idioms|page={{page needed|date=October 2024}}|publisher=Routledge|location=London, New York|year=1997|isbn=9780415172547}}
Publication and modern discovery
After Mozart's death in 1791, his widow, Constanze, sent the manuscripts of the canons to publishers Breitkopf & Härtel in 1799 for publication. The publisher changed the vulgar title and lyrics of this canon to the more decent "{{Lang|de|Laßt froh uns sein|italic=no}}" ("Let us be glad!"). Of Mozart's original text, only the first words were documented in the catalogue of his works produced by Breitkopf & Härtel.[http://dme.mozarteum.at/DME/nma/nma_cont.php?vsep=93&gen=edition&l=1&p1=-20 Preface to the Neue Mozart Ausgabe] Vol. III/10, p. X.
A score containing what may possibly be the original text was discovered in 1991. Handwritten texts to this and several other similar canons were found added to a printed score of the work in a historical printed edition acquired by Harvard University's Music Library. They had evidently been added to the book sometime after publication. However, since in six of the pieces these entries matched texts that had, in the meantime, independently come to light in original manuscripts, it was hypothesised that the remaining three may, too, have been original, including texts for K. 231 ("Leck mich im Arsch" itself), and another Mozart work, "Leck mir den Arsch fein recht schön sauber" ("Lick my arse nice and clean", K. 233; K. 382d in the revised numbering).{{cite news|first=Allan|last=Kozinn|author-link=Allan Kozinn|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE6DD1F31F931A35750C0A967958260&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fM%2fMozart%2c%20Wolfgang%20Amadeus|title=Three Naughty Mozart Texts Are Found|work=The New York Times|date=2 March 1991|access-date=19 September 2007}} Later research revealed that the latter work was likely composed by Wenzel Trnka.{{cite book|last1=Plath|first1=Wolfgang|author2-link=Hanspeter Bennwitz|author-link1=Wolfgang Plath|author2=Bennwitz, Hanspeter|author3=Buschmeier, Gabriele|author4=Feder, Georg|author5-link=Klaus Hofmann|author5=Hofmann, Klaus|title=Opera incerta. Echtheitsfragen als Problem musikwissenschaftlicher Gesamtausgaben|publisher=Kolloquium Mainz 1988|year=1988|isbn=3-515-05996-2}}{{cite book|editor=Silke Leopold|editor-link=Silke Leopold|editor2=Jutta Schmoll-Barthel|editor3=Sara Jeffe|title=Mozart-Handbuch|publisher=Metzler|date=October 2005|location=Stuttgart|pages=640, 653, 689|isbn=3-476-02077-0}}{{cite web| author1 = Dietrich Berke| author2-link = Wolfgang Rehm| author2 = Wolfgang Rehm| author3 = Miriam Pfadt| title = Endbericht| work = Neue Mozart Ausgabe| language = de| publisher = Bärenreiter| year = 2007| url = http://www.baerenreiter.com/html/download/pdfs/Endbericht-NMA.pdf| access-date = 10 September 2007| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070722083646/https://www.baerenreiter.com/html/download/pdfs/Endbericht-NMA.pdf| archive-date = 22 July 2007| author1-link = Dietrich Berke}}{{cite web |author1=Catherine Carl |author2=Dan Manley |author3=Dennis Pajot |author4=Steve Ralsten |author5=Gary Smith |title=Koechel List |publisher=Mozart Forum |url=http://www.mozartforum.com/Koechel%20part%203.htm |access-date=10 September 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070814065232/http://www.mozartforum.com/Koechel%20part%203.htm |archive-date=14 August 2007}}
Lyrics
The text rediscovered in 1991 consists only of the repeated phrases and words: {{lang|de|Leck mich im A... g'schwindi, g'schwindi!}}Denis Pajot: "K. 233 and K. 234 Mozart's 'Kiss my Ass' Canons." [http://www.mozartforum.com/Lore/article.php?id=070 Mozart Forum] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090208200135/http://www.mozartforum.com/Lore/article.php?id=070 |date=2009-02-08}}{{cite journal|author=Wolfgang Mieder|url=https://opus.bibliothek.uni-augsburg.de/opus4/frontdoor/deliver/index/docId/1424/file/AVN_2002_H2_Nr16.pdf|title='Nun sitze ich wie der Haaß im Pfeffer' – Sprichwörtliches in den Briefen von Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|journal=Augsburger Volkskundliche Nachrichten|volume=8|number=16|date=December 2002|issn=0948-4299|pages=25 (7–50)|language=de|publisher=University of Augsburg}} where "A..." obviously stands for "Arsch"; "g'schwindi" is a dialect word corresponding to standard German "geschwind", meaning "quickly".
{{Listen|type=music|filename=Leck mich im Arsch.mid|title="Leck mich im Arsch"|description=MIDI file, 2:16}}
The bowdlerised text of the early printed editions reads:
Murren ist vergebens!
Knurren, Brummen ist vergebens,
ist das wahre Kreuz des Lebens,
das Brummen ist vergebens,
Knurren, Brummen ist vergebens, vergebens!
Drum laßt uns froh und fröhlich, froh sein!
Grumbling is in vain!
Growling, droning is in vain,
is the true bane of life,
Droning is in vain,
Growling, droning is in vain, in vain!
Thus let us be cheerful and merry, be glad!{{clear|left}}
Another semi-bowdlerized adaptation is found in the recordings of The Complete Mozart edition by Brilliant Classics:{{Cite web|url=http://music.brilliantclassics.com/epages/joan.storefront/46e7959800359f06271dd5d385f406d2/Product/View/92540|title=Mozart Edition, Complete Works|access-date=12 September 2007|publisher=Foreignmediagroup.com|year=2006|author=Brilliant Classics|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070921173618/http://music.brilliantclassics.com/epages/joan.storefront/46e7959800359f06271dd5d385f406d2/Product/View/92540|archive-date=21 September 2007}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.integralemozart.info/telechargements/V8_Mozart.pdf |title=Mozart Complete Edition (Brilliant), Volume 8: CD 1, Canons |access-date=12 September 2007 |publisher=Integrale Mozart |year=2007 |language=de, it |author=integralemozart.info |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090219104835/http://www.integralemozart.info/telechargements/V8_Mozart.pdf |archive-date=February 19, 2009}}
Goethe, Goethe!
Götz von Berlichingen! Zweiter Akt;
Die Szene kennt ihr ja!
Rufen wir nur ganz summarisch:
Hier wird Mozart literarisch!
Goethe, Goethe!
Götz von Berlichingen! Second act;
You know the scene too well!
Let us now shout the summary:
Mozart here gets literary!{{clear|left}}
This is a clear allusion to the line "... er kann mich im Arsche lecken!" (literally, "he can lick me in the arse" or idiomatically "he can kiss my arse") attributed to the late medieval German knight Götz von Berlichingen, known best as the title hero of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's 1773 drama. The text of the canon contains a slight error about the Goethe source: the line occurs in the third act.{{Cite web|url=http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/G%C3%B6tz_von_Berlichingen/3._Akt|title=Götz von Berlichingen/3. Akt (unexpurgated))|access-date=12 September 2007|publisher=Wikisource|language=de|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070918023551/http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/G%C3%B6tz_von_Berlichingen/3._Akt|archive-date=18 September 2007}}{{Cite web
|url=http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/?id=12&xid=859&kapitel=10&cHash=48a97f66532|title=Götz von Berlichingen/3. Akt (expurgated)|access-date=12 September 2007|publisher=Project Gutenberg|author=Project Gutenberg|language=de|author-link=Project Gutenberg}}
See also
- "Difficile lectu" – a canon with a disguised Latin version of the same text
- "Bona nox" – "Good night", a multilingual scatological canon
- Mozart and scatology
Notes
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- Zaslaw, Neal (2006) [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=440472 "The Non-Canonic Status of Mozart's Canons"], Eighteenth-Century Music (2006), 3: 109–123 Cambridge University Press. {{doi|10.1017/S1478570606000510}}
External links
- {{NMA|93|11|94|44}}
- {{IMSLP|work=Canon for 6 Voices in B-flat major, K.231/382c (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus)|cname=Canon for 6 Voices in B-flat major, K. 231/382c}}
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Category:Canons by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Category:Compositions in B-flat major