"" (German for "Lick me in the arse") is a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

B-flat major B-flat major is a major scale based on B, with pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative minor is G minor and its parallel minor is B-flat minor. The B-flat major scale is: Changes needed for ...

composed by

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

, K. 231 (K. 382c), with lyrics in German. It was one of a set of at least six canons probably written in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

in 1782. Sung by six voices as a three-part

round Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * Having no sharp corners, as an ellipse, circle, or sphere * Rounding, reducing the number of significant figures in a number * Round number, ending with one or more zeroes * Round (crypt ...

, it is thought to be a party piece for his friends.

English translation

The German

idiom An idiom is a phrase or expression that largely or exclusively carries a Literal and figurative language, figurative or non-literal meaning (linguistic), meaning, rather than making any literal sense. Categorized as formulaic speech, formulaic ...

used as the title of the work is equivalent to the British English "Kiss my arse!" or American English "Kiss my ass!"

Publication and modern discovery

After Mozart's death in 1791, his widow, Constanze, sent the manuscripts of the canons to publishers

Breitkopf & Härtel Breitkopf & Härtel () is a German Music publisher, music publishing house. Founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf, it is the world's oldest music publisher. Overview The catalogue contains over 1,000 composers, 8,000 works ...

in 1799 for publication. The publisher changed the vulgar title and lyrics of this canon to the more decent "" ("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.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 Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

'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). Later research revealed that the latter work was likely composed by Wenzel Trnka.

Lyrics

The text rediscovered in 1991 consists only of the repeated phrases and words: where "A..." obviously stands for "Arsch"; "g'schwindi" is a dialect word corresponding to standard German " geschwind", meaning "quickly". The

bowdlerised An expurgation of a work, also known as a bowdlerization, is a form of censorship that involves purging anything deemed noxious or offensive from an artistic work or other type of writing or media. The term ''bowdlerization'' is often used in th ...

text of the early printed editions reads: Laßt uns froh sein! 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! Let us be glad! 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! Another semi-bowdlerized adaptation is found in the recordings of ''The Complete Mozart'' edition by

Brilliant Classics Brilliant Classics is a classical music label based in the Dutch town of Leeuwarden. It is renowned for releasing super-budget-priced editions on CD of the complete works of J.S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and many other composers. The label also s ...

: Leck mich im Arsch! Goethe, Goethe!

Götz von Berlichingen zu Hornberg (, ; 15 November 1480 – 23 July 1562), also known as Götz of the Iron Hand (German language, German: Eisenfaust), was a 16th-century Germany, German (Franconian) Imperial Knight (''Reichsritter''), mercenary and poet. He wa ...

! Zweiter Akt; Die Szene kennt ihr ja! Rufen wir nur ganz summarisch: Hier wird Mozart literarisch! Kiss my arse! Goethe, Goethe! Götz von Berlichingen! Second act; You know the scene too well! Let us now shout the summary: Mozart here gets literary! 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

, known best as the title hero of

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

's 1773

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

. The text of the canon contains a slight error about the Goethe source: the line occurs in the third act.

Notes

External links

* * {{Authority control, state=collapsed Canons by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1782 compositions Compositions in B-flat major German profanity Songs in German Off-color humor Humor in classical music Works subject to expurgation

English translation

Publication and modern discovery

Lyrics

See also

Notes

Further reading

External links