"" (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.[1] Sung by six voices as a three-part round, it is thought to be a party piece for his friends.
The German idiom used as the title of the work is equivalent to the English "Kiss my arse!" or American "Kiss my ass!"[2] However, the literal translation of the title is "Lick me in the arse".
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 "" ("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.[3]
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).[4] Later research revealed that the latter work was likely composed by Wenzel Trnka.[5] [6] [7] [8]
The text rediscovered in 1991 consists only of the repeated phrases:[9]
The bowdlerised text of the early printed editions reads:
| 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 |
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Another semi-bowdlerized adaptation is found in the recordings of The Complete Mozart edition by Brilliant Classics:[10] [11]
| Götz von Berlichingen! Second act;You know the scene too well | Let us now shout the summary:Mozart here gets literary! |
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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.[12] [13]