K._561
Bona nox
Canon by Mozart
Bona nox! bist a rechta Ox, K. 561, is a canon in A major for four voices a cappella by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Mozart entered this work into his catalogue on 1788 as part of a set of ten canons.
The canon is written in the time signature of cut common time and in the key signature of A major. The theme is 16 bars long; each of the four voices enters after four bars.
The original lyrics are probably by Mozart himself;[1] they include the words for "good night" in five different languages (Latin, Italian, French, English, and German).[2][3] The phrase "gute Nacht, gute Nacht, / scheiß ins Bett daß' kracht", found in the fourth-to-last and third-to-last lines, closely resembles a similar expression found in a postscript to one of Wolfgang's letters by his mother, written 26 September 1777 to his father; also in Mozart's letter from 7 July 1770 to his sister.[4]
| Original version[5] | |
|---|---|
Bona nox! |
Good night! [Latin] |
| Partially expurgated version | |
|---|---|
Bona nox! |
Bona nox! |
| Completely expurgated version[7] | |
|---|---|
Gute Nacht! |
Good night! |
The completely expurgated version found widespread distribution in traditional German Hausmusik.[8]
- Other canons which Mozart also entered on the 2 September 1788 into his catalogue are: "Difficile lectu mihi Mars" K. 559, and "O du eselhafter Peierl" K. 560a; other canons which also use a similarly robust language are "Leck mich im Arsch" K. 231, and "Leck mir den Arsch fein recht schön sauber" K. 233.
- Mozart and scatology
- Neal Zaslaw, William Cowdery (1990). The Compleat Mozart: a Guide to the Musical Works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, p. 105. ISBN 0-393-02886-0. "in Viennese dialect".
- Osborne, Charles (ed.) (1966). Opera 66, p. 219. Alan Ross. ASIN B000GJAHB2.
- Journal of Folklore Research 40.1 (2003) 33–70, Indiana University Press, Wolfgang Mieder: "Now I Sit Like a Rabbit in the Pepper": Proverbial Language in the Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, p. 44
- Spengler. "The pope, the musicians and the Jews", Asia Times, 10 May 2005.
- Spaethling, Robert (2000). Mozart's Letters, Mozart's Life: Selected Letters, p. 18. ISBN 0-393-04719-9. From a German children's rhyme that is still contemporary in southern Germany: "Gute Nacht, scheiß ins Bett daß'kracht".
- "Bona nox! bist a rechta Ox": Score in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
- "Bona nox! bist a rechta Ochs", score (for unknown reasons in G major) at the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
- Animated lyrics (expurgated) at the Scratch Project of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology