What is Mozarts full name?
This question could well have been posted by one of my students, as I ask it in class! Names as used were in many ways a matter of style in those days. For example, prior to the French revolution, when it was stylish to seem Italian, Ludwig van Beethoven used to sign his first name as “Luigi.” Subsequent to the French revolution, when it was hip to seem French, he used “Louis.” In the Renaissance, when Italianate musical styles were popluar, Composers of all nationalities used Italian translations of their names, such as the Flemish composer Orlando di Lasso (Roland Delattre) and the English Orlando Gibbons (Roland Gibbons). Also, composers who worked for the church would often Latinize their names. One example is the German late-renaissance composer Michael Praetorius. “Praetorius” is Latin for guard or protector, which, translated into German, gives us his real name, Michael Schultz. Mozart’s name was similarly subject to change. His birth record reads Johannes Chrisostomus Wolfgangu
