Why was Mozart obsessed with poo?

His private correspondence reveals a surprisingly infantile sense of humour, especially when it came to all things scatological.

Across dozens of letters to friends and family, from his parents to his wife, Mozart filled pages with comments and jokes about poo, offering describing vivid scenes.

For his cousin, and possible love interest, Maria Anna Thekla Mozart, Mozart wrote the vulgar verse:

“Well, I wish you good night, but first,

Shit in your bed and make it burst.

Sleep soundly, my love,

Into your mouth your arse you’ll shove.”

In a letter to Maria Anna dated 5 November 1777, he gets things going with, “I shit on your nose, so it runs down your chin,” before seemingly getting distracted and saying, “Oh my ass burns like fire! What on earth is the meaning of this! – maybe muck wants to come out?”

The letter ends with Mozart relating something that happened while writing. Picking up a bad smell he believed to be coming from outside, he kept going to the window to see where it was coming from, but could not place it. “Finally My Mama says to me: I bet you let one go? – I don’t think so, Mama. Yes, yes, I’m quite certain,” he wrote. “I put it to the test, stick my finger in my ass, then put it to my nose, and – there is the proof! Mama was right!”

Far from offended, his cousin gleefully maintained her correspondence and even filled her own letters with scatological and sexual humour.

Why was Mozart obsessed with poo?

So, how could the composer of the Requiem, Jupiter Symphony and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, get such a jolly out of poo?

Jokes about bums, farts and poo have a historical precedence – appearing in the likes of Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare – and were enjoying something of a resurgence in the 18th century, particularly in Germany. Perhaps the overt obscenity acted as an antidote to the rigidity and decorum of high society.

It is also worth noting that the quotes above should be placed in context: from start to finish, Mozart’s letters were rife with word play, made-up phrases, and provocative asides. The scatology was simply a part of that.

Over the years, psychological or medical disorders have been mooted, from Tourette’s to arrested development (as a wunderkind composing by the age of five, his childhood was spent on a tour Europe performing for royals). These have been widely dismissed, however.

The true reason for his fondness of scatology continues to puzzle today, but – in true Occam’s razor fashion – could it come down to something simple: he found poo funny? But that has proven to be hard to accept for some fans of his musical genius, given the attempts to hide or censor his filth-ridden letters.

Toilets through time

Member exclusive | What was it like to do your business in a Roman communal toilet? Why was the devil thought to lurk in medieval privies? And did constipation turn Henry VIII into a tyrant? In this four-part mini-series, David Musgrove heads down the u-bend in the company of leading historical experts to see what we can learn from the most universal of all experiences: going to the loo.

Listen to all episodes now