Canon in F major for 4 voices, “O du eselhafter Peierl” (K. 560)
沃尔夫冈·阿马德乌斯·莫扎特
Mozart’s comic canon “O du eselhafter Peierl” (K. 560) is a four-part round in F major, entered in his Vienna catalogue on 2 September 1788, when the composer was 32. Brief as it is, the piece distills two late-Mozart hallmarks—social music-making and contrapuntal finesse—into a miniature designed for friends, laughter, and razor-sharp ensemble.
Background and Context
In late 18th-century Vienna, Mozart’s canons often functioned less as “concert works” than as musical witticisms—short pieces meant for convivial circles where skilled amateurs and professionals could read at sight, trade parts, and enjoy the friction between strict technique and cheeky text. The Köchel catalogue lists this canon as an authentic, completed work in Vienna on 2 September 1788, scored for four equal voices (V1–V4) in F major [1].
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The dedicatee named in the Mozarteum’s entry is Johann Nepomuk Peyerl (often spelled “Peierl” in the text), suggesting a specific, personal target for the joke rather than a generic comic type [1]. What makes K. 560 especially revealing is its timing: 1788 is also the year of the last three symphonies, yet Mozart simultaneously cultivated these compact, practical vocal pieces for private use—music as lived social practice, not only as public monument.
Text and Composition
The opening line, “O du eselhafter Peierl” (roughly, “Oh, you asinine Peierl”), announces the genre immediately: a friendly insult elevated into a formal game. The Mozarteum catalogue credits Mozart as author of the text as well as composer, in keeping with the broader pattern that he sometimes supplied the words for his Viennese canons [1].
Cataloguing history adds a small but telling wrinkle. Modern reference entries often distinguish between related versions and Köchel-number suffixes (K. 560, K. 560a/559a, etc.), reflecting the complicated transmission of these occasional pieces [1] [2]. For performers today, this matters less as a scholarly puzzle than as a reminder that Mozart treated such canons as flexible social currency—adaptable to new names, situations, and in-jokes.
Musical Character
Musically, the canon’s charm lies in the paradox at the heart of the form. A canon is, by design, a rigorous procedure: the same melody is imitated by successive voices at fixed time intervals. The Mozarteum’s own description highlights this basic principle and places Mozart’s canons within Viennese private circles, where they could serve both as entertainment and as demonstrations of contrapuntal skill [1].
In performance, “O du eselhafter Peierl” rewards attention precisely because it is small: four singers must balance clarity of text with the accumulating density of imitation. As each voice enters, the insult multiplies into a tightly interlocked texture—comic not because the music is careless, but because it is excessively well-made for so throwaway a message. That disproportion is the point.
Within Mozart’s output, K. 560 deserves attention as a late example of his ability to fuse craft and occasion. The piece sits near other 1788 canons in his catalogue and helps explain how Mozart’s counterpoint was not confined to learned exercises or grand sacred works; it could animate a private room, a few friends, and a momentary spark of satire. In short, K. 560 is Mozart the dramatist in miniature—staging character, timing, and ensemble interaction with only four lines and a single, relentlessly echoing tune.
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[1] Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum, Köchel Verzeichnis entry: KV 560 (2) “O du eselhafter Peierl (Reitknecht)!” — dating (Vienna, 2 Sept 1788), key, scoring, persons, and canon context note.
[2] Wikipedia: “O du eselhafter Peierl” — overview of the canon and notes on related versions / Köchel-number variants (useful for transmission context).