Mozart's Starling

by Lyanda Lynn Haupt

Mozart’s starling died just two months later, and in honor of the bird, Mozart organized a formal funeral, donned his most elegant finery, recruited friends as velvet-caped mourners, and penned an affectionate elegy. My favorite translation is Marcia Davenport’s, from her 1932 biography of Mozart, now out of print; it captures the simultaneous jocularity and formality of the little verse. After a few lines that announce the starling’s death, Wolfgang laments: Thinking of this, my heart Is riven apart. Oh reader! Shed a tear, You also, here. He was not naughty, quite, But gay and bright, And under all his brag A foolish wag. The poem shows that Mozart had become thoroughly acquainted with the typical starling personality—bright, personable, charming, mischievous. Some historians have claimed that the funeral verses are simply a farce, but no one who has lived with a starling would dream of making such a suggestion.

“Mozart’s starling died just two months later, and in honor of the bird, Mozart organized a formal funeral, donned his most elegant finery, recruited friends as velvet-caped mourners, and penned an affectionate elegy. My favorite translation is Marcia Davenport’s, from her 1932 biography of Mozart, now out of print; it captures the simultaneous jocularity and formality of the little verse. After a few lines that announce the starling’s death, Wolfgang laments: Thinking of this, my heart Is riven apart. Oh reader! Shed a tear, You also, here. He was not naughty, quite, But gay and bright, And under all his brag A foolish wag. The poem shows that Mozart had become thoroughly acquainted with the typical starling personality—bright, personable, charming, mischievous. Some historians have claimed that the funeral verses are simply a farce, but no one who has lived with a starling would dream of making such a suggestion.” Reference Haupt, Lyanda Lynn (2017, Apr. 4). “Mozart's Starling” Kindle Edition. Chapter Two, Mozart and the Musical Thief, p. 44 of 264, 15%.