Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart signature

Austrian composer, 1756–1791

Inspired by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s signature

A rendering in a modern handwriting font, made for this page. It is not the real signature; see where to view the original below. Where to see the original ↓Style: Great Vibes, slant 8°

Your name in this style

Type your name to see it in a style inspired by this signature.

Type your name

Open this style in the generator

Great Vibes · 8°

Who Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg in January 1756 and died in Vienna in December 1791, at 35. A touring child prodigy, then a court musician in Salzburg and finally a freelance composer in Vienna, he wrote more than 600 works, among them The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute and the unfinished Requiem.

He was baptised Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus. The name the world knows him by is not quite the one he used.

The story of the signature

Theophilus means “loved by God”, and Mozart used several translations of it: German Gottlieb, Italian Amadeo, and above all the French-style Amadè (also written Amadé). His usual full signature was “Wolfgang Amadè Mozart”. The Latin form Amadeus appears in his own hand only rarely, mostly in jokey mock-Latin like “Wolfgangus Amadeus Mozartus”. “Amadeus” became standard only after his death.

From February 1784 until a few weeks before he died, Mozart kept a thematic catalogue of his works, which he titled “Verzeichnüß aller meiner Werke” (catalogue of all my works). Each entry gives a date, the title and the opening bars in his hand. The notebook is now in the British Library in London.

Some of his signatures survive in unexpected places. In Paris in July 1778 he signed the burial record of his mother, Anna Maria, at the church of Saint-Eustache; the register was later lost, but the signature is known from a facsimile published by the archivist Auguste Jal. Around the same time he signed the visitors’ book of the Mannheim observatory.

What makes it distinctive

Amadè, not Amadeus

The middle name is usually the French-style Amadè, a quick way to recognise a period signature.

Full name in one line

Wolfgang Amadè Mozart, written as a single fluent line.

Light and quick

A neat, rightward-leaning hand without heavy flourishes, matching the clarity of his catalogue entries.

Playful variations

In family letters he punned on names and signed in mock-Latin, Italian or French forms.

How to give your signature a similar feel

In the Type tab of the signature generator, try Great Vibes or Italianno with a Slant of about 8°, in black or dark blue ink.
If your name has a version in another language, try it in your signature, the way Mozart used Amadè and Amadeo.
Keep it light. Reduce the Size slightly and avoid a heavy underline: elegance comes from even rhythm, not decoration.
Compare a few formal scripts side by side in the signature fonts gallery before you choose.

Where to see the original

These links lead to archives, libraries, museums and Wikimedia Commons.

Questions about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s signature

Did Mozart call himself Amadeus?

Rarely, and usually in jest. He normally signed “Wolfgang Amadè Mozart”; Amadeus became the standard form after his death.

What was Mozart’s full baptismal name?

Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. Theophilus, “loved by God”, is the name he rendered as Gottlieb, Amadeo or Amadè.

Where is Mozart’s catalogue of his works?

The “Verzeichnüß aller meiner Werke”, kept from 1784 to 1791, is in the British Library in London.