is possible that the now-standard "Amadeus" originated as a facetious name. He signed some letters in mock Latin as "Wolfgangus Amadeus Mozartus"; this was certainly no accident as in one letter he did the same to the date of the letter as well: adding "-us" to the end of each word. But he never signed any letter as "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart" himself. Mozart's only mention as "Wolfgang Amadeus" in an official document made during his lifetime was found in 1998 by Mozart scholar Michael Lorenz in the registers of the Lower Austrian Governorship, where in May 1787 "Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus" is referred to as having applied for the return of his written surety for his friend . Other uses of "Amadeus", from immediately after Mozart's death in 1791, are given above. The 19th century saw the gradual victory of "Amadeus" over alternative middle names. The earliest (18th century) biographers of Mozart, such as Friedrich Schlichtegroll and Franz Niemetschek, used "Gottlieb". However, in 1798 the publishing firm of Breitkopf & Härtel began to issue a (partial) Complete Works edition under the name "Amadeus". The dominance of "Amadeus" began around about 1810; Romanticism, notably in the person of E. T. A. Hoffmann, "seized upon this name to proclaim its veneration for Mozart". Although various scholars since that time have made use of "Amadè" or "Gottlieb", "Amadeus" remains by far the most familiar term for the general public. The signature on the autograph scores is commonly "(di)Wolfgango Amadeo Mozart", although sometimes "Amadeo Wolfgango Mozart" is seen, for example on symphony 1 and the Haffner Symphony. The autograph of his 35th (Haffner) symphony is held at the Morgan Library on Madison Ave. at 36th street, New York City. The violin concertos also show this variation, with the autographs of numbers 1 (K. 207) and 3 (K. 216) autographs in Krakow showing "Amadeo Wolfgango" and the remaining, including violin concerto no. 5 (K. 219) held at the U.S. Library of Congress, showing the more common Wolfgango Amadeo. Facetious names In the frequently playful letters of his youth Mozart would sometimes spell his name backwards, viz., "Mozart Wolfgang" or "Trazom". See above for the possible origin of "Amadeus" as facetious. Notes Sources Further reading Anderson, Emily (1938) The Letters of Mozart and His Family. Currently in print with Palgrave Macmillan (1989) Deutsch, Otto Erich (1965) Mozart: A Documentary Biography. English translation by Eric Blom, Peter Branscombe,