Mozart had weird ears

Here’s a watercolor drawing by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart of his ear compared to an ordinary ear¹:

“Mozart Ear” has become a medical catch-all term for deformed ears (for instance). Deformed or not², the ear clearly didn’t have any negative effect on his musical ear. (via @DavidGrann)

[1] The note accompanying the drawing at Harvard’s Houghton Library reads:

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 1756-1791. Mein Ohr [und] ein gewöhnliches Ohr [My ear and an ordinary ear] : drawing, [n.p., n.d.] Water-color drawing; [n.p, n.d] 1 drawing : watercolor on paper

The “mein” is crossed out and “Mozart” is written in its place in another hand. With this is Fr. Jelinck’s A.D.s., Salzburg, 1879 Sept. 19, certifying that this is by Mozart.

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[2] It’s stated elsewhere that the ear is actually that of Mozart’s son, which would be slightly more plausible than Mozart drawing his own ear. ↩

• art
• medicine
• music
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart