Haydn and Mozart - Form of Address

Form of Address

The German language has two sets of second person pronouns, one (Sie, Ihnen, Ihr, etc.) for relatively formal relationships, the other (du, dich, dir, etc.) for more intimate relationships (see T-V distinction). Otto Jahn, in his 1856 Mozart biography, reported that Haydn and Mozart used the du pronouns in conversation, and that such usage was unusual at the time for two people of such different ages, hence evidence for a close friendship. Jahn relied on the testimony of Mozart's sister-in-law Sophie Haibel as well as Haydn's friend and biographer Georg August Griesinger.

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