Although some of the canons in the 1788 set have serious (that is, religious) lyrics, K. 559 was evidently meant entirely for fun. The work features two bilingual puns and some scatological humor. The lyrics are—ostensibly—in Latin, though as they are given in sequence they do not make sense in this language:

Date of composition 1788 (September)
Type Canon
Tonality F Major
Catalogue KV 559
Spoken language Latin
Instruments 3x Voice
Autotranslations beta Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Canon for 3 Voices en fa majeur, KV 559 "Difficile lectu mihi mars"
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Canon for 3 Voices in fa maggiore, KV 559 "Difficile lectu mihi mars"
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Canon for 3 Voices F-dur, KV 559 "Difficile lectu mihi mars"