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Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!
You asked for help choosing a 16th century German byname which would have been used by a court magician or performer, and whether <Zauberkuenstler> or <Zauberer> would be appropriate. Here is what we have found.
The occupational byname <Zauber> "magic" or <der Zauberer> "the magician" is recorded in various forms in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. We believe that it was a true occupational byname into the 14th century; after that it might have been an inherited surname that didn't describe the people who used it.
The recorded forms of the name include these examples (shown in the full name where it is recorded in our source), which correspond to Middle High German precursor of the modern <Zauber>, which is <Zouwer> [2]:
Herm. der Zower 1293
der Zauer 1295
Walther der Zauwer 1359
Contz Za"wer 1424
<Zauber> is a reasonable spelling, too. (The <"> represents an umlaut on the preceding letter.)
This example represents the Low German cognate <Tover> [1]:
Conr. Tover 1344
We can't say for certain that these bynames were used by performers, but it seems likely.
The form <der Zauberer> is more obviously a specific description of an individual, and so is less likely to have been used as late as the 16th century. We recommend some spelling of <Zauber> or <Zauberer> instead. We think that <Zauberku"nstler> is less plausible, so we don't recommend it.
I hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Teceangl Bach and Talan Gwynek.
For the Academy,
Arval Benicoeur
References
[1] Bahlow, Hans, _Deutsches Namenlexikon : Familien- und Vornamen
nach Ursprung und Sinn erklaert_ (Frankfurt am Main : Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Verlag, 1985).
[2] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Worterbuch der deutschen
familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-1960).