Classical Music » What Wiped out Mozart?
Nov.29, 2011 in
Classical Music Playlists
Mozart died in the early morning hours of four December 1791. He was two months from his 36th birthday. Official Viennese documents outlined the cause of his death since “hitziges Frieselfieber” — meaning very high fever along with rash, which describes the symptoms, not the cause. Over the actual centuries since his death, medical experts have tried to examine exactly what it was that took Mozart’s life.
On Monday (17 August 2009), experts from the University of Amsterdam added their theory to the list. They think it may have been problems from strep throat. They say that throughout December of 1791, Vienna was suffering from a minor epidemic of strep can range f, and that it may have begun in the city’s military hospital.
This can be a latest chapter in an on-going mystery story. In fact, the public began second-guessing Vienna’s official paperwork and news reports right away.
One newspaper account from late in December 1791 kept sway for generations. It recommended that the real cause of Mozart’ersus death was poison — that somebody did him in. Everybody adores a good conspiracy theory, and also the early 19th century was greater than ready to believe it.
They were capable of finding some corroboration, of sorts. Throughout 1829, for example, an English songs publisher interviewed Mozart’s widow, Constanze, and then 67. She claimed that, although she herself didn’t believe Mozart had been poisoned, Mozart had been persuaded of it. She said he’d said 6 months before his dying that “someone has given us acqua toffana.” Acqua toffana was an arsenic-based preparing.
Mozart’s second son, Karl Johnson, was also sold on the accumulation story. He wrote years later that the painful and excessive swelling that Mozart experienced was obviously a likely symptom of poisoning. He furthermore pointed to Mozart’s severe foul odor around the time of death — he claimed this is the reason that this coroner didn’t carry out an autopsy — and the fact that Mozart’s body presumably didn’t stiffen after their passing. (It’s worth talking about here that Karl was all of 7 years old when his / her father died.)
If Mozart actually was poisoned, whodunnit? The most common answer: musician Antonio Salieri. Salieri allegedly confessed to the action while ill and despondent; Beethoven’s conversation books (through which his guests wrote to him after he’d dropped his hearing) contain specifically this report.
But additional accounts suggest that these were simply wild, unsubstantiated rumors. Certainly Salieri wasn’big t prosecuted as Mozart’s killer. Besides, what motivation might he have had? “Professional jealousy” gets the gangster rap, but by that argument it could have made more sense for Mozart to have poisoned Salieri. After all, Salieri stood a steady (and lucrative) court job, and Mozart had to clean together pennies to pay his rent. Sad to say, by then Mozart’ersus career was on the get worse.
If not Salieri, then whom? There was no shortage of other concepts. Most of them tell us more about the actual writer’s attitudes than with regards to Mozart. One rumor suggested that the Freemasons had been somehow offended by The Miracle Flute and its Freemasonry theme, and emerged after its composer. (Why not the librettist Schickaneder, too?) Others attributed their death to various alleged sinister cabals of Masons, Catholics, and Jews.
Some solutions even suggested that Mozart diseased himself. One story is that they was trying to treat a case of syphilis, and accidentally took too much mercury. This falls flat for the deficiency of evidence that Mozart ever had the disease. Another notion, maybe a extra plausible, is that Mozart overdosed himself along with patent medicines containing antimony.
If not poison, could it are actually heart disease? Some newspaper obituaries mentioned “dropsy with the heart.” Mozart did in fact suffer from edema in the weeks before his death, but his or her other listed symptoms don’big t fit too well with this diagnosis.
One doctor’s record mentions “a deposit in the brain” — probably some kind of tumor. Intriguing, however, the reported symptoms don’big t support this notion.
One particular physician who had joined Mozart suggested “rheumatic inflammatory fever.Inch A few years ago, this directed physicians at the University involving Maryland to an obvious finish: rheumatic fever. The University of Amsterdam experts arrived at their strep throat idea by building on this diagnosis by examining other health records from 1790s Vienna.
Over two centuries after Mozart’s death, the cause will continue to fascinate and puzzle wellness experts. Since we have no way associated with exhuming his remains — the graveyard in which he was laid to rest was later plowed — it’s much less likely that we’ll ever know for certain.
On Monday (17 August 2009), experts from the University of Amsterdam added their theory to the list. They think it may have been problems from strep throat. They say that throughout December of 1791, Vienna was suffering from a minor epidemic of strep can range f, and that it may have begun in the city’s military hospital.
This can be a latest chapter in an on-going mystery story. In fact, the public began second-guessing Vienna’s official paperwork and news reports right away.
One newspaper account from late in December 1791 kept sway for generations. It recommended that the real cause of Mozart’ersus death was poison — that somebody did him in. Everybody adores a good conspiracy theory, and also the early 19th century was greater than ready to believe it.
They were capable of finding some corroboration, of sorts. Throughout 1829, for example, an English songs publisher interviewed Mozart’s widow, Constanze, and then 67. She claimed that, although she herself didn’t believe Mozart had been poisoned, Mozart had been persuaded of it. She said he’d said 6 months before his dying that “someone has given us acqua toffana.” Acqua toffana was an arsenic-based preparing.
Mozart’s second son, Karl Johnson, was also sold on the accumulation story. He wrote years later that the painful and excessive swelling that Mozart experienced was obviously a likely symptom of poisoning. He furthermore pointed to Mozart’s severe foul odor around the time of death — he claimed this is the reason that this coroner didn’t carry out an autopsy — and the fact that Mozart’s body presumably didn’t stiffen after their passing. (It’s worth talking about here that Karl was all of 7 years old when his / her father died.)
If Mozart actually was poisoned, whodunnit? The most common answer: musician Antonio Salieri. Salieri allegedly confessed to the action while ill and despondent; Beethoven’s conversation books (through which his guests wrote to him after he’d dropped his hearing) contain specifically this report.
But additional accounts suggest that these were simply wild, unsubstantiated rumors. Certainly Salieri wasn’big t prosecuted as Mozart’s killer. Besides, what motivation might he have had? “Professional jealousy” gets the gangster rap, but by that argument it could have made more sense for Mozart to have poisoned Salieri. After all, Salieri stood a steady (and lucrative) court job, and Mozart had to clean together pennies to pay his rent. Sad to say, by then Mozart’ersus career was on the get worse.
If not Salieri, then whom? There was no shortage of other concepts. Most of them tell us more about the actual writer’s attitudes than with regards to Mozart. One rumor suggested that the Freemasons had been somehow offended by The Miracle Flute and its Freemasonry theme, and emerged after its composer. (Why not the librettist Schickaneder, too?) Others attributed their death to various alleged sinister cabals of Masons, Catholics, and Jews.
Some solutions even suggested that Mozart diseased himself. One story is that they was trying to treat a case of syphilis, and accidentally took too much mercury. This falls flat for the deficiency of evidence that Mozart ever had the disease. Another notion, maybe a extra plausible, is that Mozart overdosed himself along with patent medicines containing antimony.
If not poison, could it are actually heart disease? Some newspaper obituaries mentioned “dropsy with the heart.” Mozart did in fact suffer from edema in the weeks before his death, but his or her other listed symptoms don’big t fit too well with this diagnosis.
One doctor’s record mentions “a deposit in the brain” — probably some kind of tumor. Intriguing, however, the reported symptoms don’big t support this notion.
One particular physician who had joined Mozart suggested “rheumatic inflammatory fever.Inch A few years ago, this directed physicians at the University involving Maryland to an obvious finish: rheumatic fever. The University of Amsterdam experts arrived at their strep throat idea by building on this diagnosis by examining other health records from 1790s Vienna.
Over two centuries after Mozart’s death, the cause will continue to fascinate and puzzle wellness experts. Since we have no way associated with exhuming his remains — the graveyard in which he was laid to rest was later plowed — it’s much less likely that we’ll ever know for certain.
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