![Mozart drawing Doris Stock 1789](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Mozart_drawing_Doris_Stock_1789.jpg)
On 5 December 1791, the composer
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
died at his home in Vienna, Austria at the age of 35. The circumstances of his death have attracted much research and speculation.
The principal sources of contention are: (1) Whether Mozart declined gradually, experiencing great fear and sadness, or whether he was fundamentally in good spirits toward the end of his life, then felled by a relatively sudden illness; (2) Whether the cause of his death was from disease or poisoning; (3) Whether his funeral arrangements were the normal procedures for his day, or whether they were of a disrespectful nature.
There are a range of views on each of these points, many of which have varied radically over time.
The course of Mozart's final illness
Traditional narrative
![Costanze Mozart by Lange 1782](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Constanze_Mozart_by_Lange_1782.jpg)
Mozart scholarship long followed the accounts of early biographers, which proceeded in large part from the recorded memories of his widow
Constanze and her sister
Sophie Weber
Maria Sophie Weber (1763–1846) was a singer of the 18th and 19th centuries. She was the younger sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's wife, Constanze, and is remembered primarily for the testimony she left concerning the life and death of her brot ...
as they were recorded in the biographies by
Franz Niemetschek
Franz Xaver Niemetschek ( cz, František Xaver Němeček, links=no; pl, Niemeczek, links=no) (24 July 1766 – 19 March 1849) was a Czech philosopher, teacher and music critic. He wrote the first full-length biography of Wolfgang Amadeus Moz ...
and
Georg Nikolaus von Nissen
Georg Nikolaus von Nissen (sometimes Nicolaus or Nicolai; 22 January 1761 – 24 March 1826) was a Danish diplomat and music historian. He is the author of one of the first biographies of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, still used today as a s ...
. For instance, the important biography by
Hermann Abert
Hermann Abert (; 25 March 1871 – 13 August 1927) was a German historian of music.
Life
Abert was born in Stuttgart, the son of Johann Josef Abert (1832–1915), the ''Hofkapellmeister'' of that city.
From 1890 to 1896 he studied classical ...
largely follows this account. The following is a summary of this view.
When in August 1791 Mozart arrived in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
to supervise the performance of his new opera ''
La clemenza di Tito
' (''The Clemency of Titus''), K. 621, is an '' opera seria'' in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, after Pietro Metastasio. It was started after most of ' (''The Magic Flute''), the last of ...
'' (
K. 621), he was "already very ill". During this visit, Niemetschek wrote, "he was pale and expression was sad, although his good humour was often shown in merry jest with his friends." Following his return to Vienna (mid September 1791), Mozart's condition gradually worsened. For a while, he was still able to work and completed his
Clarinet Concerto
A clarinet concerto is a concerto for clarinet; that is, a musical composition for solo clarinet together with a large ensemble (such as an orchestra or concert band). Albert Rice has identified a work by Giuseppe Antonio Paganelli as possibly th ...
(K. 622), worked toward the completion of his
Requiem
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...
(K. 626), and conducted the premiere performance of ''
The Magic Flute
''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that inclu ...
'' (K. 620) on 30 September. Still, he became increasingly alarmed and despondent about his health. An anecdote from Constanze is related by Niemetschek:
Constanze attempted to cheer her husband by persuading him to give up work on the Requiem for a while, encouraging him instead to complete the "Freimaurerkantate" (K. 623), composed to celebrate the opening of a new
Masonic
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to Fraternity, fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of Stonemasonry, stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their inte ...
temple for Mozart's own lodge. The strategy worked for a time – the cantata was completed and successfully premiered on 18 November. He told Constanze he felt "elated" over the premiere. Mozart is reported to have stated, "Yes I see I was ill to have had such an absurd idea of having taken poison, give me back the Requiem and I will go on with it."
Mozart's worst symptoms of illness soon returned, together with the strong feeling that he was being poisoned. He became bedridden on 20 November, suffering from swelling, pain and vomiting.
From this point on, scholars are all agreed that Mozart was indeed very sick, and he died about two weeks later, on 5 December.
Revisionist accounts
The view that Mozart was in near-steady decline and despair during the last several months of his life has been met with much skepticism in recent years.
Cliff Eisen Cliff Eisen (born 21 January 1952 in Toronto) is a Canadian musicologist and a Mozart expert. He was based in the Department of Music at King's College London. He studied at the University of Toronto and at Cornell University, and has taught at the ...
supervised the reissue of Abert's biography in 2007 in a new edition, supplementing it with numerous footnotes. While generally deferential to Abert, Eisen expresses sharp criticism in the footnoting of the section leading up to Mozart's death:
In the main biography article of the ''Cambridge Mozart Encyclopedia'', Ruth Halliwell writes of the decline-and-despair account:
As for why Constanze might have been "prompted by complicated motives both personal and financial" (Eisen), Halliwell contends that "Constanze and Sophie were not objective witnesses, because Constanze's continuing quest for charity gave her reasons to disseminate sentimental and sensationalist views." By "charity" Halliwell may be referring to the many benefit concerts from which Constanze received income in the years following Mozart's death, as well as, perhaps, the pension she received from the Emperor; see discussion below as well as
Constanze Mozart
Maria Constanze Cäcilia Josepha Johanna Aloysia Mozart (née Weber; 5 January 1762 – 6 March 1842) was a trained Austrian singer. She was married twice, first to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; then to Georg Nikolaus von Nissen. She and Mozart had six ...
.
Christoph Wolff
Christoph Wolff (born 24 May 1940) is a German musicologist. He is best known for his works on the music, life, and period of Johann Sebastian Bach. Christoph Wolff is an emeritus professor of Harvard University, and was part of the faculty sinc ...
, in a 2012 book entitled ''Mozart at the Gateway to his Fortune'', disputes the view that Mozart's last years represented a steady slide to despair and the grave; he also disagrees with interpretations of the music as reflecting late-life despair (for example) "the hauntingly beautiful autumnal world of
ozart'smusic written in 1791".
Cause of death
Theories involving homicide
An early rumor was that Mozart had been poisoned by his colleague
Antonio Salieri
Antonio Salieri (18 August 17507 May 1825) was an Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subject of the Habsburg monarchy ...
; however, this has been proved untrue because the symptoms displayed by Mozart's illness did not indicate poisoning. Despite denying the allegation, Salieri was greatly affected by the accusations and widespread public belief that he had contributed to Mozart's death, which contributed to his
nervous breakdown
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...
s in later life.
Beyond the Salieri theory, other theories involving murder by poison have been put forth, blaming the
Mason
Mason may refer to:
Occupations
* Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces
* Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cut ...
s,
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, or
both
Both may refer to:
Common English word
* ''both'', a determiner or indefinite pronoun denoting two of something
* ''both... and'', a correlative conjunction
People
* Both (surname)
Music
* The Both, an American musical duo consisting of ...
. One such theory was the work of
Mathilde Ludendorff
Mathilde Friederike Karoline Ludendorff (born Mathilde Spieß; 4 October 1877 – 24 June 1966) was a German psychiatrist. She was a leading figure in the Völkisch movement known for her unorthodox (esoteric) and conspiratorial ideas. Her thi ...
, wife of the German general
Erich Ludendorff
Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff (9 April 1865 – 20 December 1937) was a German general, politician and military theorist. He achieved fame during World War I for his central role in the German victories at Liège and Tannenberg in 1914. ...
(who were both anti-Semitic). Historian William Stafford describes such accounts as outlandish
conspiracy theories
A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources:
*
*
*
* The term has a nega ...
.
Theories involving disease
Stafford described the effort to determine what disease killed Mozart:
In the parish register, the entry concerning Mozart's death states he died of "severe
miliary fever
Miliary fever was a medical term in the past (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's death report showed this term), used to indicate a general cause of infectious disease that cause an acute fever and skin rashes similar to the cereal grain called proso mill ...
" – "miliary" referring to the appearance of millet-sized bumps on the skin. This does not name the actual disease.
Mozart had health problems throughout his life, suffering from
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
,
tonsillitis
Tonsillitis is inflammation of the tonsils in the upper part of the throat. It can be acute or chronic. Acute tonsillitis typically has a rapid onset. Symptoms may include sore throat, fever, enlargement of the tonsils, trouble swallowing, and en ...
,
bronchitis
Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi (large and medium-sized airways) in the lungs that causes coughing. Bronchitis usually begins as an infection in the nose, ears, throat, or sinuses. The infection then makes its way down to the bronchi. ...
,
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
,
typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...
,
rheumatism
Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including art ...
, and
gum disease
Periodontal disease, also known as gum disease, is a set of inflammatory conditions affecting the tissues surrounding the teeth. In its early stage, called gingivitis, the gums become swollen and red and may bleed. It is considered the main caus ...
. Whether these played any role in his demise cannot be determined.
Conjectures as to what killed Mozart are numerous. The following survey is arranged in rough chronological order.
Some ascribe Mozart's death to
malpractice
In the law of torts, malpractice, also known as professional negligence, is an "instance of negligence or incompetence on the part of a professional".Malpractice definition,
Professionals who may become the subject of malpractice actions inc ...
on the part of his physician, Dr. Closset. His sister-in-law
Sophie Weber
Maria Sophie Weber (1763–1846) was a singer of the 18th and 19th centuries. She was the younger sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's wife, Constanze, and is remembered primarily for the testimony she left concerning the life and death of her brot ...
, in her 1825 account, makes the implication. Borowitz summarizes:
A 1994 article in ''Neurology'' suggests Mozart died of a
subdural hematoma
A subdural hematoma (SDH) is a type of bleeding in which a Hematoma, collection of blood—usually but not always associated with a traumatic brain injury—gathers between the inner layer of the dura mater and the arachnoid mater of the meninges ...
. A skull believed to be Mozart's was saved by the successor of the gravedigger who had supervised Mozart's burial, and later passed on to anatomist Josef Hyrtl, the municipality of Salzburg, and the Mozarteum museum (Salzburg). Forensic reconstruction of soft tissues related to the skull reveals substantial concordance with Mozart's portraits. Examination of the skull suggested a premature closure of the
metopic suture
The frontal suture is a fibrous connective tissue, fibrous suture (joint), joint that divides the two halves of the frontal bone of the human skull, skull in infants and children. Typically, it completely fuses between three and nine months of ag ...
, which has been suggested on the basis of his
physiognomy
Physiognomy (from the Greek , , meaning "nature", and , meaning "judge" or "interpreter") is the practice of assessing a person's character or personality from their outer appearance—especially the face. The term can also refer to the general ...
. A left temporal fracture and concomitant erosions raise the question of a chronic subdural hematoma, which would be consistent with several falls in 1789 and 1790 and could have caused the weakness, headaches, and fainting Mozart experienced in 1790 and 1791. Additionally, an episode of aggressive
bloodletting
Bloodletting (or blood-letting) is the withdrawal of blood from a patient to prevent or cure illness and disease. Bloodletting, whether by a physician or by leeches, was based on an ancient system of medicine in which blood and other bodily flu ...
used to treat suspected rheumatic fever on the night of December 4, 1791, could have decompensated such a lesion, leading to his death on the following day.
In a 2000 publication, a team of two physicians (Faith T. Fitzgerald, Philip A. Mackowiak) and a musicologist (
Neal Zaslaw
Neal Zaslaw (born June 28, 1939) is an American musicologist.
Life and career
Born in New York, Zaslaw graduated from Harvard in 1961 with a BA and obtained his master's from Juilliard in 1963. He played flute in the American Symphony Orchestra ...
) reviewed the historical evidence and tentatively opted for a diagnosis of
rheumatic fever
Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammatory disease that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. The disease typically develops two to four weeks after a streptococcal throat infection. Signs and symptoms include fever, multiple painful jo ...
.
The hypothesis of
trichinosis
Trichinosis, also known as trichinellosis, is a parasitic disease caused by roundworms of the ''Trichinella'' type. During the initial infection, invasion of the intestines can result in diarrhea, abdominal pain, and vomiting. Migration of larv ...
was put forth by Jan V. Hirschmann in 2001.
A suggestion is that Mozart died as a result of his
hypochondriasis
Hypochondriasis or hypochondria is a condition in which a person is excessively and unduly worried about having a serious illness. An old concept, the meaning of hypochondria has repeatedly changed. It has been claimed that this debilitating cond ...
and his predilection for taking
patent medicine
A patent medicine, sometimes called a proprietary medicine, is an over-the-counter (nonprescription) medicine or medicinal preparation that is typically protected and advertised by a trademark and trade name (and sometimes a patent) and claimed ...
s containing
antimony
Antimony is a chemical element with the symbol Sb (from la, stibium) and atomic number 51. A lustrous gray metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (Sb2S3). Antimony compounds have been known since ancient time ...
. In his final days, this was compounded by further prescriptions of antimony to relieve the fever he clearly suffered.
A 2006 article in a UK medical journal considered several theories for Mozart's death and, based on his letters from his last year, dismisses
syphilis
Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, an ...
and other chronic diseases. The attending physicians wrote he died with fever and a rash, and a physician they consulted wrote later "this malady attacked at this time a great many of the inhabitants and not for a few of them it had the same fatal conclusions and the same symptoms as in the case of Mozart." The article's conclusion was "death came as a result of an acute infectious illness."
In 2009, British, Viennese and Dutch researchers performed
epidemiological research
Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population.
It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...
combined with a study of other deaths in Vienna at the time of Mozart's death. They concluded that Mozart may have died of a
streptococcal
''Streptococcus'' is a genus of gram-positive ' (plural ) or spherical bacteria that belongs to the family Streptococcaceae, within the order Lactobacillales (lactic acid bacteria), in the phylum Bacillota. Cell division in streptococci occur ...
infection
An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...
leading to an
acute nephritic syndrome caused by poststreptococcal
glomerulonephritis
Glomerulonephritis (GN) is a term used to refer to several kidney diseases (usually affecting both kidneys). Many of the diseases are characterised by inflammation either of the glomeruli or of the small blood vessels in the kidneys, hence the ...
. In Austria this disease was also called "Wassersucht" (
dropsy
Edema, also spelled oedema, and also known as fluid retention, dropsy, hydropsy and swelling, is the build-up of fluid in the body's tissue. Most commonly, the legs or arms are affected. Symptoms may include skin which feels tight, the area ma ...
/edema).
In a journal article from 2011, it was suggested that
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is a group of fat-soluble secosteroids responsible for increasing intestinal absorption of calcium, magnesium, and phosphate, and many other biological effects. In humans, the most important compounds in this group are vitamin D3 (c ...
deficiency could have played a role in Mozart's underlying medical conditions leading to his death.
Funeral
The funeral arrangements were made by Mozart's friend and patron Baron
Gottfried van Swieten
Gottfried Freiherr van Swieten (29 October 1733 – 29 March 1803) was a Dutch-born Austrian diplomat, librarian, and government official who served the Holy Roman Empire during the 18th century. He was an enthusiastic amateur musician and is bes ...
. Describing his funeral, the ''
Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...
'' states, "Mozart was buried in a common grave, in accordance with contemporary Viennese custom, at the
St. Marx Cemetery
St. Marx Cemetery (Sankt Marxer Friedhof) is a cemetery in the Landstraße district of Vienna, used from 1784 until 1874. It contains the unmarked grave of the famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
History
The cemetery was named after a nearb ...
outside the city on 7 December."
Otto Jahn
Otto Jahn (; 16 June 1813, in Kiel – 9 September 1869, in Göttingen), was a German archaeologist, philologist, and writer on art and music.
Biography
After the completion of his university studies at Christian-Albrechts-Universität in Kiel, t ...
wrote in 1856 that
Salieri,
Süssmayr, van Swieten and two other musicians were present.
The common belief that Mozart was buried in a pauper's grave is without foundation. The "common grave" referred to above is a term for a grave belonging to a citizen not of the aristocracy. It was an individual grave, not a communal grave; but after ten years the city had the right to dig it up and use it for a later burial. The graves of the aristocracy were spared such treatment.
["Dies irae, dies illa – Day of wrath, day of wailing: Notes on the commissioning, origin and completion of Mozart's Requiem (KV 626)"]
by
A description of Mozart's funeral, attributed to Joseph Deiner, appeared in the Vienna ''Morgen-Post'' of 28 January 1856:
As
Slonimsky notes, the tale was widely adopted and incorporated into Mozart biographies, but Deiner's description of the weather is contrary to records kept of the previous day. The diarist
Karl Zinzendorf recorded on 6 December that there had been "mild weather and frequent mist". The
Vienna Observatory
The Vienna Observatory (german: Universitätssternwarte Wien) is an astronomical observatory in Vienna, Austria. It is part of the University of Vienna. The first observatory was built in 1753–1754 on the roof of one of the university buildings ...
kept weather records and recorded for 6 December a temperature ranging from 37.9 to 38.8 degrees Fahrenheit (2.8 °C–3.8 °C), with "a weak east wind at all ... times of the day".
Aftermath
Following her husband's death, Constanze addressed the issue of providing financial security for her family; the Mozarts had two young children, and Mozart had died with outstanding debts. She successfully appealed to the
Emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
on 11 December 1791 for a
widow's pension
A widow's pension is a payment from the government of a country to a person whose spouse has died.
Generally, such payments are made to a widow whose late spouse has fulfilled the country's requirements, including contribution, cohabitation, and l ...
due to her as a result of Mozart's service to the Emperor as a part-time chamber composer. Additionally, she organized a series of concerts of Mozart's music and the publication of many of her husband's works. As a result, Constanze became financially secure over time.
Soon after the composer's death a Mozart biography was started by
Friedrich Schlichtegroll
Adolf Heinrich Friedrich Schlichtegroll (8 December 1765 in Waltershausen – 4 December 1822 in Munich) was a teacher, scholar and the first biographer of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. His brief account of Mozart's life (6000 words) was published in a ...
, who wrote an early account based on information from Mozart's sister,
Nannerl
Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart (30 July 1751 – 29 October 1829), called "Marianne" and nicknamed Nannerl, was a musician, the older sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) and daughter of Leopold (1719–1787) and Anna Maria Moz ...
. Working with Constanze, Franz Niemetschek wrote a biography as well. Much later, Constanze assisted her second husband, Georg Nikolaus von Nissen, on a more detailed biography published in 1826. See ''
Biographies of Mozart''.
Mozart's musical reputation rose following his death; 20th-century biographer
Maynard Solomon
Maynard Elliott Solomon (January 5, 1930 – September 28, 2020) was an American music executive and musicologist, a co-founder of Vanguard Records as well as a music producer."Maynard Solomon" in ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'', v ...
describes an "unprecedented wave of enthusiasm"
for his work after he died, and a number of publishers issued editions of his compositions.
What may have been Mozart's skull was exhumed in 1801, and in 1989–1991 it was examined for identification by several scientists.
Remembrances of Mozart's death
![Requiem6](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Requiem6.png)
Individuals present at the time of Mozart's death eventually committed their memories to writing, either on their own or through interviews by others. The stories they told are often contradictory, which may be due in part to some of the events not being recorded until the 1820s, when the witnesses' memories might have faded.
Benedikt Schack
Benedikt Emanuel Schack ( cs, Benedikt Žák, links=no) (7 February 175810 December 1826) was a composer and tenor of the Classical era, a close friend of Mozart and the first performer of the role of Tamino in Mozart's opera ''The Magic Flute' ...
, Mozart's close friend for whom he wrote the role of Tamino in ''The Magic Flute'', told an interviewer that on the last day of Mozart's life, he participated in a rehearsal of the ''Requiem'' in progress. Schack's questionable account appeared in an obituary for Schack which was published in the 25 July 1827 issue of the ''
Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung
The ''Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung'' (''General music newspaper'') was a German-language periodical published in the 19th century. Comini (2008) has called it "the foremost German-language musical periodical of its time". It reviewed musical e ...
'':
Biographer Niemetschek relates a vaguely similar account, leaving out a rehearsal:
The widely repeated claim that, on his deathbed, Mozart dictated passages of the ''Requiem'' to his pupil
Süssmayr is strongly discounted by Solomon, who notes that the earliest reference for this claim dates to 1856. However, Süssmayr's handwriting is in the original manuscript of the Requiem and Sophie Weber did claim to recall that Mozart gave instructions to Süssmayr.
An 1840 letter from the composer
Ignaz von Seyfried
Ignaz Xaver, Ritter von Seyfried (15 August 1776 – 27 August 1841) was an Austrian musician, conductor and composer. He was born and died in Vienna. According to a statement in his handwritten memoirs he was a pupil of both Wolfgang Amadeus Mo ...
states that on his last night, Mozart was mentally occupied with the currently running opera ''The Magic Flute''. Mozart is said to have whispered the following to Constanze in reference to her sister
Josepha Hofer
Maria Josepha Weber (later Josepha Hofer, Josepha Meier; 1758 – 29 December 1819) was a German soprano of the classical era. She was a sister-in-law of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and the first to perform the role of The Queen of the Night ...
, the coloratura soprano who premiered the role of the Queen of the Night:
Solomon, while noting that Mozart's biographers often left out the "crueler memories" surrounding his death,
stated, "Constanze Mozart told Nissen that just before the end Mozart asked her what
is physicianDr. Closset had said. When she answered with a soothing lie, he said, 'It isn't true,' and he was very distressed: 'I shall die, now when I am able to take care of you and the children.
[Mozart's financial condition had improved considerably during the year 1791; see ] Ah, now I will leave you unprovided for.' And as he spoke these words, 'suddenly he vomited —it gushed out of him in an arc— it was brown, and he was dead.'"
Mozart's older, seven-year-old, son
Karl Karl may refer to:
People
* Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name
* Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne
* Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer
* Karl of Austria, last Austria ...
was present at his father's death and later wrote, "Particularly remarkable is in my opinion the fact that a few days before he died, his whole body became so swollen that the patient was unable to make the smallest movement, moreover, there was stench, which reflected an internal disintegration which, after death, increased to the extent that an autopsy was impossible."
See also
*
List of unsolved deaths
This list of unsolved deaths includes well-known cases where:
* The cause of death could not be officially determined.
* The person's identity could not be established after they were found dead.
* The cause is known, but the manner of death (homi ...
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*
Eisen, Cliff and
Simon P. Keefe
Simon Patrick Keefe (born 24 December 1968) is a musicologist, author, and Mozart expert. He was educated at the University of Cambridge, Boston University and Columbia University. After being awarded his PhD in 1997, he was appointed to a lectur ...
(2006) ''The Cambridge Mozart Encyclopedia''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*
*
*
* See
Wikisource
Wikisource is an online digital library of free-content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project (each instance usually rep ...
for more versions.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
1791 in music
Death conspiracy theories
Deaths by person in Europe
Retrospective diagnosis
Unsolved deaths
Death
Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...