There are more than eighty theories about the death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...

How half-educated doctors treated Mozart to death

The true causes of the death of the brilliant composer are explored by the German journalist, biologist and philosopher Jörg Zittlau in his new book “It could have been worse. Stories of famous patients and their unfortunate doctors"

The evening of July 15, 1791 in Vienna did not foretell any trouble. After an extremely sunny and hot day, everyone here was joyfully awaiting the upcoming coolness. The mood was good, they talked a lot, shook someone's bones and laughed, because Austria and its capital shone in such splendor that the rest of Europe could only envy. However, at house number 970 Rauensteingasse, a mysterious performance began. A man emerged from the approaching carriage, deeply wrapped in a black cloak with a hood so that his face could not be seen. He entered the house and went up to the second floor, where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart lived. The man in black informed the composer that a prominent gentleman would like to order a requiem for him. He did not mention the name of the customer, but said that “a person who was and will always be very dear to him died. He would like to quietly but worthily celebrate the day of this death every year, and asks you to compose a Requiem for him for this purpose.”

Mozart was confused not only by the man's request, but also by his whole appearance, by the solemnity that was contained in his words. He accepted the order, although this meeting strengthened his fear for his life and confidence that the end was near. Less than five months had passed since the composer actually died - and since then, countless legends about his death and the attitude that the black messenger had towards it have not ceased to multiply.

In our time, it is already known that this messenger did not come to announce to Mozart about his own death. The visitor was neither Mozart's rival Antonio Salieri nor an official, as shown in Milos Forman's film Amadeus. On the contrary, this was the man who commissioned the requiem on behalf of Count Franz von Walsegg-Stuppach in memory of his deceased wife. The tragic piece of music was indeed performed later.

In any case, neither the Black Man nor anyone else hastened the end of Mozart. The composer himself could have extended his life by many years - if he had taken more care of his health, the choice of doctors and medications.

Golden pills

Already as a small child, Wolfgang became familiar with the diagnoses and treatment methods of that time. He and his sister Nannerl were presented to the public by their father, Georg Leopold Mozart, as rare young musical talents. For this purpose, he removed from them all the joys of a carefree childhood and imposed a heavy burden of constant travel. The Mozart family toured, mostly in a carriage, throughout Europe, which undermined Wolfgang's already fragile health. Already in the fall of 1762 - he was six years old - on the way to Vienna, the boy became seriously ill. His father noted: “He was screaming in pain... As he lay in bed, I tried to understand what exactly was hurting him; I found some spots the size of kreuzer, red and somewhat convex. He had a fever, and we treated him with “black powder” and also margrave powder.”

Both of these remedies were the usual medicines of Leopold, who kept all the family's medical supplies in his own hands. He, however, received instructions from eminent doctors and pharmacists.

"Black Powder" pulvis epilepticus niger, was then, as its Latin name suggests, a remedy for the treatment of epilepsy. It was also considered, like aspirin is now, a drug against colds and general malaise. The medicine consisted of ground parts of linden charcoal, oyster shells, ivory, deer antler and amber. In 1774, it was removed from medical manuals as a useless remedy. However, Leopold (and later Wolfgang Amadeus) Mozart still prescribed it in pharmacies.

Margrave powder was especially loved among pharmacists and doctors. It was prepared from a mixture of nine or ten different ingredients, among which were peony root, dug up during the waning moon, ivory, mistletoe, coral and fern growth. Particularly noteworthy was the method of its application. The powder was wrapped in a piece of gold foil and then swallowed like a gold-plated pill. By this they hoped to enhance the effect of medicinal herbs. Gold foil at least did not cause any harm, but due to the method of application, the drug greatly increased in price.

When treating young Mozart, none of the medications led to the expected result; the child only got worse. Countess von Zinzendorf's doctor was called and diagnosed the boy with scarlet fever, which, according to modern medical historians, was quite close to the truth. Apparently, the young musician suffered from erythema nodosum, inflammation of the subcutaneous fat layer: it is caused by an allergy combined with an infection. The doctor, however, still knew nothing about this. He again prescribed the Margrave's powder, although it still had no effect. In addition, he prescribed the use of various other remedies, among which was the juice of broken poppy heads, rich in opiates. This is how little Wolfgang experienced his first intoxication.

It took him a long time to come to his senses, but somehow the treatment allowed him to get back on his feet. His father exclaimed: “The boy’s illness set us back four weeks.” Besides, doctors were too expensive to make the trip worthwhile. When the Mozarts returned to Salzburg in January 1763, Wolfgang was already suffering from rheumatic fever, possibly the result of untreated erythema nodosum. She remained forever his faithful life companion and was later considered as one of the reasons for his death.

Sore throat, smallpox, typhus

Although weakened by illness, both miracle children moved on. The path lay through major cities of Europe. In February 1764, Wolfgang suffered such a severe form of angina that his father said about his son’s condition: “It depends only on the mercy of the Lord whether He will lift this miracle of nature out of bed or take it to Himself.” In July 1765, both children became infected with typhus, from which the sister lost so much weight that only skin and bones remained. About a year later, Wolfgang had to suffer another exacerbation of his joint rheumatism. But the father drove his children further. In September 1767, he again came to Vienna, where smallpox was raging at that very time. The brother and sister immediately fell ill with a deadly infection. The medicines were “black gunpowder” and margrave powder. This made Wolfgang delirious for days on end - but he and his sister survived this torment too.

At the beginning of 1769, Leopold Mozart realized that there was no longer any point in traveling with both children.
Nunnerly was already eighteen years old by that time, and she could not be presented as a “miracle child”

But thirteen-year-old Wolfgang was still a novelty in those countries where he had not yet been seen.
So father and son went on an Italian trip alone.

This tour, as expected, was the most successful, so they repeated it two years later.
During the trip, Wolfgang developed a disease that, among his other ailments, was especially noticeable. Nannerl wrote in one of her letters that her brother was once a “beautiful child,” but after a recent stay in Italy, his smallpox scars acquired a “foreign yellow tint” that completely disfigured him.

It looked like inflammation of the liver, although, apparently, it was not. Leopold and Wolfgang kept silent about the illness.

Was there a poisoner?

In September 1777, father and son were going on a new tour, but Leopold's Salzburg employer, Archbishop Hieronymus Count von Colloredo, banned the trip. Wolfgang was supposed to go on vacation with his mother. Anna Maria Mozart suffered from shortness of breath and obesity; and the fact that she gave birth to seven children, of whom only two reached adulthood, affected her both mentally and physically.

The trip became a breath of fresh air for Mozart. Anna Maria could no longer restrain her son, who was prone to idleness and extravagance. The trip ended in Mannheim, where Wolfgang fell in love with an unknown singer, and therefore forgot all his musical ambitions. However, not everything turned out as well as he would have liked, because, firstly, he did not have enough money, and secondly, he fell ill again. He began to have a cough, runny nose, headache and sore throat, for which he - as expected - prescribed black powder.

After he barely managed to recover, he and his mother went to Paris. This was Anna Maria's last journey: she developed a fever (possibly typhus) and died. Wolfgang returned to Mannheim, to his great love, but she did not want to know more about him, and he could not stay there. The disappointed genius had no choice but to go back to Salzburg, to his father. But even here he did not stay long. He went to Vienna, where he hoped to find more opportunities to express his ideas. He didn't find a job, but he met a new love. His former beloved from Mannheim and her family came to the Austrian capital on a work invitation. She had a sister named Constanze, whom Wolfgang immediately decided to marry. They married against Leopold's wishes on August 4, 1782.

And then success came to the musician.

Everyone in Vienna wanted to hear him, everyone thirsted for his compositions. Money went uphill, and Wolfgang and his wife could afford to rent an apartment in the most expensive and beautiful part of the city. But the stage of material well-being turned out to be short. Six years later, Mozart's economic position was hopelessly shaken. There were two reasons for this: the Viennese public was unpredictable in its musical preferences, and Wolfgang and Constanze were unpredictable in the way they burned their money. The musician's health also began to deteriorate. He assumed that someone had poisoned him, but did not express any specific thoughts about the identity of the poisoner. The signs of his illness were incomprehensible: weakness, depression, complete lack of strength, timidity and spiritual apathy. By the end of 1791, he was increasingly forced to remain in bed. The doctor ordered him complete rest and forbade him to work, which terrified the musician - he had no money, but he had to support his family.

Vinegar didn't help

From November 20, Mozart could no longer leave his bed. My arms and legs became swollen, and swelling appeared throughout my body. They tried to fight them with the help of a tight nightgown. The musician was now cared for by two doctors: Thomas Franz Klosset and Matthias von Sallaba. The latter was an expert in the treatment of poisoning, but this should not be considered a specific indication of the cause of the composer’s death. After all, Sallaba was, firstly, caused not by Mozart, but by his colleague, and, secondly, in his diagnosis he spoke not of poisoning, but of “fever with a rash.” This concept then equally successfully denoted any fever, although the combination “fever” is, from a medical point of view, pleonasm - and this is a clear hint that Mozart’s doctors could not even roughly classify the cause of his suffering. Sophie, Mozart's sister-in-law, who diligently cared for the patient, later claimed that doctors could not agree on a method of treatment.

On the evening of December 4, 1791, the patient began to experience severe fever and unbearable headaches. They sent for Doctor Closset, but he was in the theater and ordered word that he would arrive immediately after the performance. He arrived a little after one o'clock in the morning. The doctor ordered Mozart's sister-in-law to wash the patient's temples and forehead with vinegar and cold water. Sophie objected that the cold could harm such a seriously ill patient. But Dr. Closset didn’t want to hear about it: after all, he was the attending physician! Then Sophie placed a damp handkerchief on Mozart's forehead. Here we can rightfully ask ourselves why the doctor did not do this himself, if he was so confident in his methods of treatment. In any case, as Sophie said, after the cold touch, a shiver ran through Mozart’s body - and he died. The creator of The Magic Flute was not even thirty-six years old.

The investigation will show

Antonio Salieri

Since then, gossip and controversy about what caused Mozart's death have not subsided.

There are more than eighty theories about his death.
This shows how difficult it is to get accurate information about treatment when the patient has died so long ago. Much speculation has arisen regarding the methods of Dr. Closset and Dr. Sallab, since they did not leave behind any notes on this matter. Given the fame of their patient, this seems a serious omission. For the first time, Viennese physician Dr. Eduard Vincent Guldner von Lobes was assigned to medically examine Mozart's death. He concluded that the musician was not poisoned, but died of rheumatic inflammatory fever and suffered from the typical symptoms of inflammation of the meninges. “These diagnoses do not correspond to what we understand by them today, and their meaning remains vague,” says physician and Mozart researcher Dr. Kaspar Franzen from the University Hospital of Regensburg. Moreover, Guldner never saw the subject of his expertise in person; his conclusion was based rather on the oral testimony of Mozart's doctors and was not absolutely accurate.

However, inflammation of the meninges and rheumatic fever are the basis for various theories of poisoning put forward in recent years. In them, in addition to Salieri, Franz von Walsegg-Stuppach and the composer’s wife Constance, who was allegedly in a relationship with one of Mozart’s students, some of his creditors are also named as poisoners. Even the Freemasons, to whom Mozart belonged since 1784 and whose ritual the composer depicted in The Magic Flute, came under suspicion. For all of these theories, there is both supporting evidence and difficult questions to answer. There is also no serious motive. Indeed, Mozart was no longer so loved in Vienna, the moment of glory turned out to be brief, after which his star began to decline smoothly and uncontrollably. By the end of his life, he was too insignificant and harmless for anyone to need to kill him.

If it really was poisoning, it would most likely not be from base motives, but from a desire to help the sick Mozart, that is, due to an oversight or mistake. After all, the composer thought for a long time that he had contracted syphilis. Most likely, the fear was unfounded, but in those days syphilis was one of the most common and hotly debated diseases. Mozart's friends included a certain Gottfried van Swieten, whose father, a doctor by profession, treated his patients with wine laced with mercury - Liquor mercurii Swietenii - a completely effective, but also very risky remedy against the notorious infection. It is quite possible that van Swieten recommended this medicine for Mozart, who apparently took it with the same zeal with which he had previously treated himself with his powders, and therefore greatly exceeded the prescribed dose. It is not possible to verify this, because not a trace remains of Mozart’s body. After his death, he was buried “third class,” and when his widow seventeen (!) years later began to look for his grave, she learned that the cemetery had been dug up.

The name of Mozart, the creator of immortal symphonies and operas, is dear to millions of people. The premature death of the brilliant composer shocked his contemporaries and caused various rumors. Descendants introduced many fantastic inventions, poetic liberties, and distorted ideas into the stories about Mozart. Until now, in the popular literature about Mozart, the legend obscures the truth and the actual circumstances of the tragic end of the great composer’s life are not adequately reflected. This article provides the latest information on Mozart's illness, cause of death and funeral.

DIAGNOSES, HYPOTHESES, CONCEPTS

The life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was cut short at the age of thirty-six... What led to the death of the brilliant composer?

The medical examination report noted that Mozart died of acute millet fever. Modern science does not use such a term. And in the 18th century this term was already a relic. In the works of the Viennese medical school there is no description of a disease under this name. Obviously, the diagnosis of “millet fever” was included in the examination report because this name was common and was clearer than the Latin name of the disease.

Immediately after Mozart's death, various conflicting rumors circulated about the nature of his illness. They talked about dropsy, cardiac dropsy, nervous fever, nervous consumption, tabes dorsalis, tuberculosis and poisoning. It is known that the legend of the poisoning was immortalized in Pushkin’s “little tragedy” “Mozart and Salieri” and Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera of the same name.

Mozart scholars - music historians who study Mozart's life - unanimously deny the version of poisoning. The unfoundedness of the rumor about the violent death of the creator of The Magic Flute was confirmed by the scientific session of the Central Institute of Mozart Studies in Salzburg (1964), which heard a special report on the topic “The Legend of Mozart’s Poisoning.” How did Mozart's illness progress? Who treated him and is it possible to trust the diagnosis?

MOZART'S DOCTORS

For the past two years, Wolfgang has been under the care of MD Thomas Franz Closset. A student, assistant and successor of the famous clinician Maximilian Stoll, Klosset headed the department at the Vienna General Hospital. Among his works is a book about rotten fever. The Vienna Medical Yearbook of 1814 said about him: “By nature a keen observer and a deep thinker, he possessed rare practical skill.”

Matthias von Sallaba, also a student of Stoll, a doctor at the General Hospital, who was popular in the Austrian capital as a practicing physician and who already won recognition as a scientist in his young years, was invited to a consultation with Mozart. Sallaba’s book “Natural History of Diseases,” where much attention is paid to various types of fevers and especially rheumatic-inflammatory fever, was published in the year of Mozart’s death.

The famous Viennese pathologist Eduard Guildener von Lobes reported in letters of 1824 that both of these doctors, with whom he personally met, diagnosed Mozart with rheumatic-inflammatory fever. Guildener was in Vienna during those mournful days (Mozart died in December 1791). An attempt was made in the literature to discredit the important testimony of the pathologist by citing the fact that he arrived in Vienna allegedly eleven years after Mozart’s death. However, it has been documented that this is not the case.

One of the books published in 1794 describes a consultation that took place at the beginning of 1790 in Vienna. Guldener is mentioned among the participants in this consultation. Documents also show that in June 1793 Guldener signed himself as a “practicing physician in Vienna.” Since 1800, Guldener has been the chief physician of the capital of Austria. There is no reason to doubt the veracity and significance of the testimony of this highly qualified specialist.

To be continued.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a prominent representative of the Vienna Classical School. He masterfully mastered various musical forms of his time, had a unique ear and a rare talent as an improviser. In a word, genius. And there are usually a lot of rumors and speculations around the life and death of a genius. The composer passed away at the age of thirty-five. His early death became the subject of controversy and formed the basis of plots in literary works. How did Mozart die? What caused his sudden death? And where is Mozart buried?

The composer, whose biography has been of interest to researchers around the world for more than two centuries, died in 1791. It is customary to begin biographies of outstanding people at birth. But Mozart's biography is so extensive that any of the periods is worthy of close attention. This article will focus, first of all, on how Mozart died. There is a lot of speculation. But according to the official version, the cause of death was a long illness. But before we begin to describe the last days of Mozart, we should briefly outline his biography.

Childhood

Where was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart born? The city of the great musician’s childhood and youth is Salzburg. Amadeus's father was a violinist. Leopold Mozart dedicated his life to children. He did everything to ensure that his daughter and son received a decent musical education. It's musical. Both Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose biography is presented in our article, and his older sister Nannerl, showed unique abilities from an early age.

Leopold began teaching his daughter to play the harpsichord quite early. Wolfgang was very young at that time. But he followed his sister’s lessons and repeated certain passages from musical works. Then Leopold decided that his son should definitely become a composer. Wolfgang, like his Nannerl, began performing very early. The audience was fascinated by the performance of the child prodigies.

Youth and the beginning of creativity

Since 1781, the hero of this article lived in Vienna. Haydn is a classic. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, along with these great musicians, created works that will never be forgotten. He managed to achieve such heights not only thanks to his innate talent, but also to perseverance and hard work.

How old was Mozart when he died? The composer was only thirty-five. And ten years before his death he settled in Vienna. In this short period of time, Wolfgang has transformed from a little-known musician into

The house belonged to the Webers, whose family had three unmarried daughters. One of them is Wolfgang's future wife, Constance. In the same year, when he first crossed the threshold of the Weber house, he began to create the opera “The Abduction from the Seraglio.” The work was approved by the Viennese public, but Mozart's name still had no weight in musical circles.

Glory

Soon Mozart married Constance Weber. After the wedding, his relationship with his father went wrong. Mozart Sr. was hostile towards his daughter-in-law until his last days. The peak of Wolfgang's fame was in the mid-eighties. A few years before his death, he begins to receive huge fees. The Mozarts move into a luxurious apartment, hire servants and buy a piano for crazy money at that time. The musician strikes up a friendship with Haydn, to whom he once even gives a collection of his works.

In February 1785, the public was presented with a piano concerto in D minor. “Why did the great Mozart die in poverty?” - sometimes you can hear such a question. What is the basis for the opinion about the financial troubles of the pianist and composer? After all, in the mid-eighties, Mozart was at the peak of his fame. He was one of the wealthiest musicians in Vienna in 1787. Four years before his death, he sent his son to a very expensive and prestigious educational institution. And in the same year, the great pianist joined the Masonic lodge. But in recent years, the composer has suffered somewhat. However, it was still far from poverty.

Financial difficulties

In 1789, Wolfgang's wife fell ill. He was forced to send her to a medical resort, which shook his financial situation. A few months later, Constance began to recover. By that time, The Marriage of Figaro had already achieved considerable success. Mozart began writing works for the theater. He had written operas before. But his early works were not successful.

The last year of Mozart's life became very fruitful. He wrote a symphony in G minor and received the position of conductor. And finally, I started working on Requiem. It was ordered by a stranger who wanted to honor his wife.

Requiem

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose biography is surprisingly eventful, despite his early death, wrote countless works. He had many students, and during his lifetime he received good royalties from the publication of his works. Shortly before his death, he began to create his last work, “Requiem.” The work captured him so much that he stopped accepting students. In addition, his health suddenly began to deteriorate every day.

How Mozart died was told years later by relatives who witnessed the death of the great composer. Among them was the son of a musician. According to the memoirs of relatives, Mozart suddenly became so ill that he had to call a doctor. And not just any, but the best in Vienna. Indeed, the healer helped the musician. However, the improvement did not last long. Soon Mozart fell ill completely.

Acute millet fever

According to the memoirs of Sophie Weber, the musician’s sister-in-law, after his condition worsened, his relatives decided to call another doctor. The cause of Mozart's death is controversial because his symptoms were so unusual that they did not allow doctors to reach a consensus on the diagnosis.

In recent weeks, the composer's hearing has become more acute. He suffered unbearable pain, even from touching his body to his clothes. Mozart grew weaker every day. And, in addition, his condition worsened due to imperfect medical methods. The patient was regularly bled: this therapeutic technique was considered universal in those days. The cause of Mozart's death might have been established if he had lived in the 21st century. In the eighteenth century, treatment methods were, to put it mildly, ineffective. The death certificate of the genius stated: acute millet fever.

A good part of the Viennese population suffered from this disease at that time. The doctors did not know how to treat him. Therefore, one of the doctors, having visited the dying man, concluded: he could no longer be saved.

General weakness of the body

The life and work of Mozart is the subject of many books, feature films and documentaries. His rare gift was discovered at an early age. But in addition to his unique abilities, Mozart, contrary to popular belief, had extraordinary hard work. Much has been said today about how Mozart died. There is a version that the great musician was poisoned by the envious Salieri. But the composer's contemporaries thought differently.

After Mozart's death, some doctors claimed that he died from a serious infectious disease. His body was unable to fight as a result of general weakness. And Mozart was physically weakened due to many years of work without break or rest.

Over the years, it has become increasingly difficult for researchers to diagnose a musician. There are many contradictions in the records of Sophie Weber and other relatives. It was these circumstances that gave rise to a lot of versions about the death of Amadeus Mozart. Let's look at each of them.

Salieri

The version that Mozart died at the hands of an envious person is the most common. And it was precisely this that formed the basis of Pushkin’s tragedy. According to this version, Mozart's life and work were surrounded by idleness. Nature allegedly endowed the musician with such talent that no effort was required. Mozart managed everything playfully and easily. And Salieri, on the contrary, with all his efforts was not able to achieve even a pathetic fraction of what Mozart could do.

Pushkin's work is based on artistic fiction. But many readers today do not distinguish the author’s fantasies from confirmed facts. Pushkin's characters argue that genius and evil are incompatible concepts. In the work of the Russian writer, Salieri stirs poison for Mozart because he does not agree with him. He believes that he is sacrificing an idle but gifted composer to art.

The opinion that Salieri is a murderer is considered to be one of the versions also because at the beginning of the nineteenth century his confession was found in one of the church archives, in which he confessed and repented of his crime. There are no confirmed facts that this document actually existed. However, even today, many admirers of Mozart’s work are confident that the genius became a victim of the envy of a “colleague”.

Constance

There is another version of poisoning. Her adherents believe that Mozart was sent to the next world by his wife. And one of the musician’s students helped her with this. If you believe the rumors, the passionate romance between Constance and Züssmayr was accompanied by a showdown and extremely emotional reconciliations. The beloved of Mozart's wife was a very ambitious man, if not a careerist. And he could well have entered into a love affair with Constance solely in order to harass his great teacher. But why did Süssmayr need to get rid of Mozart? What would his death give him?

In addition, this version is less plausible due to the fact that after the musician’s death his diary was preserved. And it is evidence of the deepest devotion and love that reigned in the Mozart family.

Ritual murder

And finally, the latest version. If we take into account only those that talk about violent death, then this one is perhaps the most plausible. As already mentioned, the great musician was a member of the Masonic lodge. Masons, as a rule, help their “brothers”. But they did not help Mozart when he was experiencing severe financial difficulties. They even ignored the death of the composer, without canceling the next meeting as a sign of mourning.

Some researchers believe that the reason for the murder was Mozart's intention to create his own lodge. One of the latest works, “The Magic Flute,” uses Masonic symbolism. It was not customary to demonstrate something like this to the uninitiated. Perhaps Mozart was killed by his Masonic brothers.

Burial

It is known where Mozart is buried. At St. Mark's Cemetery. The date of burial remains controversial. According to the official version - December 6. It is widely believed that Mozart was buried in a mass grave intended for the poor. But, according to historians, the burial took place according to the third category. It was not a beggar’s funeral, but it was not a magnificent farewell ceremony for a great composer, pianist, and teacher. As often happens, true fame for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart came after his death.

Photo of Mozart Amadeus

Even the most inveterate medical skeptics have already admitted: “ Mozart effect" exists. So scientists and doctors dubbed the extraordinary power and healing properties of music great composer. Believe it or not, the brilliant works of Wolfgang Amadeus relieve headaches, improve vision, memory, attention, and even cure stuttering (especially the Sonata for two pianos in C major).

Tested on Gerard Depardieu: to overcome his stuttering, he was prescribed to listen to Mozart two hours a day for a month. And he stopped stuttering! Mozart's music most closely matches the rhythm and timbre of the mother's voice, so psychologists advise playing it in orphanages. Even the dough for his minuets and overtures rises ten times faster... There is an effect - this is undeniable. And it could have been even more impressive if not for the death that put an end to the composer’s work. Mozart died young - at 35. And controversy over the cause of his death has not subsided to this day.

Life of Mozart

Musical ability is the only talent that has been proven to be inherited. And although music always sounded in the house of professional musicians, the Mozarts, Wolfgang Amadeus’s father, the famous violinist, organist and court musician, Leopold Mozart, was quite surprised when he once found his little son at the harpsichord. Three-year-old Amadeus picked out the overtures by ear, which his older sister had learned the day before. At the age of four, Mozart was already composing music, and at 7 he wrote his first concerto.

From that moment on, Wolfgang's childhood ended and everyday work began. The father took his son all over the country, hoping to surprise and amaze the noble public with the talents of his young talent. It is the father that some biographers consider responsible for the fragile health of Wolfgang Amadeus. Mozart paid for worldwide recognition and fame after his death with exhausting rehearsals, difficult travel from city to city, energy-consuming concerts and constant illnesses.

Mozart's disease

It is known that in childhood the little genius often caught colds, and at the age of 6 he fell ill with catarrh of the throat with a high fever and painful bright red skin rashes the size of a five-kopeck coin. Twice, at 6 and 10 years old, he was diagnosed with fever with pain in the joints of his knees and feet. Moreover, the painful sensations were so strong that Mozart could not walk. At the age of 10, Amadeus suffered from typhus, at the age of 12 - chickenpox, and at 16 - jaundice.

Further, up to 28, nothing worthy of attention. At the age of 28 and 31 - episodes of severe fever with profuse fever, pain and vomiting. In the last year of his life, the composer was often bothered by headaches, loss of consciousness, and depression. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, in the thirty-fifth year of his life, the always cheerful and cheerful Mozart began to be visited by thoughts of death. He was convinced that he was poisoned by an active poison containing arsenic and lead. The composer even knew the name of the poison - acqua Toffana - in honor of its compiler, the Neapolitan witch Toffana. This poison was the most popular in the 18th century.

Mozart's last illness lasted 15 days. His wife Constance and student Süssmeier recalled: poor Wolfgang was tormented by high fever, sweating, frequent vomiting, and he was swollen so much that it was noticeable. Pain in the lower back made any movement unbearably painful, a small rash appeared on the skin, and an unpleasant odor emanated from the body. Mozart was practically paralyzed, but he continued to work, giving orders to Süssmayer regarding his compositions, and even sang the viola part from his famous requiem.

Readers probably remember the story about the mysterious “black man” who, in the summer of 1791, commissioned a requiem from the composer. It later turned out that this mysterious stranger was a certain von Stuppach, the manager of Count Franz Walsegt. He intended to pass off Mozart's Requiem as his own work - for that time this was a common practice. Strapped for funds, Mozart willingly took on the order. But the longer he worked on the last work in his life, the more it seemed to him that he was writing it for himself.

During his short life, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote more than 700 works, half of which were considered brilliant.

Mozart was treated with bloodletting, a common procedure for fever in those days, but it seems that the loss of blood only brought his death closer. The post-mortem diagnosis made by the doctors was: “acute eruptive fever.” Wolfgang Amadeus was buried in a common grave: at that time, the family of the famous composer, mired in debt, did not have the funds for a decent funeral. Even those meager 8 guilders, which cost Mozart’s burial, were allocated by Baron van Swieten, one of the noble admirers of his talent.

Cause of Mozart's death

From the moment of Mozart's death to this day, many versions have been put forward regarding its causes: pneumonia, rheumatic fever, acute renal failure, self-medication with arsenic for syphilis, the machinations of all kinds of poisoners: from the Judeo-Masons to the wife of Constanza. But the most popular version of Mozart’s death is known even to first-graders: he was allegedly poisoned by an envious fellow musician, composer Antonio Salieri.

Salieri spent the rest of his days in a psychiatric hospital, where from time to time he made statements about the poisoning of Mozart, then denied them. Of course, the old man was considered insane, and his confessions were considered unreliable. And although the composer’s body was terribly swollen after death - this happens with poisoning, the version of violent death is very controversial. Modern researchers give Mozart other diagnoses. We offer the three most common versions.

Hypothesis N1 (Death from cutlets)

Hypothesis N2 (The heart couldn’t stand it)

It is possible that Mozart suffered from a severe streptococcal infection (sore throat or) in childhood, which ended rheumatism and its complications: glomerulonephritis - chronic kidney disease - and endocarditis (a type of heart defect). As a rule, rheumatism, or inflammation of the connective tissue, is provoked by streptococcus microbes that live in the nasopharynx. That is why frequent sore throats and pharyngitis often become a springboard for rheumatism.

This disease is especially partial to young people: people usually develop rheumatism between the ages of 5 and 15, but its consequences remain for life. Perhaps the disease overtook little Wolfgang Amadeus at the age of six after suffering from scarlet fever. The most unpleasant complication of rheumatism remained in the shadows for the time being: the disease gradually “eats” the heart of its victim. Rheumatic heart defects develop over many years, so it is not surprising that until the last moment the composer did not complain of heart pain. Until the fateful winter of 1791, he developed secondary infective endocarditis. His symptoms are consistent with Mozart's condition on the eve of his death. By the way, 35 years is the typical age of death from complications of rheumatic heart defects.

Hypothesis N3 (Congenital anomaly)

Version about innate defect of the urogenital tract The composer was put forward by the American pathologist Rappaport on the basis of... the leftist Mozart. It turns out that the concha of his left ear was developed somewhat abnormally. The composer hid his “mark” under a wig. How do we know this? In 1828, Mozart's widow decided to publish her husband's biography. In order to put an end to rumors about the illegitimate origin of Mozart’s youngest son, on page 586 she placed a drawing of her husband’s ears, made by a specialist in the field of anatomy. One of them was clearly deformed.

This was the best physical evidence, since their son's left ear was exactly the same. But the salt lies elsewhere. Dr. Rappoport presented statistics confirming the connection between the irregular shape of the auricle and congenital defects of the urogenital apparatus. In other words, Mozart's ear, according to Rappoport, was directly related to congenital kidney dysfunction. At the end of 1791, sluggish renal failure reached its final stage.

P.S. Now it is difficult to say for sure what was the true cause of the death of the great composer. There are many blank spots in his medical history. As well as trying to decipher the secret of the healing power of his music. Some explain the “Mozart effect” by the harmonious rhythm of musical compositions, others talk about the personality of the composer himself - spiritual, free. Mozart is called a man of the future, which may not yet have arrived.

Death of Mozart

Mozart's fatal illness began with swelling in his arms and legs, followed by vomiting and a rash - the composer was ill for 15 days and died at five o'clock in the morning on December 5, 1791.
Among the responses to his death in the Berlin newspaper “Musicalisches Wochenblatt” on December 12, the Prague correspondent wrote: “Mozart died. He returned from Prague sick, since then he was ill all the time: they assumed that he had dropsy... After his death, his body was so swollen that they thought he was poisoned." In the 18th century, it was customary to associate every unforeseen death of an outstanding personality with an unnatural cause, and the legend of Mozart’s poisoning began to increasingly excite minds.

The reason for this was also given by his widow Constanze, who repeatedly repeated the words Mozart said during a walk in the Prater: “Of course, they gave me poison!” 30 years after Mozart's death, this topic arose again, and in 1823 the name of the poisoner, Salieri, was named for the first time. The old composer, in a state of mental darkness, tried to cut his throat, and this was attributed to remorse over the murder of Mozart. Their relationship really was not the best, and Salieri’s “cunning” lay in his intrigues at court. Nevertheless, they communicated, Salieri appreciated Mozart's operas. Johann Nepomuk Hummel, a former student of Mozart, wrote; "... Salieri was such an honest, realistically thinking, respected person by all that even in the most remote sense something like that could not have occurred to him." Before his death, Salieri himself said to the famous musician Ignaz Moscheles who visited him: “... I can assure you with complete faith and truth that there is nothing fair in the absurd rumor... tell the world about this, dear Moscheles: old Salieri, who will soon die , told this to you." Salieri's innocence is confirmed by a medical report made by the chief physician of Vienna, Guilderner von Lobes, which stated that Mozart fell ill with rheumatic-inflammatory fever in the fall, from which many residents of Vienna were suffering and dying at that time, and that during a detailed examination of the corpse nothing unusual was found was. At the time, the law stated: “Any corpse must be examined before burial to make it clear that foul play has not occurred... Identified cases must be immediately reported to the authorities for further official investigation.”

But, as you know, people are sometimes inclined to believe legends more than historical truth. A classic example is the tragedy "Mozart and Salieri", written in 1830 by our brilliant compatriot Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. Mozart's death at the hands of Salieri has not been proven and is a historical fiction based on rumors. But if Pushkin’s presentation can be considered poetic license, then the report of Salieri’s alleged confession of the murder of Mozart, which biographer Edward Homes wrote about in 1845, claims to be a deep investigation into the fact of the death of the great composer.

Later, in 1861, responsibility for the alleged murder was placed on the Freemasons, which was written about in 1910, and then in 1928. Neuropathologist Mathilde Ludendorff in 1936, in her book “The Life and Violent Death of Mozart,” wrote about the composer’s burial according to Jewish ritual, which at the same time had the characteristic signs of a typical Masonic murder. In refuting these statements, it should be noted that Mozart, knowing about Empress Maria Theresa’s hostility towards Jews, was not afraid to be friends with them, and he was also loyal to the Freemasons. So the composer did not give either one or the other the slightest reason for hatred.

Already in 1953, Igor Belza published a book in which he referred to the fact that Guido Adler had found Salieri’s written repentance with all the details of the poisoning in the Vienna spiritual archive, which he reported to his Russian acquaintance Boris Asafiev. This publication by Belza was refuted in a Moscow music magazine.

In 1963, in the popular book by German doctors Duda and Kerner, “Diseases of Great Musicians,” the authors claimed that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart “fell a victim of mercury intoxication with sublimate,” that is, slow and gradual poisoning of mercury sublimate dissolved in alcohol. But the pinnacle of speculation is the hypothesis that Mozart accidentally poisoned himself with mercury while trying to recover from syphilis.

In 1983, two British experts Carr and Fitzpatrick presented a new version of Mozart's death - poisoning by his adviser Franz Hofdemel due to jealousy of his wife Mary Magdalene. Knowing the symptoms of poisoning, it is impossible to seriously assert that Mozart died violently. He died of rheumatic fever, aggravated by severe blood loss as a result of bloodletting prescribed to him by doctors.

The days between Mozart's death and his burial are shrouded in uncertainty, even the date of burial is inaccurate: the register of the dead at St. Stephen's Cathedral entered December 6, 1791, and research indicates that Mozart was buried and buried in St. Mark's Cemetery on December 7 . Firstly, the established quarantine period had to be strictly observed - 48 hours after death (death occurred on December 5), secondly, it was on December 7, and not the 6th, that there was a strong storm, which the composer’s contemporaries recalled, and according to According to the Vienna Observatory, on December 6, 1791, the weather was calm and windless. That is why, having reached Stubentor, the people accompanying the hearse decided to return without reaching the cemetery. There was nothing reprehensible in this, since, according to the regulations, according to the customs of that time, the funeral had to take place without a funeral procession and without a priest - for loved ones, farewell to the deceased ended with the funeral service in the cathedral. It can be assumed that the composer’s body was left overnight in the “hut of the dead” and buried the next day. For these actions, under Joseph II, a corresponding decree was also issued, which states: “Since during the funeral nothing else is envisaged except to quickly transport the body, and in order not to interfere with this, it should be sewn up without any clothing in a linen bag and then put into a coffin and taken to the graveyard... there, take the brought corpse out of the coffin and, as it is, sewn into a bag, lower it into the grave, cover it with slaked lime and immediately cover it with earth.” True, this ritual of burial in bags was abolished under pressure from public opinion back in 1785, and the use of coffins was allowed.

Burying several corpses in one grave was a normal occurrence in those days, and according to regulations, four adult and two child corpses were allowed to be placed in the graves, or five adult dead bodies in the absence of children. So it would not be correct to talk about Mozart’s pauper burial, since it was completely consistent with the usual burial of Viennese citizens at that time. True, even in these times, separate graves and funeral processions were provided for especially famous personalities. So, for example, the composer Gluck was buried. It is wrong to say that Mozart was completely forgotten in Vienna at the time of his death. His operas were often staged abroad, for which he was given significant sums of money; after the success of The Magic Flute, he was given an honorary commission to compose a festive opera on the occasion of the coronation of Leopold II. But, nevertheless, Mozart was not particularly loved among musicians for his genius and directness, and the Viennese court in general did not really favor his art, so no one began to seek an exclusive burial for him. Gottfried van Swieten, Mozart's friend, who paid for the education of both of the composer's sons for many years, was busy with his own problems - on the day of Mozart's death he was removed from all posts. Michael Puchberg, to whom the Mozart family owed a large sum of money, did not consider it possible to arrange a magnificent funeral. The family, to whom Mozart had already left large debts, could not do this.

Where is Mozart's grave in St. Mark's Cemetery? In his time, graves remained unmarked; tombstones were allowed to be placed not at the burial site, but near the cemetery wall. After 8 years they could be buried in old graves. Mozart's burial also remained nameless - Constanza didn't even put a cross there and only visited the cemetery 17 years later. Mozart's grave was visited for many years by the wife of his friend Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, who took her son with her. He precisely remembered the composer’s burial place and, when, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Mozart’s death, they began to look for his burial, he was able to show it. One simple tailor planted a willow tree on the grave, and then, in 1859, a monument was built there according to von Gasser’s design. In connection with the centenary of the composer’s death, the monument was moved to the “musical corner” of the Vienna Central Cemetery, which again raised the risk of losing the real grave. Then the overseer of St. Mark's cemetery, Alexander Kruger, built a small monument from various remains of previous tombstones.

In 1902, the Mozart Museum in Salzburg was given the “Mozart skull” from the estate of the anatomist Geert, and the debate about its authenticity continues to this day. It is known that the skull belongs to a man of small stature and fragile build, corresponding to Mozart’s age. Small eye sockets - evidence of bulging eyes - and the coincidence of the line of the skull with the images of the head all confirm its authenticity. But at least two arguments indicate the opposite: caries on the first lateral tooth on the upper left, which does not correspond to Leopold Mozart’s pedantic and accurate description of his son’s diseased tooth, as well as traces of hemorrhage on the inside of the left temporal bone, from which, most likely, he died Human. Thus, the mystery of the earthly remains of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart remained completely unrevealed.

Based on the book by A. Neumayr
New Vienna Magazine April 2003