Death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
On the 5th of December 1791, the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died at his home in Vienna at the age of 35. The circumstances of his death have attracted much research and speculation. Early biographers like Franz Xaver Niemetschek and Georg Nikolaus von Nissen recorded memories from his widow Constanze and her sister Sophie Weber. These accounts described a man who arrived in Prague in August 1791 already very ill. Niemetschek wrote that he was pale with a sad expression despite showing good humour in merry jests with friends. After returning to Vienna in mid September 1791, his condition gradually worsened. He completed his Clarinet Concerto K. 622 while working toward finishing his Requiem K. 626. On the 30th of September he conducted the premiere performance of The Magic Flute K. 620. Despite these achievements, he became increasingly alarmed and despondent about his health. An anecdote from Constanze relates how she tried to cheer him by persuading him to give up work on the Requiem for a time. She encouraged him instead to complete the Kleine Freimaurer-Kantate K. 623 composed to celebrate the opening of a new Masonic temple for his own lodge. The strategy worked for a time as the cantata was completed and successfully premiered on the 18th of November. He told Constanze he felt elated over the premiere. However, Mozart's worst symptoms soon returned together with the strong feeling that he was being poisoned. He became bedridden on the 20th of November suffering from swelling pain and vomiting. From this point onward scholars all agree that Mozart was indeed very ill. He died about two weeks later at his home in Vienna on the 5th of December at 12:55 am.
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 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. 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. Christoph Wolff 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 such as the hauntingly beautiful autumnal world of Mozart's music written in 1791. The historian William Stafford described the effort to determine what disease killed Mozart noting that the parish register entry concerning Mozart's death states he died of severe miliary fever. Numerous sources even published biographies have altered this term to military fever. Miliary refers to the appearance of millet-sized bumps on the skin. This is not the name of the actual disease.
The view that Mozart died of an infectious disease circulating widely in Vienna in late 1791 was put forward in 1824 by one of Mozart's contemporaries Dr. Eduard Guldener von Lobes who had worked as a public health official in Vienna. Responding to the rumor that Antonio Salieri had poisoned Mozart, Guldener wrote a letter to the author and journalist Giuseppe Carpani giving his memories of Mozart's diagnosis and illness. He fell sick in the late autumn of a rheumatic and inflammatory fever which being fairly general among us at the time attacked many people. The illness took its accustomed course and had its usual duration. Closset had observed it and recognized with such accuracy that he forecast its outcome almost to the hour. This malady attacked at this time a great many of the inhabitants of Vienna for not a few of them having the same fatal conclusion and the same symptoms as in the case of Mozart. Much later the hypothesis of an epidemic illness was investigated empirically by researchers who performed a post-hoc epidemiological study examining all deaths that occurred in Vienna around the time Mozart died. They included a control comparison for the years 1790 and 1792. Their key finding is given below: The disease they described was called Wassersucht in 18th century Austria. The diagnosis of an epidemic illness is also the conclusion arrived at by Jenkins in 2006 who emphasizes the evidence that Mozart was mostly in good health in 1791. He was struck down suddenly by an epidemic illness which was then raging in Vienna.
Some ascribe Mozart's death to medical malpractice on the part of his physician Dr. Closset. His sister-in-law Sophie Weber in her 1825 account makes the implication. A 1994 article in Neurology suggests Mozart died of a subdural hematoma. 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. 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 which has been suggested on the basis of his physiognomy. 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 used to treat suspected rheumatic fever on the night of the 4th of December 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 reviewed the historical evidence and tentatively opted for a diagnosis of rheumatic fever.
An early rumor was that Mozart had been poisoned by his colleague Antonio Salieri however this has been proven untrue because the symptoms displayed by Mozart's illness did not indicate poisoning. The Norton/Grove Concise Encyclopedia of Music states flatly He was not poisoned. 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 breakdowns in later life. Various conspiracy theories blame the Masons Jews or both for Mozart's death. One such theory was the work of Mathilde Ludendorff wife of the German general Erich Ludendorff both of whom were antisemites. Stafford describes such accounts as outlandish. The parish register entry concerning Mozart's death states he died of severe miliary fever. Numerous sources even published biographies have altered this term to military fever. Miliary refers to the appearance of millet-sized bumps on the skin. This is not the name of the actual disease. An 1840 letter from the composer Ignaz von Seyfried 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 the coloratura soprano who premiered the role of the Queen of the Night.
Mozart's funeral arrangements were made by his friend and patron Baron Gottfried van Swieten. Describing his funeral the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians states Mozart was buried in a common grave in accordance with contemporary Viennese custom at the St. Marx Cemetery outside the city on the 7th of December. Otto Jahn 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. Another reason why Mozart was buried in this manner besides Viennese custom was Mozart's disdain for complex burials and rites he viewed as superstitious. A description of Mozart's funeral attributed to Joseph Deiner appeared in the Vienna Morgen-Post of the 28th of 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 the 6th of December that there had been mild weather and frequent mist. The original French given by temps doux et brouillard frequent. The Vienna Observatory kept weather records and recorded for the 6th of 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.
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 on the 11th of December 1791 for a widow's pension 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 who wrote an early account based on information from Mozart's sister Nannerl. 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 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.
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Common questions
When did Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart die?
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died on the 5th of December 1791 at his home in Vienna. He was 35 years old when he passed away at 12:55 am.
What disease killed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart according to historical records?
The parish register entry concerning Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart states he died of severe miliary fever. This condition refers to millet-sized bumps on the skin rather than an actual named disease like military fever.
Who wrote about the death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and what were their claims?
Early biographers Franz Xaver Niemetschek and Georg Nikolaus von Nissen recorded memories from his widow Constanze and her sister Sophie Weber. Later researchers including Cliff Eisen and Christoph Wolff disputed the view that Mozart was in steady decline during his last months.
Did Antonio Salieri poison Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart?
Antonio Salieri did not poison Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart because the symptoms displayed by his illness did not indicate poisoning. The Norton/Grove Concise Encyclopedia of Music states flatly that he was not poisoned despite rumors circulating among contemporaries.
Where was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart buried after his death?
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was buried in a common grave at the St. Marx Cemetery outside Vienna on the 7th of December 1791. This burial followed contemporary Viennese custom for citizens who were not aristocracy.