Can anyone help me? I have searched high and low looking for the cause of death for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, all sources say it’s unknown. Does anyone know, or has heard, of how he died? Thank you
As I understand it, his death was just a part of the normal die-off that would occur every summer in them there Good Ol’ Days. Basically, food spoils more quickly in the summer. This also put more of a strain on the existing sanitation system. The result was that people just tended to die in the summer.
This gleaned from biographies read years ago,of several people of the period, from different continents.
Vebr
in Slonimsky, Nicholas. Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 7th ed. New York: Schirmer Books, 1984. p. 1599.
Hope this helps.
Thank you! I’m only 14 and am studying to become an expert on Mozart, so this (plus your other comments) helps me very much. I believe you seem to be an expert! I’m already aware of his rivary with Salieri, and am researching that at the moment. Thank you again!
Nope, just a librarian. I don’t have to be an expert in anything except finding where the experts documented their expertise.
Good luck!
Oh, and in case anyone was interested in what the hell nephritis is:
http://www.merck.com/pubs/mmanual_home/sec11/124.htm
Pardon me if you’re aware of this already, but Peter Schaeffer’s Play Amadeus is not, and was never meant by the author to be an accurate biography of Mozart. (This fact sees to have escaped several critics, including the one at the Boston Phoenix). Like a lot of his plays, it’s not really about the historical incident it seems to chronicle, but about Man And God. The same way The Royal Hunt of the Sun isn’t about Pizarro and the Incan emperor Aahuallpa, but about Man And God, or th way Equus isn’t about the real-life case o the British by who blinded six horses in his care. It, too, is about Man And God.
So Amadeus is about the relationship between Man And God (Why do you think he titled it “Amadeus”, and not “Mozart”. Or better yet, “Salieri”?). I like the film well enough, but if you get the chance, read or see the play. It’s very different, and Salieri doesn’t seem so mad when you see it all from his point of view.
Of course Amadeus was never meant to be a biography of Mozart, anyone who believes that must be pretty stupid. The film is wonderful, but grossly inaccurate. Not just in the sense of Mozart’s death but also many, many events in his life that would have been impossible. (His father comming to visit him at that time in Constanze’s pregnancy for example, was impossible. Leopold had already been dead) And I could go on. I encourage people to see Amadeus, but don’t take it seriously
Oh, and one comment for Vebr, though your theory is very, uh, interesting, it would be impossible to explain Mozart’s death since he died in December (Just before 1 a.m on December 5th, 1791 to be accurate) and not in the summer.
According to Maynard Solomon’s Mozart: A Life, Mozart died of acute rheumatic fever which he suffered through recurring (and progressively worse) bouts of.
The above is a good book if you want to read up on Mozart. Be forewarned though: most biographies of Mozart tend to blame either Constanze or his father, Leopold, for all of Wolfie’s ills (Solomon definitely falls in the “blame papa” camp). Most 19th century and early 20th century biographers scorned Constanze for being a flippant slut, while it is now in fashion to scorn Leopold for driving his son too hard.
Whatever. I am of the opinion that Mozart was an adult and that his death was just one of those unfortunate things.
NPR did a story a few months back that said the latest theory on what killed Mozart was trichinosis from eating undercooked pork.
While I haven’t read it since just after it came out to coincide with the 1991 anniversary, I remember H.C. Robbins Landon’s 1791: Mozart’s Last Year as being a good discussion of the circumstances of his death without any axe-grinding in support of a particular medical theory.
This is the belief I’m most acquainted with, though I’ve never read the book.
Just for kicks I’ll mention another theory that I’ve heard though I don’t think any serious historian gives it a second thought - a friend of mine who studied Mozart and Freemasonry suggested that Mozart was a mason who’s opera (I can’t believe the name of which is escaping me right now) revealed some of the secret society’s secrets. Consequently he was poisened by members within the organization.
I’ll go with rheumatic fever.
What I’ve seen over the years says Nephritis. But since we don’t have a body or preserved organs or lab results, we’ll never know for sure. I would think rheumatic fever would have laid him to rest sooner, but one could also make a fair case that the pain fron kidneys going bad would take him completely out of action well before his final demise, making the partial composition of the Requiem much more difficult at best.
A pretty detailed account of Mozart’s illness leading up to his death can be found here
- s.e.
That would be The Magic Flute. As described here:
Swede thank you for spraying the informational air freshner in the room where I brain farted. 
I also heard a rumor that I’d like to throw out here. I heard that he was a heavy drinker, and that he died of complications of Chirrhosis. Would this be a possibility?
Oh, and one thing to defend Amadeus. Though it is almost all fiction, Antonio Salieri did confess to the murder of Mozart twice on his death-bed, but he was an old and insane man.
DEATH OF MOZART by the BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1304957
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