The Obsession With Mozart's Death

Description
There has been much debate over the years as to how Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died. What had he suffered from that had taken his life at the early age of only thirty-six? Join me, as we take a minute to get the scoop!

Fun Fact
Most of us have seen the movie Amadeus, and the scene with Salieri pestering Mozart on his deathbed. However, there is little evidence that Salieri was present during Mozart’s final hours. The cause of Mozart’s death will surely be debated for decades to come, but we do know that he was buried in a common grave at St Marx Cemetery on 7 December 1791.

About Steven
Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.

A Note To Music Students et al.
All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.

Got a topic? Pop me off an email at: TCMMPodcast@Gmail.com 

Transcript

At 12:55 am on 5 December 1791 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart took his last breath. 

His health declined considerably by the end of November when he became bedridden suffering from swelling, pain, and vomiting. 

Mozart’s condition seemed to improve in early December when his friends visited him to sing some parts of the unfinished Requiem.

But he quickly worsened and on the evening of 4 December, and in accordance with medical conventions of the time, a Doctor applied a cold compress which in turn sent Mozart into shock, and he passed away shortly before 1am the following morning.

At the time it was believed that Mozart died of rheumatic inflammatory fever. But generations of doctors and researchers have debated this diagnosis, obsessed with figuring out what really caused Mozart’s death. Rumours started flying about only a week after when a Berlin newspaper reported that Mozart had been poisoned. This didn’t help matters.

Mozart had actually fuelled the rumour mill when he suggested to his wife at the beginning of November, that “he felt ill, was likely to die, and that he must have been poisoned.”