What did Mozart die from? How the Great Die: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg on January 27, 1756. His father was the composer and violinist Leopold Mozart, who worked in the court chapel of Count Sigismund von Strattenbach (Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg). The mother of the famous musician was Anna Maria Mozart (nee Pertl), who came from the family of the commissioner-trustee of the almshouse of the small commune of St. Gilgen.

In total, seven children were born in the Mozart family, but most of them, unfortunately, died at a young age. The first child of Leopold and Anna, who managed to survive, was the elder sister of the future musician Maria Anna (relatives and friends called the girl Nannerl from childhood). About four years later, Wolfgang was born. The birth was extremely difficult, and the doctors feared for a long time that they would be fatal for the boy's mother. But after a while Anna went on the mend.

Family of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Both Mozart children from an early age showed a love for music and excellent abilities for it. When her father began teaching Nannerl to play the harpsichord, her younger brother was only about three years old. However, the sounds heard during the lessons excited the little boy so much that since then he often approached the instrument, pressed the keys and picked up pleasant-sounding harmonies. Moreover, he could even play fragments of musical works that he had heard before.

Therefore, already at the age of four, Wolfgang began to receive his own harpsichord lessons from his father. However, the child soon got bored with learning minuets and pieces written by other composers, and at the age of five, young Mozart added to this type of activity the composition of his own small pieces. And at the age of six, Wolfgang mastered the violin, and with little or no outside help.

Nannerl and Wolfgang never went to school: Leopold gave them an excellent education at home. At the same time, young Mozart always immersed himself in the study of any subject with great zeal. For example, if it was about mathematics, then after several diligent studies by the boy, literally all surfaces in the room: from walls and floors to floors and chairs, were quickly covered with chalk inscriptions with numbers, tasks and equations.

Euro-trip

Already at the age of six, the "wonder child" played so well that he could give concerts. The voice of Nannerl became a wonderful addition to his inspired game: the girl sang just fine. Leopold Mozart was so impressed with the musical abilities of his children that he decided to go on long tours with them to various European cities and countries. He hoped that this journey would bring them great success and considerable profit.

The family visited Munich, Brussels, Cologne, Mannheim, Paris, London, The Hague, and several cities in Switzerland. The trip dragged on for many months, and after a short return to Salzburg, for years. During this time, Wolfgang and Nannel gave concerts to stunned audiences, as well as visiting opera houses and performances by famous musicians with their parents.

Young Wolfgang Mozart at the instrument

In 1764, the first four sonatas of the young Wolfgang, intended for violin and clavier, were published in Paris. In London, the boy was lucky for some time to learn from Johann Christian Bach (the youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach), who immediately noted the genius of the child and, being a virtuoso musician, gave Wolfgang many useful lessons.

Over the years of wandering, the "miracle children", who already had far from the best health by nature, were quite tired. Their parents were also tired: for example, during the stay of the Mozart family in London, Leopold became very ill. Therefore, in 1766, the child prodigies, together with their parents, returned to their hometown.

Creative development

At the age of fourteen, Wolfgang Mozart, through the efforts of his father, went to Italy, which was amazed by the talent of the young virtuoso. Arriving in Bologna, he successfully took part in the original musical competitions of the Philharmonic Academy, along with musicians, many of whom were suitable for his fathers.

The skill of the young genius impressed the Academy of Constance so much that he was elected an academician, although usually this honorary status was assigned only to the most successful composers who were at least 20 years old.

After returning to Salzburg, the composer threw himself into composing diverse sonatas, operas, quartets, and symphonies. The older he got, the more daring and original his works were, they looked less and less like the creations of musicians that Wolfgang admired in childhood. In 1772, fate brought Mozart together with Joseph Haydn, who became his main teacher and closest friend.

Wolfgang soon got a job at the archbishop's court, like his father. He had a large number of orders, but after the death of the old bishop and the arrival of a new one, the situation at court became much less pleasant. gulpcom fresh air For young composer was a trip to Paris and major German cities in 1777, which Leopold Mozart asked the archbishop for his gifted son.

At that time, the family faced quite severe financial difficulties, and therefore only the mother was able to go with Wolfgang. The grown-up composer again gave concerts, but his bold compositions did not look like the classical music of those times, and the grown-up boy no longer aroused delight with his appearance alone. Therefore, this time the public received the musician with much less cordiality. And in Paris, Mozart's mother died, exhausted by a long and unsuccessful trip. The composer returned to Salzburg.

Career heyday

Despite money problems, Wolfgang Mozart had long been dissatisfied with the way he was treated by the archbishop. Without doubting his musical genius, the composer was indignant at the fact that the employer regards him as a servant. Therefore, in 1781, spitting on all the laws of decency and persuasion of his relatives, he decided to leave the service of the archbishop and move to Vienna.

There the composer met Baron Gottfried van Steven, who at that time was the patron of musicians and had a large collection of works by Handel and Bach. On his advice, Mozart tried to create music in the Baroque style in order to enrich his work. Then Mozart tried to get a position as a music teacher for Princess Elisabeth of Württemberg, but the emperor preferred singing teacher Antonio Salieri to him.

Peak creative career Wolfgang Mozart came in the 1780s. It was then that she wrote her most famous operas: The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni. At the same time, the popular "Little Night Serenade" was written in four parts. At that time, the composer's music was in great demand, and he received the largest fees in his life for his work.

Unfortunately, the period of unprecedented creative upsurge and recognition for Mozart did not last too long. In 1787, his beloved father died, and soon his wife, Constance Weber, fell ill with a leg ulcer, and a lot of money was needed for the treatment of her wife.

The situation was worsened by the death of Emperor Joseph II, after which Emperor Leopold II ascended the throne. He, unlike his brother, was not a fan of music, so the composers of that time did not have to rely on the location of the new monarch.

Personal life

Mozart's only wife was Constance Weber, whom he met in Vienna (for the first time after moving to the city, Wolfgang rented a house from the Weber family).

Wolfgang Mozart and his wife

Leopold Mozart was against the marriage of his son to a girl, as he saw in this the desire of her family to find a "profitable match" for Constance. However, the wedding took place in 1782.

The composer's wife was pregnant six times, but few of the couple's children survived infancy: only Carl Thomas and Franz Xaver Wolfgang survived.

Death

In 1790, when Constance again went for treatment, and financial condition Wolfgang Mozart became even more unbearable, the composer decided to give several concerts in Frankfurt. The famous musician, whose portrait at that time became the personification of a progressive and immensely beautiful music, welcomed with a bang, but the fees from the concerts were too small and did not justify the hopes of Wolfgang.

In 1791, the composer had an unprecedented creative upsurge. At this time, Symphony 40 came out from under his pen, and shortly before his death, the unfinished Requiem.

In the same year, Mozart became very ill: he was tormented by weakness, the composer's legs and arms were swollen, and soon he began to faint from sudden bouts of vomiting. Wolfgang's death occurred on December 5, 1791, its official cause being rheumatic inflammatory fever.

However, to this day, some believe that the cause of Mozart's death was poisoning by the then-famous composer Antonio Salieri, who, alas, was not at all as brilliant as Wolfgang. Part of the popularity of this version is dictated by the corresponding "little tragedy" written by . However, no confirmation of this version on currently was not found.

• The composer's real name is Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus (Gottlieb) Mozart, but he himself always demanded that he be called Wolfgang.

Wolfgang Mozart. Last lifetime portrait

• During the great tour of the young Mozarts in Europe, the family ended up in Holland. Then there was a fast in the country, and music was banned. An exception was made only for Wolfgang, considering his talent a gift from God.
• Mozart was buried in common grave, where several more coffins were located: the financial situation of the family at that time was so difficult. Therefore, the exact burial place of the great composer is still unknown.

This tragedy happened on December 5, 1791. At 00.55 the heart of the greatest composer and musician of human civilization Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) stopped. The famous Austrian died in the prime of his creative powers. An hour and a half before midnight, he lost consciousness and met his fatal end in unconsciousness. At the time of his death, he was 35 years and 10 months old.

This most talented person began to compose musical works at the age of 6. Creative activity lasted almost 30 years, but it did not bring wealth. This is explained by the low social status of musicians who lived in the 18th century. They were paid pennies for masterpieces. The situation changed only in the next century, when composers became truly wealthy people.

Mozart's death in such young age caused a lot of rumors and rumors, since the illness that preceded the death was rather strange. At first, the musician's hands and feet began to swell, then bouts of vomiting followed. The doctors examined the patient and said that it was an acute rash. This diagnosis was also entered in the registration book, in which all the dead in the city of Vienna were recorded.

Wolfgang Amadeus went to bed on November 20th. But relatives considered that hard work became the cause of the disease. There were many orders on which the composer worked practically, without rest. He was overwhelmed by creditors, and the family barely made ends meet.

After death, the body of the deceased swelled, and rigor mortis was not observed. The tissues remained elastic and soft, which indirectly indicated poisoning. Constanze, the composer's wife, added fuel to the fire. She stated that her husband shared his suspicions with her. Allegedly, he was sure that he was being poisoned slowly and surely. They gave him aqua-tofana. This poison was created in the 17th century by the Italian sorceress Giulia Tofina. She made it on the basis of arsenic. The deadly poison had no taste, smell, and the victim was killed slowly and imperceptibly.

Another fact was disturbing. A few months before the illness, a mysterious stranger came to the composer. He commissioned "Requiem" - a funeral mass for the dead. Already under the influence of the disease, Wolfgang Amadeus suddenly thought that this piece of music was intended for himself. The sophisticated intruder decided to cruelly laugh at the great man, who was considered one of the best representatives of the Vienna classical school.

Who needed the death of Mozart?

Who was interested in the untimely death of the composer? There is an opinion that Antonio Salieri (1750-1825) pathologically hated him. It was good composer and musician. Since 1774, he was listed as a court composer at the court of Joseph II - Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Among the aristocrats of Vienna, he was considered the best musician.

This went on for 7 years, until the young Wolfgang Amadeus arrived in the city. In him, Salieri immediately saw a huge talent with which he could never be compared. Over time, in musical circles, they realized that Antonio was jealous of Mozart with black envy. And he treated the court composer with frank contempt. Given these facts, it can be assumed that Salieri was the very sinister poisoner.

However, there is evidence of Ignaz Moskeles. This man was a student of Beethoven, and he, in turn, was considered a student of Salieri. In 1823, Mosqueles visited the old and sick Antonio in a clinic. He, in the face of impending death, swore that he had nothing to do with the poisoning of the great composer and musician. A month passed after this meeting, and Salieri tried to commit suicide. Doctors explained this by hallucinations caused by a mental disorder.

There is also evidence of a son of Wolfgang Amadeus. After the death of his father, the boy began to take music lessons from Antonio Salieri. And one day the teacher allegedly said: "I'm sorry that your father died so young. However, for all of us it's for the best. If he had lived at least 10 more years, then all other composers would have been left without work."

Today, the official version says that Salieri was not a poisoner. In 1997, a trial was held in the city of Milan on this sensitive issue. He examined it on its merits and dropped all charges against Antonio, putting an end to this case with a verdict of not guilty.

However, the envious Italian was not the only suspect in the death of the great composer. There was another person - Franz Hofdemel. He was a member of the Masonic lodge and wrote musical works. Of interest here is the fact that his wife Magdalene - a beautiful young woman - took music lessons from Wolfgang Amadeus.

Literally a week after his death, Hofdemel furiously attacked his wife, who at that time was pregnant. Franz had a razor in his hand, and he slashed it several times over his beautiful woman's face. He also cut his wife's hands and throat. After that, he committed suicide. The poor woman survived, and after 5 months a child was born. According to rumors, his father was none other than Mozart.

For objectivity, it should be noted that Wolfgang Amadeus often fell in love with young women. Moreover, he gave music lessons only to those persons for whom he had certain feelings. At the same time, many people who knew the talented composer closely claimed that he was selflessly devoted to his Constanza, and limited himself to non-binding flirting with other women.

Proof of Magdalene's innocence is also the attitude of Empress Marie-Louise towards her. She, having learned about the tragedy, showed great human concern for the mutilated woman. If the story of paternity had caused the empress any doubts, then she would never have surrounded Magdalena with warmth, care and attention.

The funeral of the great composer

For loved ones, Mozart's death was a real tragedy. The sad situation was aggravated by complete lack of money. Therefore, one of the greatest people of human civilization was buried in the 3rd category. On December 7, 1791, the coffin with the body of the deceased was brought to St. Stephen's Cathedral. There were only a few people who knew the deceased closely. They say that among the mourners was Salieri.

The priest delivered a funeral sermon. And in front of him was not one coffin, but as many as 6. Already at dusk, the coffins were loaded into a hearse, and he went to the cemetery of St. Mark, which was located about 5 km from the cathedral. The mourners did not follow the hearse, as it was dark, cold, damp, and sleet was falling. All the coffins were lowered into one common grave, and covered with earth. The place of burial was not marked with a cross or a slab. They didn't even put a stone or a stick for reference.

Monument to Mozart Weeping Angel

50 years have passed and people decided to pay tribute to the greatest musician. But the exact place of burial could not be found. There were a lot of old grave mounds, and under which of them the ashes of the composer rested, no one could say. They were able to determine only an approximate area, and planted a willow in this place. In 1859, instead of a willow, a monument was erected, which was called the Weeping Angel. Then the monument was moved, but currently it is in its original place.

The official version of Mozart's death

The debate about the true cause of Mozart's death continues to this day. In the 60s of the 20th century, a Swiss doctor, Karl Baer, ​​stated that the diagnosis - acute rash fever - was not correct. In accordance with the description of the disease, the musician had articular rheumatism. It is accompanied by painful inflammatory processes. That's why there was a swelling on the arms and legs.

In 1984, Dr. Davies published a more thorough account of Wolfgang Amadeus' medical history. He suggested that even in early childhood, the musician contracted a streptococcal infection. In subsequent years, he experienced bouts of tonsillitis, he suffered from bronchitis, hepatitis and chickenpox.

Davis concluded that the cause of the tragedy was a streptococcal infection in combination with kidney failure and bronchopneumonia. But death came as a result of a cerebral hemorrhage. As for kidney failure, it is indicated by depression. And under her influence, the composer could claim that he was poisoned and ordered "Requiem" for his own funeral.

Alexander Semashko

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-1791) was an Austrian composer. A representative of the Viennese classical school, a musician of universal talent, manifested from early childhood. Mozart's music reflected the ideas of the German Enlightenment and the Sturm und Drang movement, the artistic experience of various national schools and traditions.

The year 2006 was declared by UNESCO as the year of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, because exactly 250 years have passed since the birth of the great composer and 215 years since his death. The "God of Music" (as he is often called) left this world on December 5, 1791, at the age of 35, after a strange illness.

No grave, no cross

The national pride of Austria, the musical genius, the imperial and royal bandmaster and chamber composer, did not receive a separate grave or a cross. He rested in a common grave in the Vienna cemetery of St. Mark. When the wife of the composer Konstanz decided to visit his grave for the first time 18 years later, the only witness who could indicate the approximate place of burial - the gravedigger - was no longer alive. The plan of the cemetery of St. Mark was found in 1859 and a marble monument was erected on the supposed burial site of Mozart. Today, it is all the more impossible to accurately determine the place where he was lowered into a pit with two dozen unfortunate vagabonds, homeless beggars, poor people without family or tribe.

The official explanation for the poor funeral is the lack of money due to the extreme poverty of the composer. However, there is evidence that 60 guilders remained in the family. The burial in the third category, worth 8 guilders, was organized and paid for by Baron Gottfried van Swieten, a Viennese philanthropist, to whom Mozart, out of friendship, gave many of his works free of charge. It was van Swieten who persuaded the composer's wife not to take part in the funeral.

Mozart was buried already on December 6, with incomprehensible haste, without elementary respect and official announcement of death (it was made only after the funeral). The body was not brought into St. Stephen's Cathedral, and Mozart was the assistant conductor of this cathedral! The farewell ceremony, with the participation of a few accompanying persons, was hastily held at the chapel of the Holy Cross, adjacent to the outer wall of the cathedral. The composer's widow, his brothers in the Masonic lodge, were absent.

After the funeral service, only a few people - including Baron Gottfried van Swieten, composer Antonio Salieri and Mozart's student Franz Xaver Süssmayr - went to see the composer off at his last way. But none of them reached the cemetery of St. Mark. As van Swieten and Salieri explained, heavy rain turned into snow prevented.

However, their explanation is refuted by the testimonies of people who well remembered this warm foggy day. And - official certificate Central Institute of Meteorology of Vienna, issued in 1959 at the request of the American musicologist Nikolai Slonimsky. The temperature that day was 3 degrees Réaumur (1 degree Réaumur = 5/4 degrees Celsius. - N.L.), there was no precipitation; at 3 pm, when Mozart was buried, only a "weak east wind" was noted. The archival extract for that day also read: "the weather is warm, foggy." However, for Vienna, fog at this time of the year is quite common.

Meanwhile, back in the summer, while working on the opera The Magic Flute, Mozart felt unwell and became more and more convinced that someone was encroaching on his life. Three months before his death, during a walk with his wife, he said: “I feel that I will not last long. Of course, they gave me poison ... "

Despite the official record in the office of St. Stephen's Cathedral about the death of the composer from "acute millet fever", the first cautious mention of poisoning appeared in the Berlin "Music Weekly" on December 12, 1791: "Since after death his body swelled, it is even claimed that he was poisoned."

Looking for a definitive diagnosis

Analysis of various testimonies and studies of dozens of specialists allow us to draw up an approximate picture of Mozart's symptoms of the disease.

From the summer to the autumn of 1791, he had: general weakness; weight loss; periodic pain in the lumbar region; pallor; headache; dizziness; instability of mood with frequent depressions, fearfulness and extreme irritability. He faints with loss of consciousness, his hands begin to swell, the loss of strength increases, vomiting joins all this. Later, symptoms such as a metallic taste in the mouth, impaired handwriting (mercury tremor), chills, abdominal cramps, bad (fetid) body odor, fever, general swelling and rash appear. Mozart was dying with an excruciating headache, but his consciousness remained clear until his death.

Among the works devoted to the study of the cause of the composer's death, the most fundamental works belong to the doctors Johannes Dalhov, Günther Duda, Dieter Kerner ("W. A. ​​Mozart. Chronicle of the last years of life and death", 1991) and Wolfgang Ritter (Chach was Was he killed?”, 1991). The number of diagnoses in the Mozart case is impressive, which in itself is suggestive, but, according to scientists, none of them withstand serious criticism.

Under the "acute millet fever", designated as an official diagnosis, 17th-century medicine understood an infectious disease that proceeds acutely, accompanied by a rash, fever and chills. But Mozart's illness proceeded slowly, debilitatingly, and the swelling of the body does not fit into the clinic of millet fever at all. Doctors may have been confused by the severe rash and fever in the final stages of the disease, but this characteristics a number of poisonings. We note in addition that in the case of an infectious disease, one should have waited for the infection of at least someone from the close environment, which did not happen, there was no epidemic in the city.

"Meningitis (inflammation of the meninges)", which appears as a possible disease, also disappears, since Mozart was able to work almost to the very end and retained full clarity of consciousness, there were no cerebral clinical manifestations of meningitis. Moreover, one cannot speak of “tuberculous meningitis” – Mozart studies with absolute certainty exclude tuberculosis from the composer’s anamnesis. Moreover, his medical history is practically clean until 1791, the last year of his life, which, moreover, accounts for the peak of his creative activity.

The diagnosis of "heart failure" is absolutely contradicted by the fact that shortly before his death, Mozart conducted a long cantata, which requires great physical exertion, and a little earlier - the opera "Magic Flute". And most importantly: there is not a single evidence of the presence of the main symptom of this disease - shortness of breath. The legs would swell, not the arms and body.
The clinic of "ephemeral rheumatic fever" also does not find its confirmation. Even if we think about cardiac complications, there were no signs of cardiac weakness, such as shortness of breath again - heart-sick Mozart could not sing "Requiem" with his friends before his death!

There is no good reason to assume the presence of syphilis, both because the disease has a clinical picture, and because Mozart's wife and two sons were healthy (the youngest was born 5 months before his death), which is ruled out with a sick husband and father.

"Normal" genius

It is difficult to agree with the fact that the composer suffered from mental pathology in the form of all kinds of fears and mania of poisoning. The Russian psychiatrist Alexander Shuvalov, having analyzed (in 2004) the composer's life and illness history, came to the conclusion: Mozart is "a rare case of a universally recognized genius who did not suffer from any mental disorder."

But the composer had reason for concern. The assumption of renal failure is closest to the true clinical picture of the disease. However, renal failure as "pure uremia" is excluded, if only because renal patients at this stage lose their ability to work and spend their last days in an unconscious state.

It is impossible that such a patient for three last months wrote two operas, two cantatas, a clarinet concerto and moved freely from city to city! In addition, an acute disease develops first - nephritis (inflammation of the kidneys), and only after a long-term chronic stage does a transition occur to the final one - uremia. But in the history of Mozart's illness there is no mention of an inflammatory lesion of the kidneys he suffered.

It was mercury

According to a number of scientists, including toxicologists, Mozart's death was due to chronic mercury poisoning, namely, from repeated intake of mercury dichloride - sublimate. It was given at considerable intervals: for the first time - in the summer, in last time— shortly before death. Moreover, the final phase of the disease is similar to the true failure of the kidneys, which served as the basis for the erroneous diagnosis of inflammatory renal failure.

This misconception is understandable: although in the 18th century a lot was known about poisons and poisonings, doctors practically did not know the clinic of mercury (mercuric chloride) intoxication - then, in order to eliminate rivals, it was more customary to use the so-called aqua Toffana (no name of the famous poisoner who made up the infernal mixture from arsenic, lead and antimony); Mozart, who fell ill, was the first to think about aqua Toffana.

All the symptoms observed in Mozart at the onset of the disease are identical to those of the currently well-studied acute mercury poisoning (headache, metallic taste in the mouth, vomiting, weight loss, neurosis, depression, etc.). At the end of a long period of poisoning, toxic damage to the kidneys occurs with final uremic symptoms - fever, rash, chills, etc. Slow sublimate poisoning is also supported by the fact that the musician maintained a clear mind and continued to write music, that is, he was able to work, which is typical for chronic mercury poisoning.

Comparative analysis death mask Mozart and his lifetime portraits gave, in turn, the basis for the conclusion: the deformation of facial features is clearly caused by intoxication.

Thus, there is much evidence in favor of the fact that the composer was poisoned. About who and how could do it, there are also assumptions.

Possible suspects

First of all, mercury had to be found somewhere. The poison could come through Gottfried van Swieten, whose father, the life physician Gerhard van Swieten, was the first to treat syphilis with “mercury tincture according to Swieten” - a solution of sublimate in vodka. In addition, Mozart often visited the von Swieten house. The owner of the mercury mines, Count Walsegzu-Stuppach, the mysterious customer of the Requiem, a man prone to hoaxes and intrigues, also had the opportunity to supply the killers with poison.

There are three main versions of Mozart's poisoning. However, almost all researchers agree that it was hardly possible for one person to do this.

Version one: Salieri.

When the defenders Italian composer Antonio Salieri (1750-1825) claims that he “had everything, but Mozart had nothing” and therefore he could not envy Mozart, they are cunning. Yes, Salieri had a reliable income, and after leaving court service, a good pension awaited him. Mozart really had nothing, nothing but... GENIUS. However, he passed away not only in the most fruitful year in terms of creativity, but also in the year that was a turning point for the fate of him and his family - he received a decree on admission to a position that gives material independence and the opportunity to create calmly. At the same time significant, long-term orders and contracts for new compositions came from Amsterdam and Hungary.

In this context, the phrase uttered by Salieri in the novel by Gustav Nicolai (1825) seems quite possible: “Yes, it is a pity that such a genius has left us. But in general, the musicians were lucky. Had he lived longer, no one would have granted all of us even a piece of bread for our writings.

It was the feeling of envy that could push Salieri to commit a crime. It is known that strangers creative luck caused Salieri deep irritation and the desire to counteract. Suffice it to mention the letter of Ludwig van Beethoven dated January 1809, in which he complains to the publisher about the intrigues of enemies, "of which the first is Mr. Salieri." Franz Schubert's biographers describe Salieri's intrigue, undertaken by him to prevent the ingenious "king of songs" from getting just a job as a modest music teacher in distant Laibach.

The Soviet musicologist Igor Belza asked the Austrian composer Josef Marx in 1947 if Salieri really committed villainy? The answer was instantaneous, without hesitation: “Which of the old Viennese doubts this?” According to Marx, his friend, music historian Guido Adler (1885-1941), while studying church music discovered in a Viennese archive a recording of Salieri's confession from 1823, containing a confession of this monstrous crime, with detailed and convincing details, where and under what circumstances poison was given to the composer. The church authorities could not violate the secrecy of confession and did not consent to making this document public.

Salieri, tormented by remorse, tried to commit suicide: he cut his throat with a razor, but survived. On this occasion, confirming entries remained in Beethoven's "conversational notebooks" for 1823. There are other references to the content of Salieri's confession and the failed suicide.

The intention to commit suicide matured in Salieri no later than 1821 - by that time he had written a requiem for his own death. In a farewell message (March 1821), Salieri asked Count Gaugwitz to serve a funeral service for him in a private chapel and perform the sent requiem for the salvation of his soul, for "by the time the letter is received, the latter will no longer be among the living."

The content of the letter and its style testify to Salieri's lack of mental illness. Nevertheless, Salieri was declared mentally ill, and his confession was delusional. Many researchers believe that this was done to avoid a scandal: after all, both Salieri and Sviteny were closely associated with the ruling Habsburg court, which to some extent lay the shadow of a crime. Salieri died in 1825, as is clear from the death certificate, “from old age”, having communed the Holy Gifts (which Mozart was not honored with).

And now is the time to recall Pushkin's tragedy "Mozart and Salieri" (1830) and the angry attacks of some Europeans on the author for "not wanting to present two of his characters as they were in reality", for using an alleged legend that denigrates Salieri's name.

While working on the tragedy, Pushkin wrote an article "Refutation of Critics", in which he spoke unambiguously:
“…burdened with imaginary horrors historical characters neither smart nor generous. Slander in poems has always seemed to me not commendable. It is known that this work took the poet more than one year: Pushkin carefully collected various documentary evidence.

The Pushkin tragedy served as the strongest impetus for research in this direction. As D. Kerner wrote: “If Pushkin had not captured the crime of Salieri in his tragedy, on which he worked for many years, then the mystery of the death of the greatest composer of the West would not have been resolved.”

Version two: Süsmayr.

Franz Xaver Süssmayr, a student of Salieri, then a student of Mozart and an intimate friend of his wife Constanze, after the death of Mozart, again transferred to study with Salieri, was distinguished by great ambitions and was hard pressed by Mozart's ridicule. The name of Süsmayr remained in history thanks to the "Requiem", in the completion of which he was involved.

Constanza quarreled with Süsmayr. And after that, she carefully erased his name from her husband's documentary heritage. Susmayr died in 1803 under strange and mysterious circumstances; in the same year, Gottfried van Swieten also died. Considering Susmayr's closeness to Salieri and his career aspirations, combined with an overestimation of his own talents, as well as his affair with Constanza, many researchers believe that he could have been involved in the poisoning rather as a direct perpetrator, since he lived in the composer's family. It is possible that Constanza also found out that her husband was receiving poison - this largely explains her further behavior.

It becomes clear, in particular, the unseemly role that, according to some contemporaries, Constanza played by “revealing the truth” on the day of the funeral about the alleged love affair between Mozart and his student Magdalena to her husband, the lawyer Franz Hsfdemel, a friend and brother of Mozart in the Masonic lodge . In a fit of jealousy, Hofdemel tried to stab his beautiful pregnant wife with a razor - Magdalena was saved from death by neighbors who heard the screams of her and their one-year-old child. Hofdemel committed suicide by also using a razor. Magdalena survived, but was left mutilated. It is believed that in this way Constanta tried to switch the suspicions of poisoning her husband to a poor lawyer.

Indeed, this gave grounds to a number of researchers (for example, the British historian Francis Carr) to interpret this tragedy as an outbreak of jealousy by Hofdemel, who poisoned Mozart.

Be that as it may, the youngest son of Constanta, musician Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, said: “Of course, I won’t become as great as my father, and therefore there is nothing to fear and envious people who could encroach on my life.”

Version three: the ritual murder of the "rebellious brother".

It is known that Mozart was a member of the Charity Masonic lodge and had a very high level of initiation. However, the Masonic community, which usually provides assistance to the brethren, did nothing to help the composer, who was in a very constrained financial situation. Moreover, the Masonic brothers did not come to see Mozart on his last journey, and a special meeting of the lodge dedicated to his death took place only a few months later. Perhaps a certain role in this was played by the fact that Mozart, being disappointed with the activities of the order, planned to create his own secret organization - the Grotto Lodge, the charter of which he had already written.

The ideological differences between the composer and the order reached their peak in 1791; it is in these discrepancies that some researchers see the cause of Mozart's early death. In the same 1791, the composer wrote the opera The Magic Flute, which was a resounding success in Vienna. It is generally accepted that Masonic symbols were widely used in the opera, many rituals are revealed that are supposed to be known only to the initiates. That could not go unnoticed. Georg Nikolaus Nissen, Constanza's second husband and later Mozart's biographer, called The Magic Flute "a parody of the Masonic Order".
According to J. Dalkhov, “those who hastened the death of Mozart eliminated him with a poison “befitting the rank” - mercury, that is, Mercury, the idol of the muses.

…Maybe all versions are links of the same chain?

Death of Mozart

Mozart's fatal illness began with swelling in the arms and legs, then vomiting followed, a rash appeared - the composer was ill for 15 days and died at five minutes to one in the morning on December 5, 1791.
Among the responses to his death in the Berlin newspaper Musicalishes Vochenblatt on December 12, a Prague correspondent wrote: “Mozart died. it was swollen that they thought he was poisoned." In the 18th century, it was customary to associate every unforeseen death of an outstanding person with an unnatural cause, and the legend of Mozart's poisoning began to excite minds more and more.

The reason for this was given by his widow Constanta, who repeatedly repeated the words of Mozart, said by him during a walk in the Prater: "Of course, they gave me poison!" 30 years after the death of Mozart, this topic arose again, and in 1823 the name of the poisoner, Salieri, was first named. The old composer, in a state of mental confusion, tried to cut his throat, and this was attributed to pangs of conscience due to the murder of Mozart. Their relationship really was not the best, and Salieri's "treachery" consisted 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, realistic, respected person that even in the remotest sense he could not think of anything like that." Salieri himself, before his death, said to those who visited him famous musician Ignaz Moscheles: "... I can assure you with full faith and truth that there is nothing fair in an absurd rumor ... tell the world about it, dear Moscheles: old Salieri, who will die soon, told it to you." Salieri's innocence is confirmed by a medical report made by the chief physician of Vienna, Guldener von Lobes, which stated that Mozart fell ill with a rheumatic-inflammatory fever in the autumn, from which many inhabitants of Vienna suffered and died at that time, and that nothing unusual was found during a detailed examination of the corpse. was. At the time, the law stated: "Any corpse must be examined before burial to make it clear that there was no violent killing ... Cases found must be immediately reported to the authorities for further official investigation."

But, as you know, people sometimes tend 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. The death of Mozart at the hands of Salieri has not been proven and is a historical fiction built on rumors. But if Pushkin's exposition can be considered poetic liberty, then the message about Salieri's alleged confession to the murder of Mozart, about which biographer Edward Homes wrote in 1845, claims to be a deep investigation into the death of the great composer.

Later, in 1861, the responsibility for the alleged murder was placed on the Masons, which was written about in 1910, and then in 1928. In her 1936 book The Life and Violent Death of Mozart, neuropathologist Mathilde Ludendorff wrote about the burial of the composer according to a 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 the hostility towards the Jews of Empress Maria Theresa, was not afraid to be friends with them, and he was also loyal to the Masons. So the composer did not give the slightest reason for hatred to either one or the other.

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

In 1963 in popular book German doctors Duda and Kerner "Illnesses of Great Musicians", the authors argued that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart "fell a victim of mercury intoxication with sublimation", that is, a 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 new version Mozart's death - poisoning by his adviser Franz Gofdemel on the basis of jealousy for his wife Mary Magdalene. Knowing the symptoms of poisoning, it is impossible to seriously argue about the violent death of Mozart. He died of rheumatic fever, aggravated by severe loss of blood as a result of bloodletting prescribed by the physicians.

The days between Mozart's death and his burial are shrouded in a veil of uncertainty, even the date of burial is inaccurate: December 6, 1791 is entered in the register of the dead at St. Stephen's Cathedral, and studies indicate 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), and secondly, it was on December 7, and not on the 6th, that there was a strong storm, which was recalled by the composer's contemporaries, but according to According to the Vienna Observatory on December 6, 1791, the weather was calm and calm. 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 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 at 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 says: "Since nothing else is provided for at the funeral, as soon as the body is taken faster, and in order not to interfere with this, it should be sewn up without any clothes in a linen bag and then put into the coffin and take it to the churchyard ... there, remove the brought corpse from 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, under pressure from public opinion, canceled as early as 1785, and it was allowed to use coffins.

The burial of several corpses in one grave was a normal occurrence in those days, and according to the prescription, four adults and two children's corpses were allowed to be placed in the graves, or five adult dead in the absence of children. So it would not be correct to talk about the beggarly burial of Mozart, since it fully corresponded to the usual burial of Viennese citizens for that time. True, already in these times for especially famous personalities separate graves and funeral processions were envisaged. So, for example, the composer Gluck was buried. To say that Mozart was completely forgotten in Vienna by the time of his death is wrong. His operas were often staged abroad, for which significant sums of money were allocated to him; after the success of The Magic Flute, he was given an honorary order 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 in the Viennese court in general, his art was not very favored, so no one began to seek an exceptional burial for him. Gottfried van Swieten, friend of Mozart, long years who paid for the upbringing of both sons of the composer, was busy with his own problems - on the day of Mozart's death, he was just removed from all posts. Michael Puchberg, to whom the Mozart family owed a large amount 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 the tomb of Mozart in St. Mark's cemetery? In his time, the graves remained unmarked, tombstones were allowed to be placed not at the site of the burial itself, but at the cemetery wall. After 8 years, it was possible to bury in old graves. Mozart's burial also remained nameless - Constanta did not even put a cross there and only 17 years later she visited the cemetery. Mozart's grave was visited for many years by the wife of his friend Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, who took her son with her. He remembered exactly where the composer was buried, and when, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Mozart's death, they began to look for his burial place, he was able to show him. One simple tailor planted a willow on the grave, and then, in 1859, a monument was erected there according to the design of von Gasser. In connection with the centenary of the composer's death, the monument was moved to the "musical corner" of the Central Cemetery in Vienna, which again raised the danger of losing the real grave. Then the overseer of the cemetery of St. Mark, Alexander Kruger, built a small monument from various remains of the former tombstones.

In 1902, the Mozart Museum in Salzburg was given the "Mozart skull" from the legacy of the anatomist Girt, and the discussion about its authenticity has not subsided to this day. It is known that the skull belongs to a man of small stature, fragile physique, 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 this confirms its authenticity. But at least two arguments testify to the contrary: caries on the first lateral tooth from the top left, which does not correspond to the pedantic and accurate description Leopold Mozart's diseased tooth of his son, as well as traces of hemorrhage on the inside of the left temporal bone, from which, most likely, the man died. Thus, the mystery of the earthly remains of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has remained not fully disclosed.

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

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 around the life and death of a genius, there are usually a lot of rumors and speculation. The composer passed away at the age of thirty-five. His early death became the subject of controversy, formed the basis of the plots 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. biographies prominent people usually start at birth. But Mozart's biography is so extensive that any of the periods is worthy of close attention. This article will focus primarily on how Mozart died. There are many assumptions. But according to the official version, the cause of death was a long illness. But before proceeding with the description last days Mozart, his biography should be briefly stated.

Childhood

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

Leopold began teaching his daughter how to play the harpsichord quite early. Wolfgang was at that time quite small. But he followed his sister's lessons and repeated individual passages from musical works. Then Leopold decided that his son must certainly become a composer. Wolfgang, like his Nannerl, started performing very early. The audience was fascinated by the game of geeks.

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.

At what age did Mozart die? The composer was only thirty-five. And ten years before his death, he settled in Vienna. During this short period of time, Wolfgang turned from a little-known musician into

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

Glory

Mozart soon married Constance Weber. After the wedding, his relationship with his father went wrong. Mozart Sr. until the last days was hostile to his daughter-in-law. The peak of Wolfgang's fame falls on 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, who 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 of the opinion about the financial troubles of the pianist and composer? Indeed, 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 last years the composer was somewhat shaken. 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 had considerable success. Mozart took up writing works for the theatre. He had written operas before. But his early writings were not successful.

The last year of his life for Mozart was very fruitful. He wrote a symphony in G minor, received the post of bandmaster. And, finally, he began to work on "Requiem". It was ordered by a stranger who wants to honor the memory of his wife.

Requiem

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose biography is surprisingly eventful, despite his early death, wrote an uncountable number of works. He had many students, he received during his lifetime good fees 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 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, the 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 come to a consensus regarding the diagnosis.

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

At that time, a good part of the Viennese population suffered from this disease. How to treat him, the doctors did not know. That is why one of the doctors, having visited the dying man, concluded: he can no longer be saved.

General weakness of the body

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

After Mozart's death, some doctors claimed that he died of a serious infectious disease. His body was unable to fight as a result general weakness. And Mozart was physically weakened as a result of many years of work without interruption and 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 consider each of them.

Salieri

The version that Mozart died at the hands of an envious person is the most common. And it was she who 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. Everything Mozart managed effortlessly, easily. And Salieri, on the contrary, with all his efforts, was not able to achieve even a miserable share of what Mozart could do.

Pushkin's work is based on fiction. But many readers today do not distinguish the author's fantasies from confirmed facts. Pushkin's heroes argue that genius and evil are incompatible concepts. In the work of the Russian writer, Salieri prevents poison from 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 deed. There are no confirmed facts that this document really existed. However, even today, many admirers of Mozart's work are sure that the genius fell victim to the envy of a "colleague".

Constance

There is another version of poisoning. Its adherents believe that Mozart was sent to the next world by his wife. And one of the musician's students helped her in this. If you believe the rumors, then the passionate romance of Constance and Züsmayr was accompanied by showdowns and extremely emotional reconciliations. The lover of Mozart's wife was a very ambitious man, if not a careerist. And he could well enter into with Constance in love affair solely to annoy 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 death of the musician, his diary was preserved. And he is a testament to 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 said, great musician was a member of a Masonic lodge. Masons, as a rule, help their "brothers". But they did not help Mozart when he was in severe financial difficulties. They even ignored the death of the composer, not 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. In one of latest works- "The Magic Flute" - Masonic symbols are used. Demonstrating something similar to the uninitiated was not accepted. Perhaps Mozart was killed by his Masonic brothers.

burial

It is known where Mozart is buried. In the cemetery of Saint Mark. The date of the burial remains disputed. According to the official version - December 6th. 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 the funeral of a beggar, but also not a magnificent farewell ceremony for the great composer, pianist, teacher. As is often the case, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's true fame came after his death.