Mozart at 250

This month marks the 250th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s birth (born as Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Theophilus Mozart). We, however, have decided to take a look at the illness and death of this genius.
Predictably, Medgadget’s clinicians-in-residence (i.e. essentially the entire editorial staff) were unable to make a definitive diagnosis (we are comfortable in concluding, however, that medgadgets did not cause Mozart’s death).
The truth is that no one knows or, probably, will ever know how he died. A Wikipedia entry says that “…theories have been proposed, including trichinosis, mercury poisoning, and rheumatic fever. The contemporary practice of bleeding medical patients is also cited as a contributing cause.” In other words: not a single person on the internet knows.
Recently paraded ‘Mozart’s skull’ was not helpful. According to the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg, “despite numerous examinations it has been impossible to authenticate the origin of the cranium.” Troubling news, indeed.
Antonio Salieri was blamed for the death, thanks to a bunch of Russians who made masterpieces out of the rumor that he has poisoned Mozart (see more about Aleksandr Pushkin’s play Mozart and Salieri or, if you are illiterate in Russian, better listen to Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera Mozart and Salieri). Would you trust Russians on this one? Probably not.
Perhaps National Public Radio (USA) has a better record. Go and listen to Hannes Eichmann, cultural/music programming producer for Austrian Broadcasting Corp. and to Dr. Ulrich Leisinger, head of the Mozarteum, as they’re interviewed by NPR. They dispel many rumors and present a slew of facts, authenticating the matter with their heavy AustroGerman accents. But even a bunch of Austrians don’t know how he died.
In the end, this inquiry doesn’t really matter — because Mozart is very much alive. See for yourself at the entire celebratory Mozart archive at NPR…
That’s all for this week. Have a classical weekend. See you on Monday.