Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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Lore & Background

Mozart died on 5 December 1791 at his home in Vienna. The traditional narrative, based largely on accounts from his widow Constanze and her sister Sophie Weber as recorded by early biographers Franz Xaver Niemetschek and Georg Nikolaus von Nissen, describes a gradual decline. When Mozart arrived in Prague in August 1791 to supervise his opera La clemenza di Tito, he was 'already very ill,' pale, and sad, though still capable of good humor. After returning to Vienna in mid-September, his condition worsened, but he continued working: he completed his Clarinet Concerto (K. 622), worked on his Requiem (K. 626), and conducted the premiere of The Magic Flute (K. 620) on 30 September. Constanze recalled a drive in the Prater where Mozart spoke of death, declared he was writing the Requiem for himself, and said, 'I feel definitely that I will not last much longer; I am sure I have been poisoned. I cannot rid myself of this idea.' Constanze persuaded him to work on the Kleine Freimaurer-Kantate (K. 623) instead, which was completed and premiered on 18 November. Mozart felt 'elated' and said, 'Yes I see I was ill to have had such an absurd idea of having taken poison, give me back the Requiem and I will go on with it.' But his symptoms—swelling, pain, and vomiting—returned, and he became bedridden on 20 November. He died about two weeks later, on 5 December, at 12:55 am.

Reader's Guide

Mozart's death has generated a large body of secondary literature from a small base of primary documentation. Historian William Stafford described it as 'like an inverted pyramid: a small corpus of primary documentation supports a large body of secondary literature.' The direct eyewitness testimony concerning the last illness and death would not cover ten pages; some of it is vague, and some downright unreliable. The parish register states he died of 'severe miliary fever'—'miliary' referring to millet-sized bumps on the skin—but this is not the name of the actual disease. Mozart had health problems throughout his life, suffering from smallpox, tonsillitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, typhoid fever, rheumatism, and gum disease. Whether these played any role in his death cannot be determined. Conjectures as to what killed Mozart are numerous. One view, put forward in 1824 by Dr. Eduard Guldener von Lobes, is that Mozart died of an infectious disease circulating widely in Vienna in late 1791. Guldener wrote that Mozart 'fell sick in the late autumn of a rheumatic and inflammatory fever, which being fairly general among us at the time, attacked many people.' A 2009 post-hoc epidemiological study by Zegers, Weigl & Steptoe found that deaths from edema were markedly increased among younger men in the weeks surrounding Mozart's death, consistent with a streptococcal infection leading to acute nephritic syndrome. Jenkins (2006) also concluded Mozart was struck down suddenly by an epidemic illness then raging in Vienna. Some ascribe Mozart's death to medical malpractice.

Did You Know?

• Mozart died at his home in Vienna on 5 December 1791 at 12:55 am.
• The parish register states Mozart died of 'severe miliary fever,' referring to millet-sized bumps on the skin, but this is not the name of the actual disease.
• Mozart himself told his wife Constanze he believed he had been poisoned, saying 'I cannot rid myself of this idea.'
• A 2009 epidemiological study found that deaths from edema were markedly increased among younger men in the weeks surrounding Mozart's death, consistent with a streptococcal infection.
• Mozart had health problems throughout his life including smallpox, tonsillitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, typhoid fever, rheumatism, and gum disease.

The Traditional Story of a Composer's Final Weeks

The long-standing account of Mozart's last months paints a picture of steady deterioration. Beginning with his August 1791 trip to Prague to oversee the premiere of La clemenza di Tito, early biographers described him as already very ill, pale, and somber, though still capable of good humor with friends. Back in Vienna by mid-September, his condition worsened, yet he pressed on with work: completing the Clarinet Concerto, advancing the Requiem, and conducting the Magic Flute premiere on 30 September. The most haunting detail comes from a drive in the Prater with his wife Constanze, where Mozart spoke of death, declared he was writing the Requiem for himself, and voiced a conviction that he had been poisoned. Constanze tried to lift his spirits by steering him toward the Kleine Freimaurer-Kantate, and for a time it worked—he called the November 18 premiere elated and asked to resume the Requiem. But the swelling, pain, and vomiting returned, he was bedridden by 20 November, and he died at home at 12:55 a.m. on 5 December 1791, aged 35.

Challenging the Despair Narrative

Recent scholarship has pushed back hard against the image of a composer sliding inexorably toward the grave. Cliff Eisen, who supervised a 2007 reissue of Hermann Abert's classic biography, noted in his footnotes that Abert's evidence was selective and tailored to a predetermined trajectory. With the exception of Mozart's own letters, nearly all testimony is posthumous, shaped by personal and financial motives. Eisen pointed out that Mozart's health actually improved in October and early November, and that his November letters reveal a man in high spirits—hard to reconcile with the feverish, death-obsessed portrait. Constanze's earliest published account, in Niemetschek's 1798 biography, simply records Mozart's wish to try his hand at a new type of composition, with no suggestion the Requiem was a burden. Historian Halliwell argued that Constanze and her sister Sophie were not objective witnesses, since Constanze's ongoing need for charity and benefit concerts gave her incentive to promote sentimental, sensationalist narratives. Christoph Wolff's 2012 book further disputed both the steady-decline story and the reading of late-1791 music as reflecting despair.

The Inverted Pyramid of Medical Evidence

Determining what disease actually killed Mozart remains one of music history's most stubborn puzzles. Historian William Stafford captured the difficulty with the image of an inverted pyramid: a tiny base of primary documentation supports an enormous superstructure of secondary literature. The direct eyewitness testimony concerning the final illness and death amounts to barely ten pages, and even that small corpus is complicated by the fact that much of it consists not of firsthand observation but of reports about what eyewitnesses are alleged to have said. On top of this thin evidentiary foundation, a vast body of medical speculation has accumulated over more than two centuries. The range of proposed diagnoses has shifted radically across the years, and no single explanation has achieved consensus. The poisoning theory that Mozart himself voiced during his Prater drive with Constanze has never been substantiated by medical evidence, yet it persists in popular imagination. The fundamental problem is structural: the people closest to the event are long gone, their memories filtered through biographers with their own agendas, leaving modern researchers to build theories on a foundation far too narrow to support the weight of interpretation placed upon it.

The Funeral and the Legacy of Speculation

Beyond the medical question, Mozart's death has generated enduring controversy over the nature of his funeral. One of the principal points of contention among scholars is whether the arrangements that followed his passing on 5 December 1791 were simply the standard procedures customary for a person of his social standing at that time and place, or whether they were deliberately disrespectful in character. The two interpretations carry very different emotional and cultural weight: one frames Mozart's burial as an unremarkable administrative matter, the other as a slight against a great artist. Views on this question, like those on the cause of death and the course of his final illness, have varied radically over the centuries. The entire cluster of questions—how he declined, what killed him, how he was buried—has attracted a disproportionate amount of research and speculation relative to the slim evidence available. Early biographers working from the memories of Constanze and her sister Sophie Weber set the terms of the debate, and subsequent generations of scholars have either reinforced or dismantled those terms, producing a body of literature in which the distance between the historical Mozart and the mythologized Mozart continues to widen.

Common Misconceptions (Editorial)

One common misconception is that Mozart was buried in a pauper's grave, reflecting disrespect or neglect. The facts on record do not address his funeral arrangements in detail, so this cannot be corrected here. Another misconception is that he died suddenly in good spirits, but the record shows he had been ill for months, experienced swelling and vomiting, and was bedridden for two weeks before his death.

Why It Matters (Editorial)

Mozart’s death endures as a subject of fascination because it cuts to the heart of how we mythologize genius—as tragically cut short, mysterious, and tinged with conspiracy. The medical uncertainty and his own belief in poisoning mirror our desire to find narrative meaning in early, unexpected loss, while the ongoing research reflects how even the most documented lives can leave final questions unanswered.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was an Austrian composer and musician." — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart "Sie wird das nothwendigste und härteste und die hauptsache in der Musique niemahlen bekommen, nämlich das tempo, weil sie sich vom jugend auf völlig befliessen hat, nicht auf den tact zu spiellen." — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart "She will never learn the most necessary, most difficult and principal thing in music, that is time, because from childhood she has designedly cultivated the habit of ignoring the beat." — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart "I must give you a piece of intelligence that you perhaps already know — namely, that the ungodly arch-villain Voltaire has died miserably like a dog — just like a brute. That is his reward!" — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart