The Enigmatic End of a Wunderkind On December 5th of 1791, one of the greatest composers ever to live passed away. However, due to the differences in medical practices and the uncertainty of information about his symptoms, the causes of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s death remained unknown, with suggestions such as poisoning, renal failure, Henoch–Schönlein purpura, trichinosis, and many others. Throughout the research, I was able to find a couple of scientific articles and books regarding his biography and death. However, there were many irrelevant texts concerning the poisoning theories based on fictional stories after his death, making me realize of the dubiety behind Mozart’s death. Although poisoning was a common theory for his death, many
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There were many websites that mentioned the poisoning theory but had no scientific proof, or was based on the play and movie Amadeus. After finding one article published by PBS and a website about Mozart’s biography, I searched for articles and books on the Columbus State Online Database, looking for the resources used in the PBS article that I had already found. Though it took time to find new and relevant sources, I was able to locate one article of Annals of Internal Medicine, a medical journal by the American College of Physicians, that investigated about the medical conditions of Mozart’s death. Also on the Columbus State Online Database, I found a report written by Dr. Hatzinger, a doctor at the Markus Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany regarding his death. After finding these four sources, I started to analyze the information, in order to come up with a thesis concerning Mozart’s …show more content…
The swelling made people believe that his final disease was edema, an accumulation of fluids inside the tissue which causes swelling and great pain. Others recorded about his lifestyle; some pointed out his drinking during the day and composing at night may have contributed to his illness, while others commented on his lifestyle of constantly traveling and composing. Physicians that attended to him did not leave any records, and testimonies from others physicians were written many years after his death, making the information available less reliable. Since many of the firsthand accounts were recorded more than a decade after his death, the sources were less dependable.
A very common theory that I encountered, that wasn’t based on scientific evidence, was that Mozart was poisoned. The most common supposed culprit was Antonio Salieri, an Italian Kapellmeister, which was most likely due to the fictional characterization in the play
There were many websites that mentioned the poisoning theory but had no scientific proof, or was based on the play and movie Amadeus. After finding one article published by PBS and a website about Mozart’s biography, I searched for articles and books on the Columbus State Online Database, looking for the resources used in the PBS article that I had already found. Though it took time to find new and relevant sources, I was able to locate one article of Annals of Internal Medicine, a medical journal by the American College of Physicians, that investigated about the medical conditions of Mozart’s death. Also on the Columbus State Online Database, I found a report written by Dr. Hatzinger, a doctor at the Markus Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany regarding his death. After finding these four sources, I started to analyze the information, in order to come up with a thesis concerning Mozart’s …show more content…
The swelling made people believe that his final disease was edema, an accumulation of fluids inside the tissue which causes swelling and great pain. Others recorded about his lifestyle; some pointed out his drinking during the day and composing at night may have contributed to his illness, while others commented on his lifestyle of constantly traveling and composing. Physicians that attended to him did not leave any records, and testimonies from others physicians were written many years after his death, making the information available less reliable. Since many of the firsthand accounts were recorded more than a decade after his death, the sources were less dependable.
A very common theory that I encountered, that wasn’t based on scientific evidence, was that Mozart was poisoned. The most common supposed culprit was Antonio Salieri, an Italian Kapellmeister, which was most likely due to the fictional characterization in the play