What Did Mozart Die Of?
The Controversy over what Mozart Died of: When Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart took to bed on the twentieth of November in 1791, he would die, from what the death certificate said, from “Severe miliary fever.” Though generally considered reliable documents, Mozart’s death certificate was printed with the wrong age. When Mozart died, he was 35, not 36 as it said on his death certificate. Dr. Thomas Franz Closset, one of the two doctors that were treating Mozart during his final stages, labeled his illnes as “heated miliary fever.” For Mozart, having miliary fever was not an uncommon thing; he had contracted the disease three or four previous times in his short life. Though biographer Maynard Solomon states that “it is now widely accepted that Mozart died of acute rheumatic fever” (Solomon, 1995, 491), other theories have been made. Severe* miliary fever is characterized by swelling of the hands and feet and sudden vomiting; at least one book, by Maynard Solomon, has that opinion. In Francis Car
Mozart’s final illness and death are difficult topics for scholars, obscured by romantic legends and replete with conflicting theories. Scholars disagree about the course of decline in Mozart’s health – particularly at what point (or if at all) Mozart became aware of his impending death and whether this awareness influenced his final works. The romantic view holds that Mozart declined gradually and that his outlook and compositions paralleled this decline. In opposition to this, some present-day scholars point out correspondence from Mozart’s final year indicating that he was in good cheer, as well as evidence that Mozart’s death was sudden and a shock to his family and friends. Mozart’s attributed last words: “The taste of death is upon my lips…I feel something, that is not of this earth”. The actual cause of Mozart’s death is also a matter of conjecture. His death record listed “hitziges Frieselfieber” (“severe miliary fever,” referring to a rash that looks like millet-seeds), a de
