Who started the rumour that Salieri poisoned Mozart?
Salieri – In his last years he suffered from senility and allegedly said that he had poisoned Mozart. The tale reached Beethoven and many others. Constanze, fanned the rumour’s flame by endorsing it; she also believed that Salieri had plotted against her husband, she claimed. This rumour was denied by many of Mozart’s closest associates including his personal physician who reported that Wolfgang had died of a fever that was epidemic at that time in Vienna.
