Science / Medicine : Mozart Mysteries : Medical Sleuths Study Composer’s Genius and Cause of His Early Death
When Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in Vienna on Dec. 5, 1791, at the height of his creative powers, he left not only an enduring musical legacy, but also many lingering questions--about the source of his genius, his uneasy relationship with an overbearing father and, above all, the puzzling illness that abruptly ended his life at the age of 35.
Now, as the musical world honors the great composer on the bicentennial of his death with an outpouring of performances of his works, the questions surrounding Mozart’s life are getting renewed attention as well--not only from musicologists, but also from a Mozart-loving band of medical sleuths in the United States and abroad who want to know what their hero was really like.
A dozen researchers--physicians, psychologists, medical historians and musicologists, all of them avid Mozart fans--gathered here for a recent three-day symposium titled “The Pleasures and Perils of Genius,” held by the UC San Francisco Medical School. As the symposium’s chairman, psychiatrist (and amateur violinist) Peter F. Ostwald, said: “We want to answer the question, ‘Who was the true Mozart?’ ”
Not surprisingly, the true Mozart, as re-examined in the light of contemporary psychological insights and modern medical knowledge, turned out to be a man vastly different from the figure of historical myth.
Contrary to the image portrayed in the play and film “Amadeus,” Mozart was well-balanced, totally professional about his craft and far from the unappreciated, financial flop of legend, the researchers found.
Except for a handful of studies, such as Freud’s work on Leonardo da Vinci, medical science has paid scant attention to the psychodynamics of genius, said developmental psychologist David Henry Feldman of Tufts University. Still, he added, the few case histories suggest that these extraordinary individuals share certain common characteristics: They have very special gifts, which are nurtured by a parent--in Mozart’s case, his father, Leopold, who was also a musician. They are single-mindedly dedicated--Mozart worked on the String Quartet in D Minor even while his wife, Constanze, was giving birth in the next room. They never doubt their ability--Mozart persisted in the face of financial hardship and in the absence of praise.
Feldman pointed out that they also generally take much longer than commonly thought to develop their full potential. Mozart, although he was already composing as a youngster of 6, produced his real masterpieces in the last decade of his life.
Geniuses often arouse ambivalence and antagonism in others, such as the suspected jealousy of Mozart’s fellow composer Antonio Salieri, and retain a childish element, as evidenced by Mozart’s playful, scatological references in his letters and such antics as hopping over tables or imitating a cat’s meow at Viennese soirees. Most important, they break with prevailing norms professionally. “Mozart capitalized on his ‘musical’ environment and ended up shaking it,” said UC San Francisco Medical School psychiatrist Leonard S. Zegans.
Biographers have traditionally portrayed Leopold as a dour and domineering figure, as much of an obstacle as a help to Mozart’s career, but clinical psychologist Erna Schwerin said the relationship between father and son was untroubled in the early years. “To the young Mozart, Papa came right after God,” said Schwerin, president of the New York-based Friends of Mozart.
But the psychologists did not hold up Leopold’s behavior as a model for the rearing of a gifted child. Well into Mozart’s adolescence and later, he exercised an obsessional control over him, which Schwerin interpreted as Leopold’s reaction to the early loss of his own father and his subsequent estrangement from his family. “It’s not surprising that Mozart remained childlike since Leopold did everything for him,” Schwerin said.
The conferees agreed that the full flowering of Mozart’s creative gifts would not have occurred if he had not escaped his father’s psychological domination.
The most intriguing--and certainly most poignant--speculations concern Mozart’s premature death. He was depicted by Dr. Peter J. Davies as a casualty of his age’s disastrous health conditions--polluted water, major epidemics of smallpox, typhoid and other deadly diseases, and hopelessly inadequate medical care. Davies is an Australian physician and author of the recent socio-medical study, “Mozart in Person: His Character and Health” (Greenwood Press).
Reconstructing Mozart’s medical history from family letters and other records, Davies described a lifelong struggle with ill health that reads like a textbook of infectious disease. In childhood, Mozart suffered bouts of streptococcal infection, rheumatic fever, tonsillitis, possibly quinsy (an infection between the tonsil and the nearby throat muscle), typhoid fever, smallpox and possibly type-A hepatitis. “Certainly, young Mozart’s health wasn’t helped by his constant wanderings around Europe in primitive carriages, exposed to water of dubious quality and encountering every sort of infectious condition,” Davies said.
In adult life, Mozart was subject to severe dental abscesses, more respiratory infections and, in the fatal autumn of 1791, a fearful fever. It was apparently caused by another streptococcal infection, Davies said, and complicated by an immune reaction called Schonlein-Henoch syndrome, which attacks the small blood vessels. The ailment typically leads to a severe skin rash, pain in the joints, widespread swelling, gastrointestinal disorders and kidney failure. “All of these symptoms agree remarkably well with what is known from contemporary accounts of Mozart’s final illness,” Davies said.
Though Mozart was in the care of one of Vienna’s leading doctors, Davies said, his death was probably hastened by such late 18th-Century medical practices as the use of harsh emetics to induce vomiting, extensive bloodletting and cold compresses to reduce fever, swelling and pain. In the midst of his agony, Davies added, Mozart apparently suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, slipping into a coma just two hours before his death. Altogether, his final illness lasted only 15 days.
If Mozart had been the victim of poisoning, Davies said, the symptoms, such as tremors (a sign of mercury poisoning), would surely have been recognized by a consultant in his case, a doctor named Matthias von Sallaba, who was a pioneer in toxicology.
Discussing the claim of one early biographer that Mozart believed he was being poisoned, Davies said that he was indeed poisoned--by his own faltering kidneys. During renal failure, Davies explained, the patient often suffers delusions, even of being killed. But in more lucid moments, (according to his wife, Constanze, who never gave any credence to the poisoning idea), he dropped all thoughts of poisoning, Davies said.
The official report of Mozart’s death listed the cause as “severe miliary fever” (vintage medical jargon for a fever of unknown cause accompanied by skin inflammation). Contemporary accounts say that a number of other Viennese were struck down by it at the time--buttressing his belief, Davies said, that Mozart was one more victim of a streptococcal epidemic.
The only possible physical evidence, a few locks of Mozart’s hair, has not been put under chemical analysis, Davies said. But he cited renewed medical interest in a controversial skull that was allegedly recovered from a communal grave by an admiring church sexton 10 years after Mozart’s death. The sexton, explaining the illicit recovery of the skull, said he had put a telltale wire around Mozart’s neck at the time of burial.
Long stored in the archives of the Morzarteum in Salzburg, the relic was recently re-examined by teams of French and Austrian investigators. Though the Austrians remain skeptical, Davies said, the French team is inclined to accept the skull as Mozart’s, based on comparisons with the shape of his head in contemporary portraits and a determination of age from dental wear. The skull appears to have belonged to a slight, unmuscular young man between 25 and 40 years of age, according to University of Salzburg paleontologist Gottfried Tichy.
Especially curious are signs of a healed fracture on the left side of the head. Such an injury, Davies said, could account for Mozart’s fainting spells and severe headaches in the year before his death. “Was it caused by a blow to the head? Did Mozart fall while he was stumbling home drunk from a party? We can do no more than guess what might have caused the fracture,” Davies said.
A Musical Genius
Conclusions from research into the lore and legend of the musical genius, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
His temperament: Contrary to the musician’s volatile image, he was more well-balanced than believed and totally professional about his craft.
His genius: Mozart shared the characteristics of other extraordinary individuals: He had a special gift that was nurtured by a parent; he was single-mindedly dedicated and never doubted his ability; he persisted in the face of financial hardship and absence of praise. Most important, he broke with prevailing norms professionally, shaking up the musical concepts of the time.
His premature death: Research supports the theory that Mozart was simply a victim of the disastrous health conditions of the time--including polluted water, major epidemics of smallpox, typhoid and other deadly diseases, and hopelessly inadequate medical care.
The Life of Mozart
Born: Jan. 27, 1756, in Salzburg, Austria, the son of a local musician who worked for the archbishop.
Died: Dec. 5, 1791, in Vienna.
Compositions: Mozart composed more than 600 musical works during his lifetime.
Works include:
Operas--The Marriage of Figaro (1786) and Don Giovanni (1787).
Symphonies--He produced more than 40, including the Jupiter symphony (1788).
Church music--Includes his unfinished Requiem (Mass for the Dead, 1791).
Lighter orchestrals--Includes his serenade Eine kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music, 1787).
SOURCE: World Book Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Americana.
Compiled by Times researcher Michael Meyers
