Mozart’s murder: “Look for the guilty woman”
You may read this article on Rita Charbonnier online also.
Unnamed Sorrow by xchanttelx.
As we all know, there is nothing concrete to explain Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s early death (in 1791), and so, over the centuries, speculation has mounted. Last summer, streptococcus was mentioned, for the first time I think. Other hypotheses include nephritis, mercury poisoning and syphilis. It is probably true to say that, whatever the illness, it was the treatments administered by the doctors that led to his death.
Writers have always been fascinated by the mystery, starting with Aleksandr Puškin who, in his play Mozart and Salieri (1830) immortalized the idea that Antonio Salieri had a role in Mozart’s death – an idea that became massively popular thanks to Amadeus (a film I have already talked about here).
Some time ago, we started talking about murder again. But Salieri had nothing to do with it this time. Here is the disturbing idea that one of the readers of my Italian blog told me about.
Hi Rita, I wanted to ask your opinion about something I read on Internet which left me a bit surprised. The link [ in Italian] says that Mozart died of a brain haemorrage after being beaten up by the jealous husband of one of his pupils who was expecting Mozart’s child.
The day after Mozart’s death this man, whose name was Franz Hofdemel, maimed his wife with a razorblade and then committed suicide.
(As you can see we are once again looking for a woman to blame: “Cherchez la femme“).
The text goes on to say that the Austrian court covered up the scandal of Hofdemel’s death – he was a person of some standing as well as a Mason, as was Mozart. This cover-up job meant that Mozart’s body disappeared so that no one could find out how he died. It is believed the body was thrown into the Danube.
I am not saying there is no truth in this hypothesis, it’s just that I have never heard anything about it before. There was a mention of Mozart’s relationship with the wife of a famous man in Piero Melograni’s book but Melograni doesn’t say anything about blows to the head as the cause of death. What do you reckon?
Not much, except that it’s good material for a film or a novel (one came out in Italian not long ago). The official Mozart biographers want nothing to do with the story, even though it seems fairly certain that Mozart had a relationship with Magdalena, Hofdemel’s wife. But, unless new evidence comes to light, it will always remain a possibility, not a certainty.
However, if any of you are thinking about possible Mozart descendents, you can save yourselves the bother. Mrs. Hofdemel’s child, who was assumed to be Mozart’s, died in infancy.
More information available at this links:
- Mozart’s Death – Murder, Accident or Disease?
- Hofdemel child
- The Skull of Mozart
- Mysteries & Secrets – Mozart.
