{"id":52052,"date":"2025-01-16T12:56:23","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T11:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/e192f137-9cfd-4854-a409-c08adbe8cfd2"},"modified":"2025-01-16T19:09:21","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T18:09:21","slug":"mozart-stories-ten-of-the-wildest-rumours-about-the-great-composers-life-and-death","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/mozart-stories-ten-of-the-wildest-rumours-about-the-great-composers-life-and-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Mozart stories: ten of the wildest rumours about the great composer’s life and death"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By <\/p>

Published: Thursday, 16 January 2025 at 11:56 AM<\/p>

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Did the boy Mozart transcribe Allegri’s Miserere<\/em> after hearing it just once? Did Salieri poison him? And is that really his widow in an early photo? We rethink 10 Mozart myths and rumours, commonly repeated as fact…<\/strong><\/p>

Ten Mozart rumours explored<\/h2>
Rumour 1: He died in a pauper’s grave<\/h3>
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart<\/a><\/strong> was buried in an unmarked \u2018simple\u2019 grave (not a communal pit), which was standard for Vienna\u2019s middle class at that time. The poor were buried in sacks whereas Mozart probably wore a black suit. His wife Constanze and his patron Gottfried van Swieten bought his coffin.<\/p>
Verdict:<\/strong> Not true. He was buried respectfully, if unspectacularly<\/p>

<\/div> <figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> Mozart’s burial, as depicted in the film, <em>Amadeus<\/em> <\/figcaption> <\/figure> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/composers-wives\">The wives of great composers: why behind every great man is often an even greater woman<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-2-he-had-tourette-s-syndrome\">Rumour 2: He had Tourette’s syndrome<\/h3> <p>In 1992 the <em>British Medical Journal<\/em> claimed that Mozart\u2019s mannerisms and his scatological letters showed he had Tourette\u2019s. But his bums-and-poo humour was in fact evidence of high spirits and was common in middle-class Vienna.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/who-was-the-real-mozart-we-explore-the-man-behind-the-myths\">Who was the real Mozart? We explore the man behind the myths<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p><strong>Verdict:<\/strong> No concrete evidence for it. He was just a bit spirited, that’s all<\/p> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-3-mozart-myths-he-died-rehearsing-the-requiem\">Rumour 3: He died rehearsing the Requiem<\/h3> <p>In the decades after Mozart’s death, the new Romantic ideas of composer-as-tortured-artist embroidered the story of the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/story-behind-mozarts-requiem\">Requiem<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s composition. But the day-of-death rehearsal with friends, and his sobbing during the Lacrimosa, is fanciful: the last sing-through happened earlier.<\/p> <p><strong>Verdict: <\/strong>Too good to be true? Alas, yes<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Berliner Philharmoniker & Claudio Abbado \u2013 Mozart: Requiem In D Minor: Sequentia: Lacrimosa\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KcnBPqOddSM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> The Berlin Philharmonic and Claudio Abbado perform the Lacrimosa from Mozart’s Requiem <\/figcaption> <\/figure> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/most-famous-requiems\">Most famous requiems: how have composers portrayed death and the afterlife in music?<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-4-mozart-myths-salieri-poisoned-him\">Rumour 4: He was poisoned by his rival Salieri<\/h3> <p>As early as Dec 1791, the rumour was circulating that <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/antonio-salieri\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">A<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/salieri-7\">ntonio Salieri<\/a><\/strong> poisoned Mozart. Alexander Pushkin wrote a play about it and as late as 1984, the film <em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/amadeus-film\">Amadeus<\/a><\/strong><\/em> was made based on the idea. But Constanze didn\u2019t think so, even though she said the dying, delirious Mozart mentioned it.<\/p> <p><strong>Verdict: <\/strong>Great story, but probably untrue<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li\/> <\/ul> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-5-he-wrote-symphonies-nos-39-41-as-testament-for-posterity\">Rumour 5: He wrote his last three symphonies ‘for posterity’, not money<\/h3> <p>There\u2019s no firm evidence Mozart heard them played. But he didn\u2019t write them for posterity: he was a pro, not an egotist. He undoubtedly wrote them for commercial performance, but was probably stymied by Vienna\u2019s 1788 recession.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/best-of-mozart\">Best of Mozart: 9 essential works by the master of melody, and the recordings you should own<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p><strong>Verdict:<\/strong> Nah, probably not<\/p> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-6-mozart-myths-as-a-teen-he-wrote-out-allegri-s-miserere-after-one-hearing\">Rumour 6: The teenage Mozart wrote out Allegri’s <em>Miserere<\/em> after one hearing<\/h3> <p>Remembering and transcribing the layout of this formulaic piece would indeed have been within the powers of the young Mozart, one of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/musical-prodigies\">music’s greatest prodigies<\/a><\/strong>. However, no Mozart manuscript of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/best-recordings-allegri-s-miserere\">Allegri’s <em>Miserere<\/em><\/a><\/strong> is known. The only references are his father Leopold’s vague letter at the time, and his sister\u2019s recollections 20 years later.<\/p> <p><strong>Verdict:<\/strong> Enough evidence to swing it<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li\/> <\/ul> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-7-he-constructed-a-system-for-generating-minuets-by-throwing-dice\">Rumour 7: He constructed a system for generating minuets by throwing dice<\/h3> <p>A portion of his String Quintet, K516 manuscript has music fragments possibly associated with the alphabet \u2013 but no instructions on how to \u2018convert\u2019 names to <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-is-a-melody\">melodies<\/a><\/strong>, and nothing about dice.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/article\/five-essential-works-wa-mozart\"><strong>Five essential works by Mozart<\/strong><\/a><\/li> <\/ul> <p><strong>Verdict:<\/strong> Hard to say a conclusive yes here<\/p> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-8-mozart-myths-he-wore-brightly-coloured-wigs\">Rumour 8: He wore brightly coloured wigs<\/h3> <p>Not only did Mozart never wear the party-joke hairpieces featured in the film <em>Amadeus<\/em> \u2013 he rarely wore a wig (only for official occasions). What you see in those portraits is his own fair hair, dressed and beribboned, as society men did then.<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Scene 44\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/x52x_SAqTQY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> Mozart tries on wigs in the movie, <em>Amadeus<\/em> <\/figcaption> <\/figure> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/article\/10-mozart-works-you-might-not-know\"><strong>10 Mozart works you may not know<\/strong><\/a><\/li> <\/ul> <p>Verdict: False (but thanks <em>Amadeus<\/em>, it was a lot of fun)<\/p> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-9-listening-to-mozart-increases-your-intelligence\">Rumour 9: Listening to Mozart increases your intelligence<\/h3> <p>Rauscher, Shaw and Ky (1993) reported that hearing ten minutes of Mozart\u2019s Sonata K448 temporarily increased IQ scores, compared to silence, something that came to be known as ‘<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC1281386\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Mozart Effect<\/a><\/strong>‘. But nobody else has replicated this \u2013 they\u2019ve only concluded that it\u2019s an effect of mood.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/science-of-music\/the-mozart-effect-does-mozart-actually-make-you-smarter\">The Mozart effect: does listening to Mozart actually make you smarter?<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p><strong>Verdict:<\/strong> Jury’s out<\/p> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-10-mozart-myths-a-photograph-of-constanze-mozart-was-taken-in-1840\">Rumour 10: This is the world’s only photo of his widow<\/h3> <p>An old lady seen standing in a group photo taken at the house of composer Max Keller is rumoured to be Mozart’s widow, Constanze.<\/p> <p>Now, then. There’s some discussion over the authenticity of this photo. On the one hand, Constanze – aged just 29 when Mozart died in 1791 – did later marry Danish diplomat Georg Nissen and they regularly visited Max Keller at his home in Altoetting, southern Germany. So far, so plausible.\u00a0<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"> <figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> A long-lost photograph taken in October 1840 may show Mozart’s widow, Constanze (front left), posing with Swiss composer Max Keller (centre), his wife Josefa (front right), and others. Pic: HO STADT ALTOETTING \/ AFP via Gatty Images – HO STADT ALTOETTING \/ AFP via Gatty Images <\/figcaption> <\/figure> <p>On the other hand, outdoor photography was still a very young art form by the time of Constanze’s death in 1842, so it would be an impressive feat to have had this photo taken in the art form’s very early infancy.<\/p> <p><strong>Verdict:<\/strong> Could be!<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/mozart-marriage\">How Mozart’s marriage stopped a visit from the police \u2013 on grounds of indecency<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p><em>Words: Rob Ainsley<\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Published: Thursday, 16 January 2025 at 11:56 AM Did the boy Mozart transcribe Allegri’s Miserere after hearing it just once? Did Salieri poison him? And is that really his widow in an early photo? We rethink 10 Mozart myths and rumours, commonly repeated as fact… Ten Mozart rumours explored Rumour 1: He died in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":52053,"template":"","categories":[1,17],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"5"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/mozart-stories-ten-of-the-wildest-rumours-about-the-great-composers-life-and-death.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/mozart-stories-ten-of-the-wildest-rumours-about-the-great-composers-life-and-death-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/mozart-stories-ten-of-the-wildest-rumours-about-the-great-composers-life-and-death-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/mozart-stories-ten-of-the-wildest-rumours-about-the-great-composers-life-and-death-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/mozart-stories-ten-of-the-wildest-rumours-about-the-great-composers-life-and-death-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/mozart-stories-ten-of-the-wildest-rumours-about-the-great-composers-life-and-death.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/mozart-stories-ten-of-the-wildest-rumours-about-the-great-composers-life-and-death.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Thursday, 16 January 2025 at 11:56 AM Did the boy Mozart transcribe Allegri’s Miserere after hearing it just once? Did Salieri poison him? And is that really his widow in an early photo? We rethink 10 Mozart myths and rumours, commonly repeated as fact… Ten Mozart rumours explored Rumour 1: He died in…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/52052"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}