Who can we trust for the story? All that we know about Mozart's death comes from stories told by people that were present at the time of his death. Let's see, that gives us only a few options. Constanze Mozart told only a few main points to her second husband, Nissen, who then published a report on the issue. These points are assumed to be very accurate, and prove that Mozart worked on the Requiem up to the minute he died. Nissen quoted that "On the day he died, he had the score of the Requiem brought to his bed. 'Didn't I say before that I was writing this Requiem for myself?' Thus he spoke and looked over the whole attentively, with tears in his eyes. It was the last painful farewell to his beloved Art." Other than Constanze and Nissen's reports, we have few other options. His doctor, Dr. Closset , was present but only a few hours before his death, because though he was found he had to 'wait until the end of the show' before he could come. (He was attending a play) Dr. Closset did little to help Mozart's condition; in fact he made have just made it worse by giving Mozart several venesections (a procedure where you cut open someone's arm at the vein and drain a large amount of blood from them). In Mozart's already frail condition, these venesections were more than his body could handle. Also, the doctor is said to have ordered a damp towel be applied to Mozart's forehead, sicne he had a fever. Though Constanze objected (she had some common sense in her!) the doctor persisted in his orders. The cold, damp towel was applied and it affected Mozart so much that he gave a slight shudder and, shortly afterward, died. So, as we can see, he's not a very good reference. Carl Mozart is no better, really. Although in later years he gave a few insights into his father's death, (mostly that it could not possibly have been death by posion) at the time of Mozart's death Carl was so terribly sad that he probably did not focus on the details of his father's illness. So this leaves us with one person, who gives the most detailed and accurate account of Mozart's death- Sophie Haibel, Constanze's sister. Wolfgang often visited Sophie and her mother, so when he fell ill Sophie went to visit him often. On the day before he died, Wolfgang's condition had improved and Sophie returned to her mother bringing the good news. The next day, however, Sophie decided she would not visit Mozart since he must be better. When she was sitting at home, staring into an oil lamp it suddenly went out for no reason and she took it as a sign. She rushed to Mozart's house and found him nearly dead. Her account of his death is valuble, but may not be entirely accurate. She claims he sat up to greet her, however at this point Mozart had already suffered a stroke and was half-paralyzed on his left side. Moving was nearly impossible for the composer, sitting up would have been a struggle, if even attainable. This may seem like a minor detail, but the fact that Sophie lied about this may prove that she lied about other aspects. So the best account of his death is told by Constanze and Nissen.
The Actual Death
The Aftermath
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