Where was Mozart buried? Death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Oh, and I got scared. But everything ended well. It began with the fact that I was impatient to visit the burial place of Mozart. His grave is in the cemetery of St. Mark in Vienna. It gets dark early in winter, I miscalculated the time a little, and got there at dusk. The place is not very busy in terms of people, the motorway passes by. And that means I'm alone going to the old cemetery.

In general, I'm quite impressionable and can wind myself up. In fact, not everyone dares to go to the cemetery in the dark. But since I got to it, it's stupid not to go. The tombstones and monuments are beautiful, the place is very peaceful. I did not feel any anxiety about people buried underground. Until I heard footsteps from behind...

Now imagine a man walking behind you. There is no turning back, the path to retreat is closed. Ahead is a wide passage, rows of graves to the right and left. I don't know how big the cemetery is. Around the silence and calmness, no one. Goosebumps ran down my back, and I turned sharply to the side.

If a person followed me, it would become clear that he was not interested in Mozart, but in me. You never know what maniacs go to cemeteries in the evenings. Suddenly he has a knife, what should I do then? I considered different scenarios. But now I had a chance to run to the exit between the graves. Suddenly, I saw him walking by. Phew. Still a fan of Mozart, cheers. But that means we'll meet at his grave. Crap. This was not part of my plans. Therefore, I walked a little more around the cemetery, and then began to look for the object I needed. I walked and was surprised that I was not at all afraid, on the contrary, calmly. I remembered the words of my grandmother: do not be afraid of the dead, be afraid of the living.

In vain I feared that I would not be able to find Mozart's grave. A white path leads from the main alley to the grave. Solemn and pompous. But now, it used to be very different.

This is the approximate burial place of Mozart. In the last years of his life, the composer found himself in a difficult financial situation and was buried in a common grave along with the poor. The researchers compared the known facts and limited the possible zone. A marble monument was erected at the proposed site. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in December 1791, before the age of 36.

St. Mark's Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in Vienna. It was opened in 1784. The last burial dates back to 1874. I wandered between the tombstones and headed for the exit until it was completely dark.

What are these covers? There was a thought that there were urns with ashes. Cremation in Europe began in the second half of the 18th century, so in principle it is possible.

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The composer's widow taught her son music from Salieri, and his contemporaries lost his grave

During his short life, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart created masterpieces of symphonic, concert, chamber, opera and choral music and immortalized his name. From early childhood, the personality of a little genius aroused constant public interest, and even the death of a virtuoso musician at the age of 35 became the basis for artistic myths and cultural speculation.

Unnecessary genius

Four-year-old Amadeus struck first his parents, and a few years later his native Austria with a phenomenal musical memory, a desire to improvise on the harpsichord and a passion for writing.

Little Mozart gained incredible fame for those times thanks to tours. For more than ten years, Amadeus and his father traveled around the noble houses and courts of royal dynasties in search of a rich patron. The often ill boy patiently endured all the hardships of traveling, but as a result he got a number of chronic diseases, including articular rheumatism.

Mozart was incredibly popular during his lifetime and earned decent money, but he was buried in a common grave along with six other dead. The money for the burial (at the current rate of about two thousand rubles) was allocated by the patron of musicians, Baron van Swieten, because on the day of the death of the public's favorite, the Austrian miracle child and an outstanding representative of the musical Vienna classical school, there was not a ducat in the house.

Fact: One winter, a family friend found the Mozarts dancing in a cold house. It turned out that firewood had run out, and the married couple, known for their frivolous attitude to life, warmed up in this way.

In those days, tombstones were placed not at the burial site, but near the walls of the cemetery. The widow was not present at the funeral and first came to the cemetery 17 years after her husband's death. Constanza Mozart believed that the church should erect a monument to her husband, and did not worry about it. 68 years after Mozart's death, the children of the composer's friends indicated the alleged burial place, where the famous xenotaph with an angel was installed. The actual burial place of the classic of world music is not exactly known.

Reference: It is believed that Mozart did not receive recognition during his lifetime and barely made ends meet. But in fact, he was very much in demand and he was paid a lot for writing. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, the musical virtuoso, together with his wife, led a wasteful lifestyle, adored balls, masquerades and instantly lowered decent fees.

Who is the requiem for?

The halo of mysticism around the death of the composer arose after the story of the mysterious customer of the funeral mass. Indeed, shortly before his death, a man in a black cloak came to Mozart and ordered a requiem - a funeral oratorio. Rumors circulated after the funeral that, at the time of its writing, Mozart spoke of a bad feeling and that a funeral mass would be dedicated to his own death. In addition, Mozart had an obsession that they were trying to poison him.

However, in fact, Mozart received this order through an intermediary and undertook to work on condition of anonymity. The customer was a widower, Count Franz von Walsegg-Stuppach, a well-known lover of passing off other people's musical works as his own, buying out copyrights. He planned to dedicate mass to the memory of his wife.

The composer's widow was afraid that the customer would demand the return of the fee already spent by the Mozarts, so she asked her husband's assistant Süssmeier to add an unfinished mass according to Wolfgang's latest instructions.

Revenge of Freemasons and Cuckold

Most scientists believe that Mozart died naturally, but there are a number of versions about the violent nature of the death of a musical genius. Rumors of Mozart's poisoning appeared a few days after the funeral. The widow did not believe them and did not suspect anyone.

But some believed that Mozart was punished by the Freemasons for revealing the secrets of "freemasons" in the opera The Magic Flute, which premiered in September 1791. In addition, Mozart allegedly shared with one of his friends the intention to leave the brotherhood and open his own secret society, for which he paid with his life. It is assumed that the poisoning of the composer was part of the sacrifice ceremony.

The composer's biographer Georg Nisse, who later married Constance Mozart, wrote that the musician had an acute rash fever, accompanied by terrible swelling of the extremities and vomiting. An autopsy was not performed, because the body quickly swelled up and exuded such a smell that, according to contemporaries, an hour after death, the townspeople, passing by the house, covered their noses with handkerchiefs.

The day after Mozart's death, the lawyer Franz Hofdemel, whose wife was the musician's last student, unexpectedly committed suicide. According to one version, out of jealousy, the “lawyer” beat the composer with a stick and he died of a stroke. Hofdemel slashed his pregnant wife's face, neck and hands, and then slit his own throat. Magdalena was saved, and five months later she gave birth to a son, whose paternity was attributed to Mozart.

In addition, Mozart's assistant Süssmeier, who rented a room from him, also attempted suicide after the teacher's funeral by cutting his throat. Rumor immediately recorded the student as a lover to Constanta.

"Ah yes Pushkin, ah yes son of a bitch!"

Years later, the legend of poisoning was most widely spread thanks to one of A. S. Pushkin's "Little Tragedies", in which Salieri, out of envy of Mozart's talent, poisoned him. The indisputable authority of the great poet defeated all available evidence, and fiction - the truth.

In fact, the Italian Antonio Salieri at the age of 24 became the court composer of Emperor Joseph II and served at the court for several decades. He was the leading musician of the Austrian capital and a talented teacher, who taught Beethoven, Schubert, Liszt and even, after the death of his father, the youngest son of Mozart. The imperial favorite worked with talented children from poor families for free, and famous students even dedicated their works to the teacher.

Once, during a lesson, Salieri expressed condolences to Mozart Jr. on the death of his father and added that now other composers would be able to earn a living: after all, Wolfgang Amadeus's talent interrupted others the opportunity to sell their music.

In 1824, all of Vienna celebrated the 50th anniversary of Salieri's appointment as court composer, but the elderly hero of the day had already been in a mental hospital for a year. Every time he swore honor to his former students, who rarely visited the mentor, that he was not to blame for the death of Mozart, and asked "to pass this on to the world." The unfortunate man suffered from hallucinations caused by accusations of the death of the great Austrian, and even tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat.

In the 19th century, the Italians explained these accusations by the usual national idea, in which Austria opposed the Italian and Viennese musical schools.

Nevertheless, Pushkin's artistic version became the basis for many other literary works. When in the 90s of the last century, a performance based on P. Schaeffer's play "Amadeus" was shown on tour of an English theater, the Italians were furious. In 1997, in the Palace of Justice of Milan, as a result of an open trial, Italian judges acquitted a fellow countryman - the founder of the Vienna Conservatory.

Reference: In 1966, the Swiss doctor Karl Baer found that the musician had articular rheumatism. In 1984, Dr. Peter Davis, based on all available memories and evidence, concluded that Mozart was killed by a streptococcal infection combined with kidney failure and bronchopneumonia. In 1991, Dr. James of the Royal London Hospital suggested that the treatment of malarial fever and melancholy with antimony and mercury was fatal for a genius.

The Central Cemetery in Vienna or St. Mark's Cemetery has long been firmly included in the list of city attractions and must-see places. It is worth going here for many reasons. First, the location. The 11th arrondissement of Vienna is a mixture of Turkish and Arabic colors against a European background. Small Chinese shops filled with tinsel can please you with some souvenir trinket.

Secondly, the cemetery is the second largest in Europe. I will give only the figures - 3 million graves. This place has long turned into a huge park with old mighty trees, smooth paths sprinkled with gravel, clearings, flower beds, with roe deer walking around, jumping squirrels. Thirdly, very respectable people, famous all over the world, lie here.

Thus, even if you are not a tafophile (lover of cemeteries), it is worth a look here. At the central gate number 2 you can get a printed plan-map. On a large stand, burial sites are painted - Jewish, Buddhist, Catholic, Orthodox, Bulgarian, Serbian and many others. There is enough space for everyone, regardless of religious beliefs, occupation and nationality.

musical alley

The most picturesque monuments are located along the main avenue. On the site of composers, you can stand near each monument, admire the sculptures, greet everyone. Here is Ludwig Beethoven with a beautiful golden bee (the symbol of the Masons) on the obelisk. How not to remember that on the day of the funeral of this great man in Vienna, all educational institutions were closed as a sign of respect for the composer. Two hundred thousand people followed his coffin. The grave of Johann Brahms is also nearby. And another Johann - Strauss, whom the Viennese dubbed the king of waltzes. And Strauss the father. In the very center of this site is the symbolic burial place of Mozart. After all, once he was thrown into a mass grave for the poor. Therefore, the exact location is unknown.

Sometimes you can get to a concert here, because musicians often come here to bow to teachers and idols. Therefore, the Vienna cemetery is called the "musical" cemetery of Europe.

By the way, Salieri's grave is also in this cemetery, only it is located near one of the fences.

Sometimes a bus travels around the cemetery, delivering it to the sites. But you can also travel by fiacres. Enough to book a tour. Looks very romantic. A fiacre rolls along the cemetery, the charioteer (or what to call him, I don’t know) waves his whip, pointing around.

Orthodox part

There is also a small Orthodox Church in the cemetery. Around the grave with Russian inscriptions, with "yats". Entire families lie side by side.

Not only tourists walk around the cemetery, but whole family groups can also be found on the alleys. The air here is clean, birds sing on the branches, squirrels, sitting on marble or granite slabs, sedately gnaw nuts. Ready-made sketches for rural pastorals.