Did Pork Cutlets Kill Mozart?

I just got this article from an online news ticker.
Thought some of you might be interested.

- Marc

Did pork cutlets kill Mozart?
Reuters

Jun 13 2001 7:58PM

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The premature death at age 35 of composer Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart, who by one account was poisoned by envious rival Antonio
Salieri, might have been a simple case of the genius eating a meal of bad
pork cutlets.

University of Washington researcher Jan Hirschmann, writing in the latest
issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, suggested Mozart's reported
symptoms, including fever and swollen limbs, fit those for trichinosis, a
parasitic worm that invades the body's tissues through infected meat.

And Mozart in a letter written to his wife Constanze two months before his
death on Dec. 5, 1791, enthusiastically anticipated a meal of pork cutlets,
Hirschmann wrote.

"What do I smell? ... Pork cutlets! Che gusto. I eat to your health," said
his letter of Oct. 7.

Trichinosis was not even recognized until some 50 years later, Hirschmann
said, and Mozart's treatment by two of the best doctors in Vienna was also
less than ideal: bloodletting and cold compresses to quell his fever.

Hirschmann dissected previous theories about various illnesses or
conspiracies thought to be behind the composer's untimely death in the
report published Tuesday.

He offered evidence undermining the widely-known theory that court composer
Salieri made a death bed confession that he poisoned his more-talented rival
out of envy. Salieri told a pupil of his that the rumor he poisoned Mozart
was "absurd."

Hirschmann also discounted the possibility that Mozart accidentally
overdosed on mercury often used to treat syphilis, because his symptoms did
not fit.

Hirschmann also unmasks the anonymous patron who commissioned Mozart's last
work, "Requiem," who was supposedly sent by Salieri or some other villain to
push him to exhaustion. The patron was Count Franz von Walsegg-Stuppach, an
amateur composer who wanted to take credit for the work as a tribute to his
deceased wife.

In any case, any theory about the cause of Mozart's death will almost
certainly never be confirmed, Hirschmann wrote. Mozart's grave was dug up to
make room for another corpse as was the custom at the time and his remains
were scattered.

Reuters/Variety

--- In tuning@y..., "Orphon Soul, Inc." <tuning@o...> wrote:

/tuning/topicId_25057.html#25057

> I just got this article from an online news ticker.
> Thought some of you might be interested.
>
>
> - Marc
>
>
> Did pork cutlets kill Mozart?

This is nothing but sp--ham.....

______ ______ _______
Joseph Pehrson

Marc,

trichinosis is all over the "Magic Flute".

GZ

"Orphon Soul, Inc." wrote:

> I just got this article from an online news ticker.
> Thought some of you might be interested.
>
> - Marc
>
> Did pork cutlets kill Mozart?
> Reuters
>
> Jun 13 2001 7:58PM
>
> CHICAGO (Reuters) - The premature death at age 35 of composer Wolfgang
> Amadeus Mozart, who by one account was poisoned by envious rival Antonio
> Salieri, might have been a simple case of the genius eating a meal of bad
> pork cutlets.
>
> University of Washington researcher Jan Hirschmann, writing in the latest
> issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, suggested Mozart's reported
> symptoms, including fever and swollen limbs, fit those for trichinosis, a
> parasitic worm that invades the body's tissues through infected meat.

This serves as an example of the morbidity of obsession with old deceased composers... i bet they'll spend more time researching that than they have ever given to support anybody working with music today! Seriously, let the old bastard sleep. And no, i don't think that Salieri did it...

-=-=-=-=-=-=-
MATS �LJARE
http://www.angelfire.com/mo/oljare
_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

"Mats �ljare" wrote:

> This serves as an example of the morbidity of obsession with old deceased
> composers... i bet they'll spend more time researching that than they have
> ever given to support anybody working with music today! Seriously, let the
> old bastard sleep. And no, i don't think that Salieri did it...

Succinctly put Mats. Have you heard his Pork Chop Symphony (unfinished)?

Regards