The story of the sad confrontation between two composers has become truly a textbook. We figured out whether there is reason to consider it truthful.

In Russian culture and abroad, the version that the Italian composer Antonio Salieri poisoned his more talented and young colleague of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, became popular thanks to Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin. In 1828 (just three years after the death of the Italian), the poet published one of his “little tragedies”, according to the plot of which Salieri Added Poison in Mozart's drink. Subsequently, on the basis of this text, Rimsky-Korsakov wrote a one-act Opera. The confrontation of two composers also formed the basis of the movie Milos Forman "Amate"In which, however, nothing is said about poisoning.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in December 1791 in Vienna at the age of 35. The composer's sudden death, which occurred after a short illness, aroused suspicion. They were fed, in particular, Mozart’s connections with Masons and the absence of his widow at parting and funeral. Rumors that the composer was poisoned appeared in the press within a week after his death.

The first biographies of Mozart were published a few years later, and they contain a description of the composer's disease, based on the memoirs of his relatives. Judging by these studies, Mozart felt a serious malaise a couple of weeks before his death when he was in Prague. Upon returning to Vienna, the disease intensified. For two weeks, the composer gradually swollen the body and bouts of vomiting occurred. As the composer’s wife recalls, Mozart said that he could be poisoned with a mouse with a poison, but he did not put forward any specific arguments or accusations.

Charles Chambers. Death of Mozart (1918)

The assumptions of Mozart himself are not confirmed by the documents of that time. Doctors who watched the dying composer did not leave the relevant reports, and after death, no autopsy was carried out. In the accounting book of St. Stefan’s Cathedral, where the farewell passed, the cause of death was named after the Pretka - in the 18th century, the so -called any fever with a rash was called. The disadvantage of medical documents does not allow to make an accurate diagnosis, but many doctors adhere to the version that the composer suddenly died due to the exacerbation of chronic liver problems. It is also possible that Mozart’s death at a relatively young age was caused by very controversial methods of treatment that his father applied to his children.

The belief is widespread that Salieri, who lived to an advanced age and had a heavily painful in the last years of his life, allegedly admitted to the poisoning of Mozart and in repentance tried to cut his throat. How claims Researcher Alfred Borovitz, who did not leave Salieri for a minute, these rumors did not confirm. Moreover, the composer's student Ignat Mosheles, who had a shearing Salieri shortly before his death, reported that the words of his teacher could be distorted. “He from a moral point of view had no doubt that I poisoned my intrigues Many hours of the existence of Mozart, ”Mosheles recalled.

Finally, rumors about Mozart's poisoning only thanks to a combination of circumstances became so famous. Similar stories told, for example, about the composer Vincenzo Bellini, who died at the age of 33. Theories were also fruitful of the popularity of Freemasonry - some obviously conspiracy work associate the death of Mozart with both free masons and Viennese elites and Jews, and the first biographers of the composer are suspected of concealing truths. We repeat that there were no documentary evidence that confirmed either the death of Mozart from poisoning or the recognition of Salieri in this crime.

In 1997, a hearing was held in Milan, during which Salieri was justified. About this reports, for example, an authoritative Italian newspaper La Repubblica. True, unlike the fact that write Russian -speaking sources, this was primarily a cultural event. Although the characters (for example, a judge Vincenzo Salafia) were real lawyers, at the end of the publication La Repubblica specifically specified that the court was unofficial and the decision has no legal force. The fact that the meeting was a simulation of a court with the participation of high -ranking and qualified lawyers, as well as specialists in the life and work of both composers, Confirmed And the Association of Friends of the Milan Conservatory, which acted as a co -organizer of this process.