How did they die

[mikey6]

I think this may have been done before but I've been getting some contradicing information.
I was talking with someone about Schubert and I always thougth he dies of Syphilis coz he was gay - but I was told he wasn't gay and he died of something else.
I saw a program on Beethoven in which they proved he died of iron poisining but someone told me it was something else.  Mozart wasn't poisones we know but someone told me he ate something that killed him.
It sounded ridiculous to me but i'm just trying to clarify.

[dnephi]

I believe he died from mercury because mercury was a common treatment for syphilis, and he got syphilis because he was a fornicator, not ***.
Beerhoven I think got sick on the way home from a concert after playing the Emperor concerto.
Don't know about Zart.

[jas]

I don't know much about Mozart and Beethoven's deaths, but if you're interested in the Schubert, there's a load of articles on the subject. It was started when a bloke called Maynard Solomon wrote an article about him possibly being gay. And involves stuff about peacocks and Cellini. It's all a bit convoluted. Basically, nobody knows, but it's interested hearing Schubert scholars argue about it.
I can't remember what journal it was in, though...

Oh well. This post was about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

Jas

[ihatepop]

Beethoven suffered from cirosis (Opps, con't spell ) of the liver which eventually lead to dropsy. Mozart, I think, died of typhoid fever.

ihatepop

[thierry13]

I think this may have been done before but I've been getting some contradicing information.
I was talking with someone about Schubert and I always thougth he dies of Syphilis coz he was gay - but I was told he wasn't gay and he died of something else.
I saw a program on Beethoven in which they proved he died of iron poisining but someone told me it was something else.  Mozart wasn't poisones we know but someone told me he ate something that killed him.
It sounded ridiculous to me but i'm just trying to clarify.

Why couldn't he die from Syphilis if he isn't gay ? Syphilis isn't a male only disease ... he catched syphilis because he loved women too much, in fact.

[mikey6]

Why couldn't he die from Syphilis if he isn't gay ? Syphilis isn't a male only disease ... he catched syphilis because he loved women too much, in fact.

Well that's what I wasn't sure of.  But since there's been so many rumous that he was gay (I mean his 'circle of friends' - all male), I got confused.  So he wasn't gay?

[jas]

Well that's what I wasn't sure of.  But since there's been so many rumous that he was gay (I mean his 'circle of friends' - all male), I got confused.  So he wasn't gay?

There's evidence for and against his being gay. If anyone gives you a definite answer they're either lying or making things up, because not even lifelong Schubert scholars know for certain how he died or whether or not he was gay.

As I said in my last post, if you're interested in the subject, a good article to read is Solomon's "Franz Schubert and the Peacocks of Benvenuto Cellini" and Steblin's response, "The Peacock's Tale: Schubert's Sexuality Reconsidered," both in 19th-Century Music journal. They kicked off loads of other articles from other people who had things to say on the subject. It's really interesting stuff.

Jas