Let Me Clear My Throat

Over 200 years before the death of the King of Pop, another musical icon passed away suddenly; it is now believed that the unexpected death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart may have been caused by complications with strep throat.

A study by researchers at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands concluded that the composer’s death was a result of a strep throat epidemic that swept through Vienna in the winter of 1791.

“Our findings suggest that Mozart fell victim to an epidemic of strep throat infection that was contracted by many Viennese people in Mozart’s month of death, and that Mozart was one of several persons in that epidemic that developed a deadly kidney complication,” Richard Zegers, one of the studies authors, told Reuters Health.

Mozart wrote over 600 compositions during his life. Joseph Haydn once said of Mozart “posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years.”