Who is thought to have poisoned Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart?

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Born in Salzburg, in the Holy Roman Empire, Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood.

Despite his early death, his rapid pace of composition resulted in more than 600 works of virtually every genre of his time. He is considered among the greatest classical composers of all time.

Mozart died in his home at the age of aged 35. The cause of his death is not known with certainty. The official record of "hitziges Frieselfieber" ("severe miliary fever", referring to a rash that looks like millet seeds) is more a symptomatic description than a diagnosis. Researchers have suggested more than a hundred causes of death, including acute rheumatic fever, streptococcal infection, trichinosis, influenza, mercury poisoning, and a rare kidney ailment.

The death of Mozart was followed by rumors that he and Salieri had been bitter rivals, and that Salieri had poisoned the younger composer, yet this has been proven false.

Antonio Salieri (18 August 1750 – 7 May 1825) was an Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher. Within six years of Salieri's death, the Russian writer Pushkin wrote a play, "Mozart and Salieri", which portrayed the danger of envy. In 1898, Rimsky-Korsakov turned Pushkin's play into an opera. In both, it is suggested that Salieri's jealousy of Mozart led him to poison the younger composer.