Mozart, 1756, 1782 (26) to Constanze (20), 1791 of severe miliary fever (age 35)
He unexpectedly took ill with a high fever, headaches, sweats, and dramatic swelling and pain in his hands and legs. By the 14th day, his swelling had increased to the extent that his entire body took on blimp-like proportions. Accompanying the swelling were nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain, a rash, and an overpowering stench. He was extremely irritable to the point where he banished his beloved pet canary from his bedroom. Just 15 days after the onset of his illness, Mozart went into convulsions, lapsed into a coma, and died. Upon his death his wife, Constanze, crawled into bed with the corpse and clutched it as long as she was allowed in an attempt to contract the same disease and die as well. It didn’t work, so whatever killed Mozart was probably not communicable.
Schubert, 1797, 1814 (17) prevented from marrying Therese Grob (16) due to lack of financial means, 1828 of typhoid fever or possibly syphilis
The composer’s friend Anselm Hüttenbrenner recalled — twenty-six years after Schubert’s death — a conversation in which Schubert had said “I loved someone very dearly and she loved me too … . For three years she hoped I would marry her; but I could not find a position which would have provided for us both.”
