Mozart was no alcoholic – just a gossip victim, says surgeon

IN JOHANN Georg Edlinger’s portrait of Mozart from 1790, a year before his death, the composer appears puffy and bloated, his face seemingly ravaged by the effects of alcoholism.

But a new book by a retired surgeon suggests that the symphonist has been unfairly maligned by his biographers and did not have a drinking problem.

Jonathan Noble began his research hoping to delve into the illnesses which may have sparked works of genius in the great composers.

However, after studying medical notes and post mortem reports, he found that many did not suffer from the conditions attributed to them and tales of alcoholism, venereal disease and sexual impropriety were simply gossip. He concluded that claims of Mozart’s alcoholism have “little foundation”.

Dr Noble, a former club surgeon at Manchester United, said: “I started out writing about illnesses and trying to find out what these composers did die of but it soon became apparent that many did not have any diagnosis.

“The chapter on alcoholism is quite thin because so few composers met the criteria of being an alcoholic. Alcoholism is inconsistent with serious, sustained musical composition.

“If you’re a true alcoholic, there’s no way you can go around composing operas, symphonies or string quartets.”

Dr Noble said he found no evidence to support biographers’ claims that Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Brahms and Beethoven were alcoholics.

Sibelius, who is often portrayed as a chronic alcoholic, lived to 90 and had a good relationship with his family, the surgeon points out.

Dr Noble also says that he does not believe claims that Ravel and Britten had syphilis.

He discovered that claims about Ravel were based purely on the word of a nurse who said she had seen his blood report years after his death.

Likewise, when he was given access to Benjamin Britten’s medical notes he discovered he had a diseased heart valve, not syphilis.

In the introduction to the book, Dr Noble writes: “Many composers’ reputations have been sullied. An objective attempt is made herein to do justice to their reputations.”

That Jealous Demon: My Wretched Health is published by Boydell & Brewer