235 years ago today
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Dies at 35
On December 5, 1791, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in Vienna at the age of just 35, leaving his Requiem Mass unfinished on his work table. The cause of his death remains disputed to this day — rheumatic fever, kidney disease, poisoning, and other causes have all been proposed by historians and physicians. He was buried in a common grave, as was the custom for middle-class Viennese citizens. In his brief life, Mozart composed over 800 works — symphonies, operas, concertos, chamber music, and sacred pieces — that remain central to the classical repertoire and are widely considered the most perfectly realized in the Western canon. His death at the height of his powers is among the greatest losses in the history of music.
On the record: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
This day, across time
- 63 BCEEventCicero Delivers the Fourth Catilinarian Oration
- 1484EventPope Innocent VIII Issues Witch-Hunting Bull
- 1766EventJames Christie Holds His First Auction
- 1782BornMartin Van Buren
- 1791FeaturedWolfgang Amadeus Mozart Dies at 35
- 1830BornChristina Rossetti
- 1848EventPresident Polk Confirms the California Gold Rush
- 1870DiedAlexandre Dumas
- 1901BornWalt Disney
- 1901BornWerner Heisenberg
- 1925DiedWładysław Reymont
- 1926DiedClaude Monet
- 1932BornLittle Richard
- 1933EventProhibition Ends in the United States
- 1934BornJoan Didion
- 1945EventFlight 19 Disappears over the Bermuda Triangle
- 1952EventGreat Smog of London Begins
- 1955EventAFL-CIO Labor Federation Formed
- 2012DiedDave Brubeck
- 2017EventRussia Banned from 2018 Winter Olympics
Alive in 1791
OverlapSame years; not influence
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartdied this year
Andrew Jacksonturned 24 this year
Catherine II of Russiaturned 62 this year
George Washingtonturned 59 this year
Immanuel Kantturned 67 this year
James Madisonturned 40 this year
Jane Austenturned 16 this year
John Adamsturned 56 this year
Louis XVIturned 37 this year
Ludwig van Beethoventurned 21 this year
5 more figures were alive that year
On This Day in History
10 EventsCicero Delivers the Fourth Catilinarian Oration
Roman consul Cicero delivers his fourth and final speech against Catiline to the Senate, persuading senators to execute the conspirators who had plotted to overthrow the Roman Republic — a decision that would later haunt him.
Pope Innocent VIII Issues Witch-Hunting Bull
Pope Innocent VIII issues the papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus, officially recognizing the existence of witchcraft and authorizing the Inquisition to prosecute witches in Germany — helping to ignite the era of European witch trials.
James Christie Holds His First Auction
Auctioneer James Christie holds his first sale in London, beginning the house that would become Christie's — now one of the two most prestigious auction houses in the world, handling hundreds of billions of dollars in fine art and collectibles.
Mozart Dies at 35
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart dies in Vienna, leaving the Requiem unfinished. In just 35 years, he composed over 800 works that define the classical era and remain central to the Western musical canon.
President Polk Confirms the California Gold Rush
President James K. Polk addresses Congress, confirming reports of extraordinary gold discoveries in California and triggering the California Gold Rush that would bring 300,000 prospectors to the West within two years.
Prohibition Ends in the United States
The 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, repealing Prohibition and ending the 13-year federal ban on alcohol. The experiment had spawned organized crime empires and proven largely unenforceable.
Flight 19 Disappears over the Bermuda Triangle
Five U.S. Navy Avenger torpedo bombers comprising Flight 19 vanish during a training flight over the Atlantic. A Martin Mariner rescue aircraft sent to find them also disappears. All 27 men are lost, fueling decades of Bermuda Triangle mythology.
Great Smog of London Begins
A deadly combination of fog and industrial air pollution descends on London, killing an estimated 12,000 people over the following weeks. The catastrophe directly prompted the Clean Air Act of 1956 and transformed environmental policy in Britain.
AFL-CIO Labor Federation Formed
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations merge to form the AFL-CIO, creating the largest labor federation in U.S. history and unifying the organized labor movement under a single umbrella organization.
Russia Banned from 2018 Winter Olympics
The International Olympic Committee bans Russia from the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang following evidence of a state-sponsored doping program, allowing only "clean" Russian athletes to compete under a neutral flag.
Born on This Day
Walt Disney
American Animation Pioneer & Entrepreneur
The creator of Mickey Mouse and the founder of The Walt Disney Company, Disney revolutionized animation, invented the modern theme park, and built a media empire that shapes global popular culture to this day. His innovations — including the first synchronized sound cartoon and the first feature-length animated film — transformed storytelling itself.
Werner Heisenberg
German Theoretical Physicist
One of the founding figures of quantum mechanics, Heisenberg formulated the Uncertainty Principle — the fundamental limit on the precision with which complementary properties of a particle can be known simultaneously. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1932 and led Germany's nuclear research during World War II.
Little Richard
American Singer-Songwriter & Rock Pioneer
The self-proclaimed "Architect of Rock and Roll," Little Richard brought a wild, flamboyant energy to 1950s American music with songs like Tutti Frutti and Long Tall Sally. His piano-pounding style, falsetto screams, and theatrical persona directly influenced the Beatles, Mick Jagger, Prince, and virtually every rock and roll performer who followed.
Martin Van Buren
8th President of the United States
The first U.S. president born as an American citizen rather than a British subject, Van Buren was a master political organizer who built the Democratic Party into a national institution. His presidency was dominated by the Panic of 1837 financial crisis.
Christina Rossetti
English Poet
One of the most significant English poets of the Victorian era, Rossetti wrote with intense lyrical beauty about love, death, and spiritual longing. Her poem In the Bleak Midwinter became one of the most beloved Christmas carols, and Goblin Market is considered a masterpiece of Victorian fantasy verse.
Joan Didion
American Novelist & Journalist
One of the defining voices of American literary journalism, Didion's essays in Slouching Towards Bethlehem and The White Album captured the fragmentation of American culture in the 1960s and 1970s. Her memoir The Year of Magical Thinking, written after the sudden death of her husband, became a landmark work on grief.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Austrian Composer
Mozart died at 35 in Vienna, leaving his Requiem unfinished. In a life of extraordinary brevity, he composed over 800 works — symphonies, operas, concertos, and chamber pieces — that represent the pinnacle of the Classical style and rank among the most performed music in history.
Alexandre Dumas
French Novelist & Playwright
The author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, Dumas was one of the most widely read French writers of the 19th century. His sweeping adventure novels are still in print in virtually every language on earth.
Claude Monet
French Impressionist Painter
The founding figure of French Impressionism, Monet devoted the final decades of his long life to his garden at Giverny and the monumental Water Lilies series, a cycle of nearly 250 oil paintings that are among the most celebrated works in Western art.
Dave Brubeck
American Jazz Pianist & Composer
One of the most popular jazz musicians of the 20th century, Brubeck pioneered jazz in unusual time signatures, most famously with Take Five (in 5/4 time), which became one of the best-selling jazz recordings of all time. He died one day before his 92nd birthday.
Władysław Reymont
Polish Novelist & Nobel Laureate
Reymont was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1924 for his four-volume epic "The Peasants" — a sweeping portrait of rural Polish life that is considered the national novel of Poland. He died within a year of receiving the prize, his health long destroyed by the wounds of a railway accident.
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