A Secret Never to be Told

Few people can keep a secret safe. For a secret to have been kept for 231 years is incredible - especially when it is about the life of such a famous person as composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. If the contention of this story is valid, it will rock the world of classical music to the core.

There has always been controversy over the death of Mozart, from just days after his death. History records that, on 5 December 1791, Mozart died at his home in Vienna, aged 35. And immediately, questions were asked about his death. And have continued to be asked since then. Did he die of Military Fever, as claimed, or was he poisoned? Did he actually die on that date? Why was his body tipped into a communal, unmarked grave, and covered in lime? Was his wife having an affair with his pupil, Süssmayr? Was Mozart having an affair with his pupil, Magdalena Hofdemel? Was Magdalena pregnant to him? Why did Magdalena's husband, Franz, slash her with a razor, and cut his own throat, the day after Mozart's 'death'? Did the newspapers wrongly report Franz's death as happening five days after it actually happened, to distance it from Mozart's supposed death?

Welsh Opera singer, Lynn John, was performing in Opera New Zealand's production of Verdi's 'Il Trovatore', conducted by Eliano Mattiozzi, an Italian living in New Zealand. After a rehearsal, Eliano asked Lynn, "What would you say if I told you Mozart didn't die on December 5, 1791? That he faked his death and lived on?" Lynn replied, "I can think of a number of reasons why Mozart may have faked his death," I said, "... his debts, The Freemasons, his affairs, his wife ... but if he'd lived on, he wouldn't have kept quiet. He would have composed music." Then came the shock response: "He did, but through someone else - Gioacchino Rossini."

This statement was so incredible that Lynn John spent the next two years researching the evidence for Eliano's assertion. Tragically, before the final pieces of the puzzle could be established, Eliano died of a heart attack.

The book "A secret never to be told", written by Lynn John, lays out a scenario based on that research. It is a great detective story. Not so much a 'Whodunnit', as a 'Did he do it?' And 'What happened?' The story is fascinating, but the conclusion rests with the reader. What do you think?