LONDON - It's one of the enduring mysteries of classical music.
What -- or who -- killed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the age of 35 when he was at the height of his creative powers in 1791?
Now, European researchers have a new theory -- Mozart died of complications from strep throat.
The latest hypothesis lacks the drama of murder or suicide, which have both been suggested as causes of Mozart's death.
But study co-author Andrew Steptoe says an infection makes the most sense, considering medical records from the time.
Steptoe, an epidemiologist at University College London, says he and researchers from Austria and the Netherlands analyzed the causes of death that were prevalent in Vienna around the time Mozart died.
He says they were able to link medical problems that were widespread at the time with the known facts about Mozart's death.
They found many deaths attributed to an accumulation of fluids in the body, which Mozart suffered from as he died.
The study authors suspect this was caused by strep throat.
Their historical diagnosis is published in today's edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
