ARTS

The Poisonous Concerto: Mozart may have been poisoned by mercury and antimony used by doctors treating him for depression and fever, a British doctor said. Dr. Ian James told the British Assn. for Performing Arts Medicine on Saturday that the composer died in 1791 from apparent pneumonia and kidney failure and had probably been treated with mercury and antimony. Mozart’s death in Vienna at the age of 35 has long been the source of speculation. One theory was that he had been poisoned by Salieri, a less-talented rival.