Amadeus

Amadeus is the title of both a stage play and a film written in 1979 by Peter Shaffer, both loosely based on the lives of the composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri. Amadeus was inspired by Mozart and Salieri, a short play by Aleksandr Pushkin (later adapted into an opera by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov).

Plot

There are some important differences between the screenplay and the stage play, notably the number and treatment of scenes without Salieri in them, the portrayal of Emperor Joseph II, Emanuel Schikaneder, and Baron van Swieten, Mozart's relationship with the Masons, and the finale.

Related Topics:
Screenplay - Emperor Joseph II - Emanuel Schikaneder - Masons - Finale

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Shared plot

Amadeus the theatrical production tells Mozart's story from the point of view of the court composer Antonio Salieri, who is presented as a caricature of jealous mediocrity. Salieri speaks directly to the audience at many times during the play, his soliloquies serving to move the timeline forward and back, and to narrate the goings on. In the film, Shaffer employs an interlocutor (a young priest) for Salieri to achieve this same function, but the film is told from a more neutral, third-person perspective and there are more scenes without Salieri in them (especially in the Director's Cut). Most of the film, and much of the play, are presented in retrospective.

Related Topics:
Interlocutor - Priest - Director's Cut - Retrospective

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At the opening of the tale, Salieri has not met Mozart in person, but has heard of him and his music. He adores Mozart's compositions, and is thrilled at the chance to meet Mozart in person, during a salon at which both of their compositions will be played. When he finally does catch sight of Mozart, however, he is deeply disappointed to find that Mozart's personality does not match the grace or charm of his compositions: Mozart is crawling around on his hands and knees, engaging in an immature dialogue with Constanze Weber (who would later become his wife). As Mozart himself later explains: "I am a vulgar man. But... my music is not."

Related Topics:
Salon - Personality - Constanze Weber

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Salieri cannot reconcile Mozart's boorish behavior with the massive genius that God has inexplicably bestowed upon him. Indeed, Salieri, who has been a devout Catholic all his life, cannot believe that God would choose Mozart over him for such a gift. Salieri rejects God and vows to do everything in his power to destroy God's chosen: Mozart.

Related Topics:
Genius - Catholic

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Throughout much of the rest of the play and film, Salieri masquerades as Mozart's ally to his face, while at the same time doing his utmost to destroy his reputation and any success his compositions may have. On more than one occasion it is only the direct intervention of the emperor himself that allows Mozart to continue (interventions which Salieri opposes, and then is all too happy to take credit for when Mozart assumes it was he who intervened). Salieri also humiliates Mozart's wife when she comes to Salieri for aid, and smears Mozart's character with the emperor and the court. A major theme in Amadeus is Mozart's repeated attempts to win over the aristocratic "public" with increasingly brilliant compositions, which are always frustrated either by Salieri or by the aristocracy's own inability to appreciate Mozart's genius.

Related Topics:
Ally - Reputation

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At this point, the film and the play diverge.

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Stage play version

In the play, only Baron van Swieten (who early in the story inducts Mozart into the Brotherhood of the Freemasons) continues to support Mozart. Indeed, by the end of the play, Mozart is surviving solely because of the charity of his brother Masons. Finally, Salieri convinces Mozart (who by this time is half-crazed from frustration and poverty) to compose an opera based on the mythos of the Masons. As a result, Mozart produces the comedy Die Zauberflöte. Van Swieten is horrified to see that Mozart has, in his opinion, parodied the venerated traditions of Freemasonry. He summarily removes Mozart from the Masons. Meanwhile, Mozart's partner in the production of Die Zauberflöte, Emanuel Schikaneder, cheats Mozart out of most of his share of the ticket proceeds.

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Now thoroughly destroyed and without recourse, Mozart simply wastes away and dies, still at work on his Requiem.

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Film version

In the film, however, the above does not occur. Instead, the film uses that time to focus on Mozart's relationships with his father, Leopold (whom he worships and fears), and his wife, which are rather tense and erratic, respectively. As the film moves on, Mozart learns of his father's death and composes the operatic masterpiece Don Giovanni, in part as a tribute to him. Salieri avows that it was the finest opera he had ever seen, yet he uses his influence to make sure it closes after only five performances.

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Following this, Salieri hatches a plan to conscript Mozart to compose a requiem, after which Salieri will kill him and claim the composition as his own. Even better, he reasons, he will then perform "Salieri's Requiem" at Mozart's own funeral, thus demonstrating to the world the inspiration that his true and devoted friendship with Mozart had given him. Salieri dons a disguise and anonymously commissions the composition from Mozart.

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Meanwhile, Mozart's friend Emanuel Schikaneder has put on a parody of Don Giovanni at a local music hall, which Mozart finds charming. It has also been a great success. Schikaneder convinces Mozart to write an opera "for the people," who will appreciate his work more than the staid aristocrats for whom he usually composes. Mozart agrees, and composes Die Zauberflöte, all the while continuing to work on his requiem. Zauberflöte is a big success, but during the initial performance, Mozart (who is conducting from the keyboard) falls ill and is taken home by Salieri. There, Salieri pushes Mozart to continue work on his requiem, despite the fact that Mozart is barely conscious.

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At this point, Schikaneder shows up at Mozart's door, and faithfully gives Mozart's share of the opera's proceeds to Salieri, who shoos him away. Salieri then returns to Mozart and gives him the money, saying that it came from the man who commissioned the requiem, and that there will be more if Mozart can finish the piece hastily. Mozart therefore asks Salieri to assist him in completing the composition, as he is too sick to write. Salieri transcribes what Mozart tells to him, and the beauty of Mozart's Requiem is slowly revealed to the audience (and Salieri himself). After some time, Mozart pauses to thank Salieri for being such a good friend, admitting that he had always felt, deep down, that Salieri did not like his music. Touched in spite of himself, Salieri candidly replies: "I tell you, you are the greatest composer known to me."

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The next day, Mozart is dead. He is buried in an unmarked mass grave, his Requiem still unfinished.

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