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).

Reality vs. fiction

It is a known fact that Shaffer took dramatic license in his portrayals of both Mozart and Salieri. There is some debate, however, as to just how much. While it is reputed that there was a real antipathy between Mozart and Salieri, and that Mozart did at one point accuse Salieri of attempting to poison him, the idea that Salieri was in fact the instigator of Mozart's demise is no longer given academic credence. Many people (especially classical music critics and experts) feel that Shaffer's portrayal of Mozart as petulant and loutish is unfair. Others, though, point to the letters of and about Mozart - often brutally cruel-humored and even profane - for examples of his arrogance, stubbornness, and juvenile indulgences. It is also well known that Mozart was a terrible money manager, and that his debts as portrayed in Amadeus were very real. Additionally, Mozart's relationship with his father seems to be verisimilar, at least according to the subtext of their letters to each other.

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Recent studies suggest that Mozart died of some form of rheumatic fever (probably from simple overwork and desperation), and not of any poison. A similar fate befell Felix Mendelssohn who also demonstrated prodigal gifts for composing - and, like Mozart, did not survive to his 40th birthday.

Related Topics:
Rheumatic fever - Felix Mendelssohn

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