Critical Analysis of Amadeus - Essay Example

Amadeus Amadeus is about the obstensible rivalry between Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As we open the film, we meet Salieri in his home where he has slashed his own throat. Miraculously, he survives to tell a priest his story. Through his confession to the priest, we learn that Salieri prayed to God to give him great musical talent. Salieris early days as a boy is contrasted with Mozarts Salieris early life is pretty much non-descript, while Mozart was composing operas as the age of four and entertaining Kings. So, Salieri travels to Vienna, determined to meet Herr Mozart, only to find a giggly, silly boy-man who is chasing an equally giggly, silly young girl. Salieri, being a serious man and a serious composer cannot abide the thought that this unserious young man was given a gift that he, Salieri, was not. Thus, Salieri becomes all-consumed with envy. Historical evidence indicates that Salieri was extremely envious of Mozart, just as the film depicts. Salieris enmity towards Mozart is explained as the fact that Mozart was able to, with great success, set an opera, the Cosi fan tutte, that Salieri had failed to set and 鍍he great success of Mozart in accomplishing what he [Salieri] could make nothing of is supposed to have been the first origin of his enmity and malice towards Mozart.(Landon, 1988, p. 156). Salieri also was jealous because his own pieces were 田ommonplace and of course in no way comparable to Mozart,and that it only took a generation for Salieris music to die out. (Landon, 1988, p. 173) At Mozarts funeral, Salieri was alleged to have said to a companion that it was 努ell for us that he is dead. For had he lived longer, verily, the world would not have given us another bit of bread for our compositions!(Thayer, 1989, p. 134). This shows that Salieri believed that Mozart overshadowed him, and that, if Mozart had lived further, Salieri would have fallen into obscurity. Once again turning to the films portrayal of the relationship between the two men, Salieri, because of the unfairness that Mozart was given a gift that was denied Salieri, Salieri renounces God, then sets to destroying Mozart any way he can. Salieri sets up Mozarts wife, Constanze to come to his palace, with the ruse that she must have sex with him in order for Mozart to get a job teaching music to a young debutante. When young Constanze appears in the palace and proceeds to undress, he throws her out, humiliating her. He undermines Mozarts reputation with the Emperor at every turn. He sends in a spy to report back to him about what Mozart is doing, and when the young girl comes back to Salieri and announces that Mozart is working on The Marriage of Figaro, Salieri immediately reports this to the Emperor, who is displeased because that story had been banned. Mozart finds himself penniless and heavily in debt, partly because of the failure to find students and work, the failure being compounded and at least partially instigated by Salieris pernicious campaign against him. Historical evidence on this point is mixed. As to whether Salieri plotted against Mozart, Marshalls book debunks this. Salieri was characterized as in a position, because of his prestigious position as the Court Kappellmeister, to help Mozart but did not. (Marshall, 1991, p. 352). However, the book also states that there was no evidence that Salieri actively plotted against Mozart - 典here is no evidence...that Salieri ever actively plotted against Mozart...(Marshall, 1991, p. 352). Hence, Salieri was guilty of benign neglect, in that he refused to help Mozart, but he did not necessarily actively hurt him. However, Mozart himself suspected that Salieri was, in fact, undermining him. In one letter to Leopold Mozart, Mozart wrote that 添ou wonder how I can flatter myself that I shall be maestro to the Princess of Wurtemmberg? Why, Salieri is not capable of teaching her the clavier! All he can do is try to injure me in this matter by recommending someone else, which quite possibly he is doing!(Marshall, 1991, p. 352). Mozart also complained that Da Ponte, an Italian composer, had promised to write him, Mozart a libretto, but 的f he is league with Salieri, I shall never get anything out of him.” Finally, in the movie, Salieri realizes how much Mozart is haunted by his recently deceased father when viewing an opera that features a man in costume who is dressed as Mozarts father was dressed at a costume ball. The man in the opera is haunting the son. Salieri takes this piece of information, and uses it against Mozart. He dresses up in the same costume worn by Mozarts father, then visits Mozart and asks him to commission a requiem piece. Mozart works on the piece day and night, alienating Constanze so much in the process that she leaves. Salieri in disguise proceeds to push Mozart to get the piece finished, despite the fact that Mozart by his color and demeanor is obviously not well. In fact, Mozart collapses after conducting one of his operas, where Salieri takes him home ostensibly to rest. When there is a pounding at the door, Mozart assumes that it is the man who had come back to pressure him more to finish the requiem. Although it is actually actors from the opera checking on Mozart, Salieri comes back and lies to Mozart, telling him that it is the man in black and he wants his piece finished in 24 hours. Mozart, eager to get the money for the piece, as he is evidently in dire financial straits, agrees to do it, but does not have the strength. Salieri volunteers to help him finish it. The two men work through the night, Mozart dictating and Salieri transcribing. At some point, Mozart wants to quit because he is obviously extremely ill. However, Mozart, not wanting to admit that it is he who needs a break tells Salieri that he, Salieri, needs a break, but Salieri refuses, knowing that he is risking pushing Mozart to his death by not breaking. Constanze comes back at this point, attempts to throw out Salieri and tells Mozart that he is not work on the piece anymore. Salieri refuses to leave he is determined to stay until he has pushed Mozart to his death. In a few minutes, Salieri gets his wish Mozart is dead, and the next scene shows Mozart being buried in a paupers mass grave. While there is no historical evidence that Mozarts death effectively happened at Salieris hands, as portrayed in the movie, there was widespread suspicion that Salieri had actively played a role in Mozarts death by poisoning him. That Mozarts death was caused by poison was evidenced by the condition of his body at death, as Mozarts 努hole body became so swollen that the patient was unable to make the smallest movement, moreover there was a stench, which reflected an internal disintegration and after death increased to the extent that an autopsy was rendered impossible. Another typical circumstance is that the corpse did not become stiff and cold but, as was the case with Pope Ganganelli and those who died from poisoning by plants, remained soft and elastic.(Landon, 1988, p. 159). Salieri was widely suspected to have poisoned Mozart, and a widely circulated rumor had Salieri confessing to the crime on his deathbed. (Marshall, 1991, p. 352). Beethoven was among those who suspected Salieri of doing this. (Landon, 1988, pp. 173-174). Through it all, in the movie, Mozart is kind to Salieri, treating him as a friend and assuming that Salieri felt the same. There was one scene where Mozart unintentionally slighted Salieri where he took a piece that Salieri composed for Mozart, a piece on which Salieri had worked hard to please Mozart, and improvised the piece, making it more lively and interesting. Right before this, Mozart told Salieri that he liked his music, and that he, Mozart improvised Salieris pieces, calling them 鍍rifling melodies. These were surely unintentional slights, as Mozart was shown to be guileless and innocent throughout the film, unless he is openly crossed, in which case he got his dander up. There was one other scene where Mozart slighted Salieri, but did it more intentionally, and that was a scene at a party where the party-goers asked Mozart to play a piece by Salieri, and he did so, mocking Salieris stern face and ending the piece by showing his rear to the crowd while they laughed. Salieri was correct when he stated that Mozart and the others were mocking him. However, aside from this, there was no evidence that Mozart harbored any ill-will towards Salieri and had any suspicion that Salieri was up to no good. The book Mozarts Last Year by H.C. Robbins Landon provides some historical clues to all of this. Mozart was, indeed, benevolent towards Salieri, and thought him a friend. For instance, Mozart wrote to his wife on October 14, 1791, the last year of his life that 的 fetched Salieri and Cavalieri with the carriage, and then I took them to the box then I hastened to fetch Mama and Carl, whom I had meanwhile left at the Hofers. You cant believe how nice both of them [Salieri and Cavalieri] were, how much they like not only my music but the book and everything together. They both said it was a grand opera, worthy of being performed at the greatest festival for the greatest monarchs...(Landon, 1988, p. 145). Moreover, in Emily Andersons Mozarts Letters, Mozart referred to Salieri in a letter as 鍍hat very gifted Kapellmeister.(Anderson, 1938, p. 225). This showed that the relationship between the two men was cordial, and Mozart did not appear to suspect that Salieri held him ill-will. The letter also reinforces the parts of the film where Salieri praises Mozart, as he continually told Mozart how brilliant his work is, and how Mozarts work will stand the test of time. Of course, Salieri meant these words sincerely, and he probably meant them sincerely in real life as well. However, there was also evidence to the contrary that Mozart felt ill-will towards Salieri as well (Marshall, 1991, p. 353). In John Rices book Antonio Salieri and Viennese Opera, Rice states that Mozart was also jealous of Salieri because of Salieris position, which was above Mozart, with the royal court. Noting that Mozart knew that his talents were considerably more than Salieris, Mozart resented Salieri for Salieris position, and 途arely mentioned Salieris name in his letters except in a tone of disappointment or resentment.(Rice, 1998, p. 460). Rice further stated that Mozart and his father suspected Salieri 努as involved in secret machinations to keep Mozarts operas off the stage or hasten their departure.(Rice, 1998, p. 462). Conclusion The movie Amadeus did, in fact, portray a rivalry fairly accurately. Salieri was suspected, by Mozart and Mozarts father, to have kept Mozarts operas off the stage or hasten their departure, and this was shown in the movie. Salieri was bitterly jealous of Mozart, and was widely rumored to have confessed to killing him, just as was shown in the movie. Some evidence suggests that Mozart felt cordially towards Salieri, while other evidence suggests that this was not always the case, so, on this point at least, the evidence is mixed as to how Mozart felt about Salieri. Since the film also showed that Mozart, on at least one occasion, openly mocked Salieri, but otherwise was shown as being grateful for Salieris kindness, the movies portrayal on this point seems to also be historically accurate. However, Mozart had more of an inkling as to what Salieri was doing to him than he did in the movie, and Mozart was jealous of Salieri as well. This was not brought out very well in the movie. As to whether the individual incidents are factual such as when Costanze strips for Salieri, who throws her out and humiliates her there is not evidence either way. Of course, the movie took artistic liberties, but the fundamentals seem sound. Sources Used Anderson, Emily. Mozarts Letters. Boston, MA: Bullfinch Press, 1938. Landon, H.C. Robbins. Mozarts Last Year. New York, NY: Schirmer Books, 1938. Marshall, Robert L. Mozart Speaks: Views on Music, Musicians and the World. New York, NY: Macmillan, Inc., 1991. Rice, John A. Antonio Salieri and Viennese Opera. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1998. Thayer, Alexander Wheelock. Salieri: Rival of Mozart. Kansas City, MO: The Philharmonia of Greater Kansas City, 1989. Read More