Amadeus

Peter Shaffer wrote the renowned stage-play Amadeus in the year 1979. The lives of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, two famous composers, are the inspiration behind the play. A famous film with the same name was also made based on the play. The title Amadeus refers to a name that was often used by Mozart as a pen name, though Mozart was baptized as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, a name that is a Latinization of the Greek Theophilos

Mozart sometimes was also called as "Gottlieb" a Germanized name. All these three names mean "Loved by God" or "God-lover" and in the play and film, the title serves as an ironic reference to Salieri's relationship with God. The play Amadeus utilizes Mozart and a few other composers’, including Salieri’s music to a larger extent. The prelude of the film famously flashes out with the powerful "Allegro con brio" from Mozart's Symphony No. 25. At the very beginning of the movie, the orchestral chord played is actually from his opera Don Giovanni and the tune is in G Minor and with Mozart's inimitable Requiem, it reaches its denouement. The film's score was conducted by Sir Neville Marriner and performed by The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. It is well known that in his portrayals of both Mozart and Salieri, Shaffer resorted to dramatic license. However, there is some debate regarding this in the play. Documentary evidence shows that between Mozart and Salieri, there was indeed some antipathy, but the idea that Salieri being the instigator of Mozart's demise is not proven by any academic credence.

In fact, there is also evidence that they enjoyed a relationship marked by mutual respect. But, at the same time, there might have been real rivalry between Mozart and Salieri. Musicologist A. Peter Brown's article "Amadeus and Mozart: Setting the Record Straight" may be more useful for a historical re-evaluation of this rivalry as represented in the play and the film. Several classical music experts and critics opine that Shaffer's portrayal of Mozart as loutish and petulant is unfair. Again, existing letters by and about Mozart substantiate that Mozart has brutal and profane sense of humor. He was stubborn, arrogant, and had a penchant for flamboyant indulgences. Also, some records testify Mozart suffered from large debts and he was not a good money manager and this has been portrayed in Amadeus. Finally, Mozart's relationship with his father as shown in the film seems to be portrayed accurately, as this fact has been judged from the subtext of their letters to each other. In the film, Salieri says that the ghost was in fact Mozart's impression of his own father who appears to take away Don Giovanni in Mozart's opera. Wikipedia

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