Word: mozart
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...this illusory compact is shattered in 1781, when Mozart arrives at the court of Emperor Joseph II. The older musician is at once disgusted by Mozart, who seems a spoiled self-important adolescent. When Mozart chase a giggly female companion into a room where Salieri is sneaking pastries, Italian composer inadvertently overhears the two exchange infantile jokes. "Say 'say I'm sick backwards," the musical prodigy insists, his words punctuated by an obnoxious high pitched giggle...
...first, Salieri redoubles his own musical efforts in an effort to equal the younger man's work. But Mozart's brilliance, coupled with his rudeness, proves too much for Salieri. Salieri becomes obsessed by his own inadequacy: "All I ever wanted was to sing to God. He gave me that longing, then made me mute." With his rival's music never far from his ears, Salieri's frustration soon hardens to rage. Convinced that God has chosen Mozart as his voice on earth, Salieri vows to undermine the God who betrayed him by destroying the musical prodigy...
...carefully mannered world of the Viennese court, such treachery is not hard to achieve. By playing off the Italian and German musical factions, Salieri insures that Mozart's operas--such as Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro--are yanked from the stage after only a handful of performances. Without official patronage, Mozart falls into debt and disfavor at the court...
...Salieri cannot drown the haunting elegance of his rival's work. Even though the public prefers his own sing or melodies, Salieri is tormented by the knowledge that Mozart alone possesses true genius. And so the jealous man seizes upon a plan of total destruction. In a voice that carries no hint of remorse, the aged composer reveals to the speechless Priest his decision to commission a requiem from Mozart, and then murder his rival. At the funeral, the cathedral would swell with a stirring mass for the dead musician, written by his devoted friend Antonio Salieri...
...Amadeus is the vindication of Salieri's frustrated quest for immortality. If audiences did not gain any greater impression of his gain any greater impression of his musical talents, Salieri at least became unforgettable in the depth of his jealous passion. But translated to the screen, Amadeus becomes Mozart's own. Shaffer and Forman preserve the intensity of the Salieri-Mozart rivalry, but the film is permeated with the pulse and rhythm of the headstrong child who could compose "as if taking dictation...