Amadeus the Play
The tale begins at the streets of Vienna where an older man Salieri confesses to having murdered Amadeus Mozart through poisoning. Salieri promises to explain himself on why he murdered Mozart. The action then flashes back to the eighteenth century right before Mozart and Salieri met in person. At his young age, Salieri adores to become a great music composer, and he is anxious to meet Mozart, who is considered by many as a musical genius. Salieri finally meets Mozart, and to his surprise, he realizes that Mozart is an immature and vulgar young man who is greatly gifted in music. Salieri then vows by God’s name to destroy Mozart’s career. The author of the play, Peter Shaffer, rides us through wild series of tribulations of genius, jealousy, and revenge.
Antonio Salieri, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Constanze Weber are three principal characters in the Amadeus the play. Salieri is a court composer who decides to dedicate his life to God so that he can become a famous music composer (Amadeus Characters, n.d.). Salieri feels betrayed by God for gifting Mozart with music gift who is immature and vulgar. Out of jealousy and mediocracy, Salieri vows to destroy Mozart’s music career. Wolfgang Mozart is another character we encounter in the play who is arrogant, foul-mouthed, and immature but composes unbelievable remarkable music. Mozart is murdered by Salieri because of his talent of composing mouth-watering music. Constanze Weber is wife to Mozart who loves and supports his husband in all forms of hardships. Weber is more responsible and always willing to sacrifice everything for the best of his husband.
A scene unfolds when Salieri meets Mozart for the first time at the Prince-Archbishop Colloredo’s residence. Salieri enters a room filled with food at the residence, and a young woman who is in silky skirt gets in the room (Amadeus Part 1, n.d.). Salieri hides under the table before the woman sees him. A young man who is in a flashy new coat with a pitched laugh enters on the room. The young man and woman stop and the man exclaim that they have started playing his music without him. From this statement from the young man, Salieri realizes that the man is the famous musician Mozart and he is in total disbelief.
Another scene is revealed in the play where Salieri now an older man screams at his chamber several times that he killed Mozart. At the stage, Salieri is elegantly dressed in bright coloured clothes that reflect his wealth and social class. When Salieri creams that he poisoned Mozart, all his servants wonder in his disbelief (Amadeus Part 2, n.d.). The servants climb to Salieri’s chamber to coax him to come out of the chamber with food, but he refuses. After some time, the servants hear a loud sound o Salieri’s chamber, and on rushing to his room, they find Salieri on the floor bleeding. The servants realize that Salieri has slit his throat, and they carry his body to a medical facility. All the servants act in a hurry and express a body language of disbelief as they take Salieri to the hospital.
In conclusion, Amadeus is a play that explores the career and death of a music genius Mozart. I have found the play exciting because the play rides the audience through scenes that contain many lessons to learn from. The scenes in the play are filled with tribulations of genius, trials, jealousy and revenge. From envy, Salieri ended up destroying Mozart’s career and also his career, which illustrates to the audience the effects of jealousy.
References
Amadeus Part 1. (n.d.) Retrieved from: https://cdnapisec.kaltura.com/index.php/extwidget/preview/partner_id/956951/uiconf_id/ 38285871/entry_id/1_rcewtx57/embed/dynamic
Amadeus Part 2 (n.d.) Retrieved from: https://cdnapisec.kaltura.com/index.php/extwidget/preview/partner_id/956951/uiconf_id/ 38285871/entry_id/1_ve5sz367/embed/dynamic
Amadeus Characters (n.d). Retrieved from: https://stageagent.com/shows/play/1410/amadeus/characters