Download INACCURACIES The conflict that AMADEUS is based around is a

INACCURACIES
The conflict that AMADEUS is based around is a common theme used throughout
history. One that is told in numerous different ways, one of which is a verse written by
Pushkin in 1830 (40 years following Mozart's death) entitled Mozart and Salieri. It
depicts the conflict between the two composers. This conflict however in the film grows
to astronomic proportions, fantasized for the screen and no other reason. In reality,
historical questioning of this jealous conflict was raised as a result of an aging and
mentally deteriorating Salieri who did make a claim to have killed Mozart. There was no
ground for any truth to this claim, but a myth arose from it, one that was exciting, filled
with passion, jealousy and violence, the very basis upon which a successful film could
be based.
SHAFFER'S COMMENTS
(click on to view)
(Playwright of original Amadeus drama
upon which film is based)
Mozart is portrayed as having a quick and inexpensive burial in a common grave. In
this sense there is some confusion. There are those who claim that Mozart was in fact
buried along with four or five others in a grave that was later emptied and reused.
However there are others who maintain that Mozart was buried in a "normal single
grave": This was only temporary, as the practice for those not of the nobility was to have
a "lease" on their burial site, which was plowed over and reused later, but both accounts
leave Mozart's final resting place a mystery.
The film concludes that it was Salieri from one perspective who killed Mozart. This
differs to the conclusions of historians and modern physicians who claim that Mozart
died of rheumatic fever which he had often suffered from as a young child, nothing to do
with alcohol excess or over exertion. (Angermueller, R. (1980). The New Grove Dictionary of
Music and Musicians)
The death scene of Mozart never happened in reality, nor did Mozart's collapse on
the premiere night of "The Magic Flute". Therefore, he was never brought home by
Salieri. In reality Mozart conducted several performances of "The Magic Flute" until his
health refused to permit him beyond the constraints of his bed.
Constanza had also suffered from poor health, yet never left for the "spa" once her
husband became seriously ill. In this way it would have been impossible for Salieri to
have attended upon Mozart during his final days. There was a continuous presence of
family, close friends and even several singers whom Constanza called forward to sing a
few completed passages of "The Requiem". (Eliade. M. 1963. Myth and Reality)
Amadeus is beautifully photographed and the costumes and art design are ravishing.
The film centers around Prague, when in reality it should have been in Vienna. The film
itself was shot in Prague rather than Vienna (actual setting of final ten years of Mozart's
life). This was mainly the result of limited expenses, and although a historical break with
accuracy, proved successful with the use of the Tyl Theatre and the 16th century
Gryspek Palace. (http://www.fask.uni-mainz.de)
Mozart is quickly taken into royal service in the film, but he really had little to do with
the court and wasn't offered an official position there until 1787.
The language is also another inaccuracy. One only hears English throughout the film,
rather than the native German . This is a strong, but unconscious break with realism.
Yes, it is a historical inaccuracy, but the exact words of the past may not be enacted
anyway, thus the very nature of the words is pure fiction to begin with. This is something
that is not remarked upon because it is not the words, but the over all atmosphere and
character that is created by them that touches the audience.
The film is yet another interpretation of a somewhat fabricated conflict, a conflict that
may also be seen in Pushkin's poem (click on to view) that was published long before the
drama of AMADEUS was even a thought and upon which both Shaffer and Forman
based their interpretations.
Mozart Myths
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is legendary. That is, while he was a real person, well-documented in many
sources, we can also find stories about him that are somewhat removed from fact.
Amadeus Myths The play and movie Amadeus started a fresh wave of Mozart mania—and
popularized the following myths about Mozart’s life:

Did Salieri kill Mozart? In real life, Salieri was not the jealous rival of Mozart and did not
plot out his demise—he was an esteemed musical colleague of Mozart’s who later taught music
to Mozart’s son. Toward the end of his life Salieri confessed to murdering Mozart—which might
have been believable had Salieri not been confined to an insane asylum at the time of his
confession.

Did Salieri scare Mozart into writing his own Requiem? The origin of the Requiem does
have an interesting story, but it does not involve a feverish obsession by Mozart with the
ghost of his father. Mozart was commissioned anonymously to compose the Requiem by
intermediaries acting for Franz Count of Walsegg, who hoped to pass it off as Walsegg’s own
work.

Was Mozart a silly, vulgar idiot with an annoying laugh? Mozart had to retain a degree
of dignity when working at court and therefore could not have acted as he did in Amadeus. His
entertaining letters, however, do reveal that he was playful and wonderfully quick-witted. He
could sometimes have a vulgar sense of humor, but only showed that to his family and close
friends— and, accidentally, to us when we read his letters (see Resources). The laugh in
Amadeus might be based on his sister’s comment, in a letter, that Wolfgang’s laugh sounded
like metal scraping glass.

Did Mozart write “too many notes”? Emperor Joseph II’s reaction to Mozart’s The
Abduction from the Seraglio in 1782 is…true! Or at least, widely believed to be so. The
complete quote was,“Too many notes, my dear Mozart, and too beautiful for our ears.” The
Emperor may have beenechoing a sentiment felt by many regarding Mozart’s music: that it
was so complex and sublimethat it sometimes overwhelmed the senses of his eighteenthcentury audience. Or he may havesaid, “An extraordinary number of notes,” and been
mistranslated from German.
How did Mozart die?
Nobody knows for certain how Mozart died. Theories include:





A sudden attack of rheumatic fever, from which he had often suffered as a child
Kidney failure
Trichinosis—a parasitic disease caused by undercooked pork
Fever and stroke caused by too much bloodletting
Mercury poisoning
What most people do agree on is that Mozart’s final illness came upon him suddenly and included
fever and rashes.
How poor was Mozart?
Mozart’s career is often romanticized today by the belief that Mozart lived in poverty and struggled
desperately to make ends meet with his compositions, unable even to afford a private funeral. In truth
he was well paid for his work but probably spent beyond his budget. He was given a small funeral
service and buried in an unmarked grave—typical of Vienna at the time.
Was Mozart divinely inspired?
A forged letter describes how Mozart’s inspiration descended upon him as if from a lightning bolt from
God, and supports a common misconception that Mozart was able to compose music in his head and
notate it perfectly afterwards. This myth both belittles Mozart’s struggles and efforts as a composer,
and gives undue importance to a skill that many composers have. In truth Mozart did have an
uncanny ability to hear music in his head and write it down perfectly—probably more so than most
composers—but that is not to say that he did not have to work through multiple drafts. In the 1790s
Constanze burned all of her late
husband’s working drafts of completed works, further perpetuating this myth.
What didn’t Mozart write?
Quirino Gasparini’s sacred choral piece Adoramus te was erroneously attributed to Mozart for many
years. Mozart met Gasparini, who was music director of the cathedral in Turin, when he visited that
city during his European tour as a child. Mozart’s father admired Gasparini’s piece and copied it down,
and the work later got mixed in with Mozart’s own collection.
—Pamela Feo, 2006-2007 Education Intern