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Amadeus at 40 Examining Genius and Jealousy

“Amadeus” opened nationwide on this date 40 years ago.

Milos Forman’s film of Peter Shaffer’s play is that rarest of animals: popular entertainment set in the world of classical music that doesn’t talk down to the audience and actually for the most part gets it right.

By this I do not mean the historical facts, with which the creators play fast and loose (to the best of our knowledge, Salieri did NOT plot Mozart’s death, and in fact got along with him as well as any rival possibly could), but rather the broader truths underlying the all-too-human dilemmas that face the film’s “antagonist,” with whom every one of us can relate.

Why does this jerk I work with get all the recognition? What does this idiot have that I don’t? What is the source of genius? Why does it so seldom match up with personal ambition? How can a spark of the divine exist in this… creature? What is the nature of creativity? Why is talent so random? What do I do with these feelings of resentment? How does jealousy corrupt?

Furthermore, the film is a hell of a lot of fun, with plenty of broad, crowd-pleasing moments – the emperor is a boob, the court musicians ludicrous schemers, and the artists flagrant bohemians who swill from wine bottles as they stride the colorful streets of Vienna (really Prague), shop for fright wigs, and have very silly laughs – without ever teetering over into farce.

Critics AND audiences lapped it up, and the film was decorated with eight Academy Awards, including those for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay (for Shaffer), and Best Actor (F. Murray Abraham in the performance of his career).

Avoid the director’s cut, except as a curiosity or “bonus feature.” It was assembled too long after the fact and changes the tone of the picture, expanding the running time by 20 minutes and hardening the original PG rating to an R. A new 4K UHD Blu-Ray of the theatrical cut is imminent, if it’s not out already.

Sadly, they just don’t make ‘em like this anymore. Happy 40th, “Amadeus.”

September 19, 2024
Amadeus Turns 40 New Miniseries Arrives

I had been holding off until Antonio Salieri’s birthday (Salieri born on this date in 1750) to share two bits of news, which, because of my self-imposed delay, you may have already heard by now.

First, Milos Forman’s highly entertaining and Academy Award winning film of Peter Shaffer’s play is coming to 4K UHD Blu-ray for its 40th anniversary. (The film was released in September 1984.) This is the theatrical cut, as opposed to the more widely-circulated-in-recent-years director’s cut. (Stop with these directors’ cuts supplanting the versions we originally fell in love with, please!) Forman’s revision adds 20 minutes and hardens the original PG rating to an R. Interesting to see once, in my opinion, but it should be treated as a curiosity and consigned to the bonus features. I have no firm information as to whether or not it will be included in the new set, however. If you want to devote the time to doing a more intensive search, you may be able to find out more.

The other bit of news – again, perhaps old news at this point, but the first I am mentioning it – is that “Amadeus” has been adapted into a new miniseries, projected to stream later this year. For his source material, screenwriter Joe Barton is apparently sidestepping Shaffer (and perhaps his copyright?) by going back to the Alexander Pushkin play “Mozart and Salieri” of 1830, which cemented the legend of Salieri’s enmity for Mozart. The play was previously adapted as an opera of the same name by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

In the latest version, Will Sharp will play Wolfie and Paul Bettany will assume the role of Salieri. They’ll have some big buckled shoes to fill, as both Forman’s leads – Tom Hulce as Mozart and F. Murray Abraham as Salieri – were nominated for Best Actor, and Abraham took home the Academy Award – as, for that matter, did Forman’s film, which was honored as Best Picture, among its total eight-Oscar haul.

That said, any popular entertainment that takes classical music seriously can’t be a bad thing. If nothing else, it will remind audiences of, and perhaps attract new viewers to, the 1984 classic.

Happy birthday, Antonio Salieri!

August 18, 2024
Salieri Beyond Amadeus The Music of a “Mediocrity”

Happy birthday, Antonio Salieri! Patron saint of mediocrities everywhere. Or so “Amadeus” would have us believe.

I first encountered this article in The New Yorker back in 1985. The piece takes the form of a letter to Milos Forman, director of the Oscar-winning adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s stage play.

Is it the funniest thing ever? No, but, much like Salieri himself, it has its moments, and somehow I’ve never forgotten it. (For the record, Franz Schubert’s middle name is Peter.)

Salieri composed 37 operas, in addition to orchestral works, concertos, chamber music, and sacred pieces. And what do you know? A lot of his music is quite good! He was no Mozart, maybe – but who was?

Beethoven’s Variations on “La stessa, la stessissima,” cited in the article

The theme, from Salieri’s “Falstaff”

Overture to “Les Horaces”

Concerto for Flute, Oboe and Orchestra

“Das Lob der Musik” (“The Praise of Music”)

A Mozart and Salieri collaborative effort, the cantata “Per la ricuperata salute di Ofelia”

“De Profundis”

“I absolve you.”

August 18, 2022
Mozart’s Birthday Amadeus and Don Giovanni

It’s Mozart’s birthday.

By coincidence, I just happened to rewatch “Amadeus” (1984) earlier this week, for the first time in many years. Of course, I’d seen it a bunch of times before.

This was the theatrical cut. With all apologies to Miloš Forman, it has been my experience that directors’ cuts tend to be in most ways inferior, especially when recut so long after the fact. (Forman’s was issued in 2002.) Or maybe George Lucas has just made me skittish.

Unfortunately, once a director’s cut appears on home video, it tends to displace the original in all formats, including streaming.

Thankfully I’ve got my trusty old, double-sided DVD. Yeah, I have to flip it an hour and 50 minutes into the movie, but I grew up during the LP era, so I can take it.

All that aside, has there ever been a staged “Don Giovanni” as cool as this one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1QyaKs6E5w

And the audience is like, WTF?

So true to life.

January 27, 2022
Mozart’s Many Names Unveiled Happy Birthday!

What’s in name? Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart went by many in his lifetime.

He was baptized on January 28, 1756 (the day after his birth), as “Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart.”

Following the custom of the Catholic Church, the first two names represent his saint’s name (“Chrysostomus” meaning “golden mouth”). “Wolfgangus” is the Latin form of “Wolfgang” – “walks with wolves” – the name of Mozart’s maternal grandfather. “Theophilus” is from the Greek – “lover of God.” In German, this would be “Gottlieb,” and in Latin “Amadeus.”

Later in life, Mozart would refer to himself using the Italian (“Amadeo”) or the French equivalent, which is why you will sometimes encounter the pedantic “Amadè” in concert program notes.

Admittedly, after 1777, Mozart himself did seem to have a preference for “Amadè,” although he played a little fast and loose with the French accent (variously “Amadè,” “Amadé,” or just plain “Amade”).

He did use “Amadeus,” albeit facetiously, when signing some of his letters, in mock-Latin (“Wolfgangus Amadeus Mozartus”). But it was only after his death that this form really gained traction, employed even by the composer’s widow. This was taken up by biographers, critics, and musicians and became prevalent by the early 19th century.

In more recent times, Peter Shaffer’s play and its now-classic film adaptation have cemented “Amadeus” in the public consciousness.

But Mozart by any other name would smell as sweet. And with his scatological sense of humor, I’m sure he would have something to say about that!

Enjoy a bouquet of Mozart on his birthday, as WWFM – The Classical Network celebrates one of music’s greatest masters. It will be all-Mozart through 7 pm EST. Support classical music on the air waves and via internet streaming with your gift by calling today at 1-888-232-1212 or contributing online at wwfm.org. Thank you for your generous support!

https://wwwfm.secureallegiance.com/wwfm/WebModule/Donate.aspx?P=DEFAULT&PAGETYPE=PLG&CHECK=vOU2bz5JCWmgCDbf53nm9ezWDeZ%2beA1M

However it is you choose to cut his cake, the “art” was there right from the start. Happy birthday, Moz-ART!

January 27, 2022

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