Amadeus (1984): The Mediocre vs. the Sublime

(image courtesy of cinema1544.wordpress.com)


 Amadeus (1984)


Introduction


The film ‘Amadeus’ is essentially a meditation on ideas about the superior and inferior in life despite the inherent contradictions in its presentation. The inherent contradictions stem from its presentation which centres on a mythical story about envy and so the film appears to have no foundations although it does have two foundations which are the envious Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abrahams won the Oscar for best actor in a leading role for his portrayal of Salieri in this film) and the music of Mozart. This film seems completely implausible from a historical perspective but works because the portrayal of the conflict between Salieri and Mozart does the myth justice thereby making it a great film. Whether or not one accepts the concept of mythology you must always remember that myth has some grounding in reality. The reality I speak of is the mundane existence which we all endure day in day out. What myth does is to exalt the mundane in us and make it more palatable and this explains why we exalt our stars be it in music or film or sport. These stars are humans like us all but they seem to have qualities that do not reflect the mundane; they have qualities that seem unearthly, almost godlike and this is where myth is born. Myth is an exaggeration of reality that is all. These individuals are not necessarily godlike they are merely perceptive or have a distinct advantage and we therefore claim that they are geniuses or godlike simply because the concept  which they created was never developed in such a fashion prior to their arrival. The foundation of this film may be reality but the missing link here is speculation. When the startling effect does occur and shatters our mundane existence speculation becomes rife as to the causes or influences that influenced the direction of this particular moment.  The myth is born out of this speculation but differs from it because myth normally constitutes a narrative or a logical sequence of events with speculation as its foundation however this speculation originates out of some startling real live experience. What the person who writes myth does is to dispense with those stories surrounding the event that seem implausible and then tie in those that add some gravitas to the story. Speculation is babbling whereas myth represents its logical opposite. With myth it would appear that the narrative has some grain of truth. This film is based not just off Peter Shaffers play but off the play ‘Mozart and Salieri’ by Alexander Pushkin which influenced Shaffer. When the play ‘Mozart and Salieri’ was written it reflected what was already reinforced in people’s minds:  that Salieri was jealous of Mozart’s godlike musical talents and had him murdered. The events in this play were based off speculation or rumours however Shaffer expands on the reasons why Salieri should be jealous: his vanity and the music of Mozart. Shaffer's screenplay does not deviate much from the myth but simply expands it to the point where you have to see these two main characters as symbols of our humanity much like the Batman and the Joker. If there is one thing that myth is grounded in it has to be the reality that is human nature for this is the basis for the development of so called civilisation.

The Mediocre vs. The Sublime

  Let me start by explaining what this film is basically about: Salieri the renowned composer of his day and loved by his contemporaries knows that he is inferior because of Mozart. He however resents the fact that god has chosen to bestow this superior musical talent on Mozart who he considers  a creature or some wild man who employs scatological based humour in his escapades. Salieri cannot believe this because he thought that by giving his chastity to god he would be renowned and he would play music that would immortalize him. He, however, painfully finds this not to be so for as he tells the priest: ’32 years (after Mozart’s death), 32 years of watching myself become extinct. My music growing fainter and fainter till no one plays it at all’. This is no mere talk and the film balances this in one clever scene where Salieri, at first, plays for the priest (who comes to receive his confession after he screamed that he killed Mozart) some compositions of his that were popular when he was in his prime however the priest cannot recall these compositions and he might be forgiven because he is not so well trained in music. Salieri, however, knows that when something is immortalized even the most vulgar person must be aware and so he says, ‘Aaah what about his one?’  and so starts to play a tune of Mozart on his piano. Salieri is evidently not surprised that the priest knows the tune for he is able to belt out the notes. The priest, who is not gifted in music (a very clever device in the screenplay), says he was not aware that Salieri composed that tune; Salieri corrects him when he says ‘that was not me that was Mozart...Wolfgang  Amadeus Mozart’.  It does not take long to establish that he is a vain man. He says to the priest: ‘Everybody liked me; I liked myself’. 

This is the first element that demonstrates why he would be envious of Mozart for a vain man cannot see anything but himself and so when the spotlight shifts he is either humbled or becomes envious. It is human nature. While watching those apocryphal Jesus films (a mere retread of the gospels) while growing up I was struck by one statement made by John the Baptist and I am not sure if these lines are in the gospels themselves. While baptising and simultaneously telling the assembled congregation to repent, John is asked if he is the messiah and he says, ‘No I am not the messiah; there is one who is coming that is greater than I’. As he says this Jesus himself parts the crowd and is baptised by John and after his head emerges from the water a white dove perches on his shoulder. This is one case where a man is humbled however Salieri refuses to be humbled and grows jealous. He will be eventually humbled because, as mentioned before, his music grows fainter day by day. It grows so faint that by the end he declares that he is the saint for mediocrities; he is their champion. A clever device is that when he says this, a resonant laugh from Mozart reinforces his ignominy. This reference to Jesus is crucial to this story for the religious based theme runs throughout the film. In the film the talents of Mozart are not attributed to a genius, although that is what we would call him nowadays, they are attributed to godlike attributes for as Salieri says ‘God was speaking through this little man’. It is not Mozart but god himself that manifests himself as Mozart. This reinforces the religious theme associated with the story of Jesus. Everyone knows that Jesus was from a poor background and his main opponents would come from the members of the established church that had grown fat on success. The message that Jesus delivered has immortalized him whereas those members of the established church in Jesus’ day have been largely forgotten no matter how prominent they were in their own day. They will only be remembered as the ones that allowed Jesus to be crucified and this would therefore enhance the image of Jesus especially as he, despite being crucified, begged god to forgive them anyway (a completely startling event in his time). Jesus never enjoyed the fruits of his labour but his message was immortalized and so he was raised to the stature of being godlike. Likewise Mozart is said to be godlike because of his musical talents and he will be persecuted by Salieri on earth however his persecution or underhandedness will exalt Mozart for eternity. There is a significant scene that should not be missed and symbolizes Salieri’s reputation as a devil. He realized that God would not grant him the gifts that he so desires so he breaks with god by throwing a crucifix into the flame. The main reason he gives for this is: ‘Why give me the desire? Like a lust in my body and then make me mute.’ His desire was to be a great musician however he is mute but his desire to be great forces him to recognize greatness in another which is Mozart. This story is reflective of the apocryphal tale of the break between god and the devil when the world was just formed.  Lucifer was the right hand of god that he could acknowledge true power but he was limited because he was mute he simply had to follow but being the second in command, being so close, made him aspire. He was therefore humbled after the defeat by god and cast into shadow. The devil will always be remembered for the same reason that the captors of Jesus were remembered: as the one who always sought to undermine but in his effort to undermine exalts god even further. (I am sure some will believe that the devil has won some victories in the battle for the soul of man). 

This then is the role being played by Salieri. He wishes to undermine Mozart but fails miserably because it is Mozart whose music becomes immortalized whereas Salieri is only remembered as the underhanded achiever. There are many signs in the film that show that Salieri is renowned in his day and grows fat on success. Firstly, he loves sweet things and this motif establishes his penchant greed. Secondly, he is the court composer in Vienna and instructs Emperor Joseph and every tune that he plays is considered a masterpiece by his contemporaries even after Mozart just debuted with ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ and ‘Don Giovanni’. Salieri knows that these works are superior to any opera that he will ever compose but everyone else won’t know it for two reasons: Salieri’s subterfuge and that the music is unfamiliar to his contemporaries. The emperor says after Mozart debuts with ‘The Abduction from the Seraglio’ that, ‘You (Mozart) have given us something quite new tonight’. He is not trained so well in music so he would not know why it is new. Salieri certainly knows why. Despite this the emperor decrees that one of Salieri’s operas is the best opera ever written up to that point (probably in Vienna the so called home of musicians in its day). If I was there I would have probably agreed because that is what the people are used to; they are not accustomed to the strange music of Mozart and so they would rather stick with the mundane/familiar that is Salieri’s music.

Mozart’s Music in the Film

Then how is the music of Mozart portrayed in this film. It is one thing to acknowledge that this music is greater than yours but how is that relayed to the average viewer.  Salieri heard the stories of Mozart growing up during his youth: ‘While I was playing childish games; he was playing for Kings and Emperors even the Pope’.  He was prodigious certainly and this was why Salieri admired Mozart’s father more than Mozart himself because as a child certainly Mozart would resort to childish behaviour as did salieri. Mozart’s father having recognized his talent would have ordered Mozart to hone his musical talents and this would require some form of separation from his childhood (Have you seen my childhood? says Michael Jackson).  Salieri meets Mozart for the first time in Vienna where Mozart has come to play ‘at the Residence of his employer: the Archbishop of Salzburg’. I will not get into the politics here only to say that Mozart is considered a servant of the Archbishop in this film and this is something that Mozart resents.  Salieri discovers Mozart in the room where the food is kept. Mozart and his wife to be, Constanze, are playing hide and seek. Salieri is revolted by the scatological (look it up) banter between the two but is astonished that when the music starts to play Mozart arises, assumes a studious air and says ‘my music...they’ve started without me’. Salieri cannot believe this is Mozart, ‘that dirty creature giggling on the floor; that was Mozart.’ Mozart would seem dirty because his behaviour seems lowly and probably brings to mind the ideas of class. I say this for when Salieri speaks to Constanze(Mozart’s wife) he says ‘Dont call me sir. It puts me at such a distance. I’m from a small town, just like your husband.’ After the performance Salieri recounts to the priest the musical notes on the manuscript that was left on the podium while Mozart met with the Archbishop: ‘the beginning was simple almost comic; bassoons, basset horns, like a rusty squeezebox but then an oboe hanging there unwavering before it was taken over by a clarinet. This was not the composition of a performing monkey (this reference to a performing monkey is a phrase from his father)’.  The film does not relay this message simply in dialogue for while Salieri speaks of Mozart’s many compositions throughout the film the producers cleverly interspersed the actual recordings with his dialogue. One would then be able to understand definitively the greatness Salieri saw in the music of Mozart because you too are able to hear the music for yourself. This therefore makes the music a grounding element in the film. Salieri commenting on a series of compositions says, ‘Music finished as no music has ever been finished before....displace one note and there would be diminishment.’ 

His colleagues cannot understand the music of Mozart and their main complaint is ‘too many notes’ or as Count Orsini Rosenberg (a composite fictional character based on an actual personage who did exist), a radical conservative, states ‘A young man trying to impress beyond his abilities.’ This may seem conservative but let us take a more theoretical approach to understanding the gravitas of this problem for it is a situation that is as old as time. What Orsini is hearing is the type of breakthrough that is bursting at the seams. When someone makes a breakthrough normally there is, or appears there is, no foundation for what he is doing. It appears as if it does not have structure; it appears as if it would collapse which is why salieri says ‘displace one not and there would be diminishment’. There are situations where people do not follow through with their breakthroughs; they see the opening but when they make the thrust they end up back where they started although the gap has been found. The real breakthrough occurs when you can push and push until you are literally soaring so that even if you fall people who were normally comforted by the existing knowledge will make the journey with you and so what was previously the accepted norm is replaced by another. This is why you have the phrase ‘up, up and away’. The person making the breakthrough normally sees a vast range of possibilities. Mozart in his defense of writing an opera on the then banned play ‘the Marriage of figaro’ says to the emperor ‘the maid, is followed by the husband, then by the wife (all singing at the same time) septet, sextet, octet. How long do you think I can keep this (different harmonies) going your majesty? Just guess’ (The emperor guesses 8 minutes’) ’20 minutes sire and no recitatives (‘ a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech’. Wikipedia).’ This would have been something amazing indeed but not all goes the way Mozart planned. The Emperor yawns once during this piece which is four hours in length. Mozart cannot understand why ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ was not a success during its run at the National theatre and so Salieri has to explain to him( Mozart does not know that Salieri is trying to undermine him): ‘The poor man (the emperor) can barely sit through an hour (of opera); you gave him four.’ Mozart asks ‘why did they (the Viennese public) not come?’ Salieri answers, ‘You underestimate our dear Viennese my friend. Did you know you did not even give them a good bang at the end of songs so that they would know when to clap?’ Mozart replies ‘I know, I know. Maybe you could give me some lessons in that’. This obviously offends Salieri. This is therefore the struggle one encounters when he or she is trying to demonstrate a new product it must still have some grounding in the conservative tradition so that people will embrace it more readily. If you are too liberal people tend to mock and jeer you with the disclaimer that you will have your moment and then fade out. This is how it seems at the present moment but when you take a step back you will realize that people have indeed embraced your method although unknowingly or reluctantly. This is a sign that you have made a breakthrough.  This would explain why it was primarily after Mozart’s death that his legend grew in stature.  

The Portrayal of the Godlike Mozart in the film

Mozart is portrayed as a childish man in this film (much like Michael Jackson). He obviously never had the luxury of playing childish games while growing up.  He also has a bombastic laugh that explodes on contact, wears coloured wigs and he is obsessed with scatological humour. He is portrayed in the film as a figure that stands out against the sea of grain whereas his contemporaries are all portrayed as so called elevated beings. Mozart makes a pass at this when he says of legends ‘people so lofty they seem as if they shit marble. Who would not rather listen to his hairdresser than Hercules?’ There is some criticism of this portrayal of Mozart who probably was not as exuberant in real life but I agree with Roger Ebert when he says that too often geniuses are portrayed in films as if their work is a great burden. Mozart is a down to earth man who seems not to take his work seriously when in fact he does. This is why Salieri says ‘It’s as if he takes dictation from God’. This is evident when Salieri is presented with drafts of Mozart’s music ‘which show no signs of correction’. This would fit into the religious theme but from a practical perspective it is clear that few people who transcribe their ideas on paper make no mistakes whatsoever. There are times when they have to go over their notes and check whether or not this or that fits in with the narrative. Revisions are therefore necessary even for the greatest thinkers. This is why we call them geniuses and not godlike. They give us the final product and not drafts. If they did give us drafts we would be merciless with our criticisms and therefore it is amazing that Salieri found no fault whatsoever with the drafts. As a fictional account however it fits within the religious theme ‘taking dictation from God’. Salieri therefore does not see Mozart as a man but as a creature which serves to enhance the strangeness in Mozart but at the same time highlights the reason why he should be exalted above other men. It is therefore something one should think about. How much is Salieri’s perception of Mozart influencing how Mozart is portrayed in the film? Salieri’s account seems distorted because of his love/hate relationship with Mozart which is why Mozart appears so different in the film itself since it is primarily a recount by Salieri himself. There are three episodes in the film which serve to illustrate that Mozart was a learned man but through Salieri’s testimony, that is given to us, he appears disdainful of the music of Salieri and others who seem to represent the mundane. Mozart had to to master those that came before him before he could move forward.  Firstly, Mozart says in reply to the chamberlain who says there are other composers in Vienna who could teach the niece of the emperor. Mozart replies ‘I know but I’m the best’. Secondly when Mozart first meets Salieri he says ‘Y’know i actually composed some variations on a melody of yours. A funny little tune but it yielded some good things.’ Thirdly, when Mozart is at a party salieri in a mask asks him to play Salieri, Mozart says to the crowd,’ Now that is a challenge’. He starts to play the piano with his head bowed as if serious but when his face emerges it is contorted (to reflect Salieri’s constipated approach to music) he then breaks wind as a sign that Salieri later releases this tension after composing his music. It is a pretty funny scene. Salieri says ‘Go on laugh but soon I’ll be laughing at you’. It is this scene where Salieri decides to find some means of achieving Mozart’s death.  Mozart even tries his hand at Johann Sebastian Bach on the piano by playing one of his melodies upside down. The actual history says that Mozart did grapple with Bach when he came into contact with Bach’s manuscripts so this scene would probably reflect his mastery of Bach’s musical compositions.

Mozart would seem like a feather in the wind (Forrest Gump intro?) if it were not for his wife and father who are the grounding elements in his life. They are both practical people. His wife Constanze says ‘ money just slips through his fingers. Its ridiculous’. His father also dedicated his life to training Mozart and he too wanted Mozart to pursue a suitable musical career which would involve teaching students, ‘composition does not pay you know that’ after Mozart says that students get in the way and ‘he must have time for composition’.  In the film Mozart does not take them seriously until his father dies and his wife gets too ill and has to go to the spa. When Constanze does return by the end, right before Mozart’s death, she says ‘show me that you need me’. When she was away he did miss her in his own way but as his mother in law reminds him ‘you only care about your music’. These two characters therefore add some gravitas to the character which is why Salieri tries to use them to achieve Mozart’s destruction. He tries to seduce Constanze by offering money when times get hard and after the death of Mozart’s father he tries to manifest himself in a costume once worn by his father so as to commission Mozart to write his famous requiem mass which was unfinished at the time of his death. These were the only two people Mozart really loved according to the film because they counteracted his flighty ideals with hardnosed reality. This film is fictional but actual historical accounts do state that Mozart did have concerns about money and he was commissioned to compose some melodies for the emperor’s balls. He fell on hard times not because he was so consumed with music but because Austria was at war and the government could not afford to keep musicians on its payroll. I emphasise this because it contradicts the portrayal in the film which centres on religious based themes. There are therefore noticeable gaps in the presentation for instance no real account is given why Mozart does not perform at the National theatre any more or the real circumstances for his lack of funds.

 Mozart also distinguishes himself from his colleagues because he wants to be loved from top to bottom i.e. from the aristocrats to the regular man in the street and this is why Mozart does not blush when his opera ‘Don Giovanni’ is vulgarized as a vaudeville. This would however help to explain why his stature grew after his death because at least the so called common man would carry the music of Mozart around after his death. Salieri only played for the aristocrats and whereas he was accepted by them if you do not find means to be absorbed within the collective memory as opposed to a particular class you will certainly be forgotten. Mozart in the film performs ‘The Magic Flute’ with its fanciful elements which, simultaneously, catch the eye of the ordinary man and the aristocrat (Salieri could not  miss anything performed live by Mozart) because it would be grounded in the typical Mozart brilliance for pushing the limits of music.


 The Death of Mozart

Salieri seeks to achieve Mozart’s death not by physical means but by coveting the music of Mozat for his own. The play by Pushkin simplified the issue by having Salieri visibly poisoning Mozart. Salieri under the guise of a costume once worn by Mozart’s deceased father commissions him to write a death mass or Requiem. Mozart agrees because he is reminded of his dead father; he exclaims later on that ‘it is killing me’. This is no surprise since having such godlike abilities he would naturally be in tune with what it’s like to face death from an artistic point of view. This is why you have scenes which show him trying to counter this imposing menace of death by writing ‘The Magic Flute’ which was written for everyone. In the final scene Mozart says to Salieri who is helping him to finish write the ‘Requiem’ ‘Do you believe in it a ever burning fire?’ (not exact quote). Mozart has finally come to grips with his limits but was still able to pen his final unfinished masterpiece. Salieri also suffered a death at this point as well which was why in the film’s final brilliant scene he is trying to coax as much out of the dying Mozart so that he can use it for his own. If you ever do watch it try and see if you pick up how they show Mozart dictating to Salieri who cannot keep up thereby emphasising how behind he is and why Mozart himself was the only one capable to take ‘dictation from God’. (Salieri offers to assist Mozart in writing the final sections of the requiem on Mozart’s death bed). Salieri, who obviously was a fictional composite of the other mediocre musicians of his day, dies because how else will he be able to relate to god now that one of his prophets is gone. Mozart humbled him on earth and this was necessary because Salieri is portrayed as a vain man and normally they can only learn through forceful means. Salieri does learn when he acknowledges that he is the champion for all mediocrities where as Mozart will blaze into the future. Tupac says ‘you thought it was but it wasn’t now disappear, bow down in the presence of a boss playa’.