Amadeus

1. Amadeus Music AppreciationHadley Music

2. Previewing the Movie • Remember this is Hollywood! Some parts of the movie are fictionalized and some are true! • After we watch the film, I’ll go through some of the True and False!

3. Who was Mozart? • Mozart’s full name was Johannes ChrysostomusWolfgangusTheophilosMozart. • Mozart lived from 1756 to 1791. • When he was in his 20s,he starting calling himself Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

4. Working in the 1700s • In the 1700s, great artists (musicians, painters, sculptors) were kept on retainer by the nobility and high ranking church officials. They paid the artists while giving them the opportunity to use their artistic talents and create great works. • In the 18th century (the 1700s), artists were strictly controlled. The stories they could present and the manner in which they were presented were subject to the whim of the sovereign, who could ban certain themes or topics.

6. Let’s watch Amadeus!

7. RICHTIG oder FALSCH : True or False What parts of the film are true ? • We now know that, although Salieri and Mozart wererivals, Salieri did not pay Mozart to compose a requiem. Someone else did that. For years after Mozart's death, a count named Walsegg claimed that the Requiem was his own work, however, no one was fooled.

8. Some claim that Salieri killed Mozart. This was a dramatic element added to the film. Some people did actually believe Salieri was responsible for the following reasons: • One reason is that Mozart died suddenly andunexpectedly. • Mozart also believed himself that someone was poisoning him. • At the time, no one really knew what had caused his deathat such a young age. • It was known that an anonymous 'mysterious man' had commissioned a Requiem Mass (a mass for the dead) from Mozart. • Salieri had actually confessed to murdering Mozart. When Salieri confessed, however, he had already been committed to aninsane asylum. The movie kept that part in as wesaw in the opening scenes. Thatpart was true.

9. Salieri was more of a colleague than a close friend of Mozart's. He could never have been close enough to poison his food or drink. • Mozart conducted the premier of 'The Magic Flute and several other performances. • He did not collapseon the opening night as shown in the film, so Salieri did nottake him home and nurse him or push him to finishwriting the Requiem. Most evil Queen of the Night, ever! Diana Damrau, legendary soprano! https://youtu.be/dpVV9jShEzU

10. Some medical experts feel Mozart died as the result of rheumatic fever which he had suffered as a child. • The disease causes swelling, fever, pain in the joints, and can damage the heart, causing death. • But, for the filmmakers, a death by heart failure is lessdramatic and interesting than what was depicted in the film -being worked to death by a jealous rival.

11. Mozart’s wife, Constanze, also had ill health but did not leave Mozart and go to a spa when he turned seriously ill. • Mozart was not left alone as in the film so he could then be worked to death by Salieri • His wife was with him.

12. In recent years a new theory has arisen - that Mozart died of trichinosis, that is, from eating pork which wasnot thoroughly cooked. • In a letter to his wife dated October 7, 1791, Mozart wrote: 'What do I smell ? Pork cutlets ! Che gusto ! [What adelicious smell ! ] I eat to your health.' • Trichinosis is a worm that has an incubation period of about 50 days. Mozart's favorite food had always been pork. If the porkwas not thoroughly cooked, then trichinosis - which wasnot discovered and named until 1860 - could have beenthe cause. Mozart died in 1791.

13. The latest theory is that Mozart died from a strep throat infection which led to kidney failure and his death. • Researchers have found in going through death records for Vienna that, at the time, there was a minor epidemic in Vienna involving edema (swelling of the body) caused probably by a strep infection. • Since there are no remains to be examined, we will never know for sure what caused his death.

14. The portrayal of Mozart's burial is accurate. He didnot have a pauper's funeral, just a third-class funeral. • The weather on the day of the funeral was actually rainyand snowy, as portrayed in the film. • The custom was to put the body in a cloth sack, put it ina grave with other bodies, and cover it with quicklime to speed up decomposition. This is what the movie showed. • The custom was to re-use graves due to lack of space and this is what happened to Mozart. • There are no remains; however, a grave marker has been placed in Vienna’s St. Marx Cemetery

15. Mozart’s personality • Mozart's personality was not as crude as we seeshown in the film. • He was exposed to aristocraticcircles as a child when he performed for the wealthy andlearned how to be politeand mannerly. • He may have been crass at times but only in his family circle.