The great irony is that after Mozart died, Salieri lived to see yet another genius rise up in his place - Salieri's own former student, Ludwig van Beethoven.
It's actually because of Constanze that so many people remember Mozart's work today. After his death he left a lot of debt. She went on a campaign of releasing and promoting his life's work. She sponsored a series of memorial musical events on which she was able to make a profit and pay off the debts. Because of her actions and influence, Mozart became even more renowned after his death.
Yes, as detailed in the book Mozart and Constanze, by Francis Carr, published in 1991. The actress who portrayed her, Elizabeth Berridge, looked remarkably like her.
Like others have said, Salieri and Mozart were not enemies at all (but it makes for a great story). They admired each other’s work and Salieri was actually the more popular/successful composer of the time. Mozart did die young and poor (he was terrible at managing money) and he was buried in an anonymous pauper’s grave. He was known to have a distinctive laugh that many found irritating and he loved toilet humor! He did perform for royalty as a child and was an astonishing music genius.
Mozart actually wrote a piece called "Lick my Ass Ass All Nice and Clean". That's the level of humor we're dealing with here. :) th-cam.com/video/-VsieYM4NZE/w-d-xo.html
admiring each others work is not the same as liking one another. and it is said Salieri did claim to kill Mozart. it could be he just got his music canceled. and Mozart was too advanced for his time. i had the fortune to be accepted to a school of the arts. played orchestral French Horn. the beauty of Mozart's music still fills my chambers. both architectural and biological. my heart swells, and a tear graces my cheek when hearing the melodies.
Mozart is the most famous child prodigy in history. He was a musical genius. He was so special that two hundred and thirty years after he died you still recognised his melody even though you didn't know what he was famous for.
One of the best films ever made. F. Murray Abraham gives one of my favorite performances of anything. His Oscar win for his portrayal of Salieri is so well deserved.
An absolutely jewel of cinema. And the confutatis scene my favorite! A few years ago I also discover this recreation of that scene and it became even better th-cam.com/video/dJ0AkP_BFhs/w-d-xo.html
Mozarts Requiem to me is one of the greatest pieces of music ever written By the way: If you ever got the chance to see "Amadeus" on stage, don't miss it! It's a totaly different experience than the movie!
I read that the director, Milos Forman, persuaded the playwright (Peter Shaffer) that a his play 'Amadeus' needed to be translated to "film language". Shaffer agreed since his former play 'Equus' with Richard Burton didn't succeed as film. A masterstroke by Forman was to have a priest listen to Salieri's story and confession..
I saw both (the play and the movie) and the movie is better. There are scenes that are much better in the movie such as "salieri's march". In the play its only Salieri and Mozart, but in the movie, everyone , including the Emperor, is there while Salieri is humiliated. Much much better effect. I dont think the director's cut really adds much, the salieri - constanza blackmail doesnt add much (its also on the play). The theatrical cut is the best in my opinion
Orson Welles, one of the greatest stage and film talents of his day, and director and star of what is considered to be the greatest film of all time once said, "No story has a happy ending unless you stop telling it before it's over." I am old enough now, to know the truth of that statement.
So nice to see some great old movies being watched. Seeing this in a MASSIVE one-screen theater at the age of 15 changed my life back in the ancient days of the 80s
I was 15 when I first saw AMADEUS, too, and went back three times after that first viewing with my parents. So fortunate that my folks took me to these sorts of movies, and AMADEUS is one of my top 20 films of all time.
The music is the 3rd main character. It is glorious and used masterfully during the movie. The scene where they write the Requiem is one of the greatest scenes ever. This movie is just the tip of the iceberg as far as Mozart's music is concerned.
As the daughter of a violist, I have listened to Mozart since before I was even born. I love Mozart, I adore classical music, when I hear it I think of my family and what is important to me
@@davidthompson62 And the most amazing thing is that he wrote all of them at the tender age of 19. But, he did many more piano concertos and admitted the piano was his favorite instrument.
The reality is Salieri was well respected his entire life and Mozart was very dedicated to his work, there was no rivalry between the two. And yes he did play music for aristocracy during his childhood because he was so talented
There are examples of Mozarts original workpages and they have sections scratched out and rewritten. He didnt just write it all flawlessly the first try. And you can still hear Salieri played on clasdic music stations occasionally. Great movie but not really truthful.
Yep, the movie took serious liberties with the real relationship between the two. We also know who commissioned the Requiem Mass-& it wasn't Salieri. Though the true commissioner did intend to take credit for the piece.
The scene that I always go to is when Salieri is reading Mozart's music for the first time, and describes it to the priest. It always brings a tear to my eye. A great film and I really enjoyed watching it with you.
My dad bought us kids up on Opera. We were a lower middle class family, but my father was a huge fan. He would sit us kids between two speakers and put on a record so that we could get the full stereo sound of the performance. For me, it was strange watching this film, because I knew the notes before they came, but I didn't know the names of the compositions. Thanks, pop. RIP.
My daughter was perhaps four when we showed her this on VHS. She was entranced by the opera scenes, none moreso than the Commendatore scene from Don Giovanni. Two years later, we took her to see it performed at the Barns of Wolf Trappe, outside Washington, DC. She was gobsmacked and sat enraptured through the whole three hours. Later, she became a Russian major, and one of the works she read (in the original) was none other than Pushkin's "Mozart and Salieri". Thus is the great circle of life complete.
As a classical vocalist, I absolutely love this movie in spite of its inaccuracies if only because it gives regular viewers a glimpse into classical music even if they aren't fans normally.
Fun Fact: For the death bed scene none of the actors knew each other's lines. Each of them were given an earpiece, musicians dictated terms to the actors and it was done on the fly. That moment of Salieri's frustration of not keeping up, then getting it is the actor getting lost and then getting back on track with the scene. What talent! Also, the scene that always gets me is when Salieri reveals his big plan and the expression on the priest's face is just one of abject horror at the monstrosity of Salieri's blasphemy. He wants to kill Mozart and by doing so humble God himself. Such powerful acting.
Literally false. The screenplay author has confirmed that he wrote the scene together with the film's musical director. The only non-written part was a single line of dialogue improvisation: "It goes with the harmony!"
We still have letters that he wrote to his sister, an amazing musician herself, that displays the reality of his specific type of humor depicted in the movie.
I was looking for somebody mentioning her. It is said she was a great musician and a talented singer as well, but since she was a woman, there was not so much encouragement for her back then. Sad she is not even mentioned in the movie, which is, tho, one of my favourites movies of all times anyway.
Not to mention the letters Mozart wrote, as a youngster, to his cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart, "das Bäsle". Quite naughty. More or less the same kind of language Mozart uses in the early stages of this movie, when he is 'struggling' with Constanze.
@@clevelandcbi That's so awesome! I was raised with Mozart and all the classic composers. Both my brothers were classically trained, one in guitar and the other in piano. So I literally grew up hearing this all the time as my brothers would be practicing it. Some of my friends I think it's kind of odd that I listen to opera. Now lemme tell you something... My brother who plays the piano just dropped off food for me and my mother. He made spaghetti with homemade sauce for us. Just so you're aware this is THE LAW that we were raised with in our house ok? You cannot make sauce OR any kind of Italian food WITHOUT Luciano Pavarotti playing! 😉❤️😎 #NYGenXBikerLady #Taino #Mohawk
This was the first movie I ever rented on VHS. Worth every penny. Have to admit, though, can't see or hear the title without Falco starting to run in my head on endless loop...😅😅😅
The opera Don Giovanni actually premiered in the opera house where they filmed it. It is in Prague. Mozart had two sons and Salieri paid for Mozart's son's education. There was some jealousy but there was a lot of license taken in the play. I did love the fact that they used the music of Mozart and of Salieri in the movie.
Both sons' educations? Yes, Salieri did write some great music. But I don't understand why Peter Shaffer, the playwright, villainized him. Did Salieri at the end of his life really delude himself into believing himself responsible for Mozart's death?
I just read that the Russian poet and short story writer Alexander Pushkin started the legend of Salieri pushing Mozart to his death; and the Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov's opera Mozart et Salieri popularized the legend. Hence it is still a popular speculation even to this day. I don't think there is evidence that Salieri himself ever believed himself responsible for Mozart's death.
It stuns me that Tom Hulce (Mozart) is nearly 70 today. And that his rather fetching bride, played by Elizabeth Berridge is now 60. Time passes so quickly.
Fun fact: F. Murray Abraham, who played Salieri and took home an Oscar, played "The Leaf" on the Fruit of the Loom underwear commercials for the previous few years prior to this movie.
This and the Beethoven epic, Immortal Beloved, are my go to films about the two maestros that changed music, and gave us some of the most gorgeous moments in the last few hundred years.
My favorite movie... It led me to composing and performing with the Utah Symphony. I started out writing little symphonies like his and Beethoven's mixed with contemporary classical. The accuracy of the period work is astounding. It won the Best Picture. The difference between the play and the movie is that they used the best most expensive performances of his music and added it in the movie everywhere. You could watch it again just to focus on listening to the music.
This movie also heavily inspired me to be a composer, and led me into the deepest analysis i've done yet on his mass, and now it touches me with such divine bliss that I am grateful for this movie, and all the potential it has unlocked across so many people who watched it.
Not the most "expensive" it's just performed by the Academy of Saint Martins in the Field conducted by Neville Mariner. Not the greatest legendary conductor ever. This orchestra is good but it's not Berlin or Vienna or Amsterdam .
The movie makes an interesting example of the Apollonian Vs the Dionysian artist. Salieri is the Apollonian. He is dedicated, prudent and measured. He is not naturally talented, but pure dedication and clawed himself up to ability through pure willpower. Mozart is the Dionysian. He is pure natural talent with no dedication. He is flighty, powerful, but lacks focus. He utilizes his natural talent to create beautiful pieces but fails to focus that talent. Definitely one of my favorite movies ever.
Unfortunately the ending burial part might be the most accurate part. We don't know where Mozart is actually buried, but he died poor. There are memorials around the area. Happy that you enjoyed the music, and hope that you share it with your family. It's worth it.
@@Tolstoy111 it should be mentioned that this way of massgrave burial from recicled simple coffins was however very recent invention introduced as part of very many reforms of Emperor Joseph II(who also followed Mozart to grave very soon afterwards)and did not survived Joseph reign for long.
When I was in Vienna a couple decades ago, it was possible to visit Mozart's home, referred to as Figaro House. It was actualy quite close to the centre of the old city and the cathedral (St. Steven's, as I recall).
The beggar's grave thing is actually a myth as a result of a mistranslation. Mozart was buried in a "common" grave, and translators assumed "common" meant it was a mass grave when it actually meant it was a grave for non-nobility. At the time in Vienna, there was a shortage of cemetary space, so common folk were buried without embalming and the graves would be reused every few years.
The story that the emperor tells about his sister and Mozart is actually true. Mozart did in fact play in front of the royal family as a young boy, tripped, and the princess Maria Antonia - yes the very one who became queen of France Marie Antoinette and who would lose her head during the french revolution - helped him up, and he announced he would marry her one day ❤
Wow you were lucky to see Mark Hamill, I always wondered how he would have been as Mozart, but studios didn't want Luke Skywalker as Mozart, but Tom Hulce made a really good job after all.
Antonio Salieri was a Contemporary of Mozart and was 6 years older than Mozart. In his time Salieri was quite well known but his work faded in the early 19th Century and by 1979 when the fictionalized play on which the film was based was written he was almost totally unknown, but the play, then the 1984 movie gave him a bit of a revival. In reality not much is known about the relationship Salieri had with Mozart, but it was certanly not as it was depicted in this story. Mozart was a pupal of Salieri along with Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, Ludwig van Beethoven, Anton Eberl, Johann Nepomuk Hummel.
One of my favorite movies. I know some things were exaggerated for dramatic effect, but as a musician who has neither perfect pitch or relative pitch and who can't memorize songs easily, I really admire musicians who do/can. I relate to the feeling of mediocrity especially when I'm playing with great players.
One moment that everybody misses is the part where Mozart asks the Emperor to "Please let it be German." Although Mozart was Austrian, and therefore German would be his native language (and the Emperor's as well), it's such a coarse language to listen to (Dutch as well) that many believed that it wouldn't work for opera. Italian was seen as more melodic and easier on the ears, so to speak.
Truth is both men were accomplished contemporaries, almost friends. Movie is brilliant, saw it in theaters, but plays loose for the sake of a story. Still, a masterpiece. Everyone I knew had the poster.
The Emperor 's sister is Marie Antoinette, this is why the court composers opposed the Marriage of Figaro because it deals with the class system and King Louis and Marie Antoinette were feeling pressure from their French subjects which led to the French Revolution.
I fell in love with the movie Amadeus when it was released on VHS in1984....I think he lived in the 18th century, around 250 years ago...He was a musical genius....As we were watching this movie, my father said, a thousand years from now Mozart's music will still be relevant.
Love this film... in my top 20 films ever list. Oddly I saw it for the first time when I was 10 years old in 1984 LOL - still loved it. It only got better as I got older and understood it more.
12:03 "he doesn't want to sleep with her he just wants revenge." This. This movie was Never about Mozart. This Film is about a man struggling with his own morality, with his beliefs, with his ego and with his own faith. This is cemented with the scene where his hand is shaking to ring the bell calling his servant to remove her after she returns showing for the first time Salieri's unshaking image falters, the image the audience holds, that the public holds, the royal Court holds, the king holds, he himself holds, is shaken to the core. He in that moment pivots his character, forsaking God and Himself to lash out in revenge for his own insecurities. I could write a book on this movie.
This is quite possibly my favorite movie of all time. I've seen it several dozen times but it doesn't matter, whenever I happen to catch it on TV (which is exceedingly rare nowadays, for some reason it was much more common in the 90s) I'll stop and watch it. An epic masterpiece, perfect in every way.
I had to move way for work in the late 80’s for 3 years and watched it 1 or 2 time a month to keep me sane. It was like a good friend.I read a college textbook on Mozart and know the real story but it is close enough for me.
This is probably one of my top 25 favorite films. It's my favorite film of the 80s and I think it's the best film of the 80s. In addition to being Mozart's middle name, Amadeus is Latin basically for "One Beloved of God." Pretty fitting for the film, right?
Cassie! I'm SO glad you enjoyed this film. Amadeus has been one of my favorite films since it was released. The scene near the end where Salieri is at Mozart's bedside helping him with his composition always has me on the edge of my seat, and I was happy to see you get into that scene, too; I actually got kind of emotional watching your reactions as that scene progressed, knowing how it ends. I, too, am no authority on classical music, but I do occasionally like to listen to this soundtrack. Again, I'm really glad that you seemed to enjoy Amadeus. Keep up the great work; your videos are always so fun to watch. 🍿
Yet, this movie does turn out to be strangely Halloween appropriate, what with a protagonist who burns a crucifix and renounces God, a glimpse of Mozart's spooky *Don Giovanni,* Salieri's creepy masquerade, the emphasis on Mozart's *Requiem* (Mass for the Dead), and the disturbing depiction of Mozart's body being thrown into a communal grave.
That scene where poor Salieri is humiliated when he presents his march to Emperor Joseph, and Mozart turns it into so much better, is painful and priceless.
Which, of course, you all recognized as Cherubino's march, "Non più andrai" from "The Marriage of Figaro", right? th-cam.com/video/e1-FKyOTvto/w-d-xo.html
Mozart was buried in a Pauper's grave and has never been found. He collapsed while directing "The Magic Flute" (Mr Clown was Shickenader who commissioned that opera.) His wife Constanza was the "Hero" who saved his work. It was well known that as a child he played for courts, but saving his actual work was the amazing part of this. His older sister Marianne, who he called "Nanneral, also was as talented in her own way, but women were not allowed to do that kind of work. A lot of the movie was true, but the "Plot" by Salieri was fictional. Salieri is actually a fine composer. Many anecdotes about Mozart's character were written of by people who knew him. He was a rude joker who liked to drink and have fun. He died of whatever the disease de jour was at the time. They did not know anything about germ theory, so it could have been anything. Typhus, cholera, you pick it.
Salieri in his day was a very talented composer and teacher. His students included Liszt, Schubert, and Beethoven. His music was and is well respected. The portrayal of him in this movie is quite exaggerated by all accounts and has portrayed him in an undeserved negative light. What the movie in a general sense touches on is what it it was like for Salieri (and contemporaries) to be compared to Mozart, a superstar. However, Mozart's music didn't become popular during his lifetime but years later. Salieri was pretty major at the time. Mozart and Salieri were acquaintances and possibly friends regardless of what the movie portrays. The movie is based on a story written years after Mozart's death where someone conjectured Salieri was involved in his 'untimely' death. There is a lot of factual representation in this movie of Mozart for what it's worth. I invite any and all interested in checking out a video reviewing the movie for its accuracy (not a reaction video) that I find quite entertaining as well as informative. It's done by 'The History Buff: at: th-cam.com/video/_X_iAGFaE80/w-d-xo.html
This movie is based on a story originated by Alexander Pushkin based on a rumor that blew up into what would we would called an urban legend today. What killed Mozart is a mystery. Salieri and Mozart had a collegial relationship and no outward animosity was known to exist between them.
@Darkstar You do realize your comment literally makes no logical sense. How exactly could I come up with any information about Mozart, the movie, Pushkin or the various plays that proceeded this movie without either reading it or hearing about it. If you want something original, then I can tell you that I managed to see the premiere of the play this movie is based on performed in the Estates Theater in 2017.
I love how at the beginning of the movie, the first thing we hear is Salieri crying out to Mozart to "forgive him" ... and the last words we hear Mozart say is "Forgive me?"
Btw, the statement of Emperor Joseph II saying the opera had "too many notes" was irl something he said about one of Mozart's operas (though I'm not sure if it was "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" like in the movie). With another opera, the Emperor noted that "the Bass sounded too low". Mozart's music is amazing. If you have iTunes or Spotify, you should have access to most of his works, performed by many incredibly talented musicians. Highly recommend checking it all out!
I love, love, love this film, and am delighted to see that you’ve now watched and reacted to it. The duality of adoration and jealousy that Salieri has for Mozart in the film, right up to the credits, is both complex and enthralling. F. Murray Abraham played Salieri and won a well-deserved Academy Award for his performance.
Mozart died at the age of 35 of renal (Kidney) failure. As was alluded to in the film, Mozart did drink to excess at times and this, associated poor diet and primarily the acute effects of Typhus is thought by some to be the cause(s) of his death. He was buried in a "Pauper's grave" (mass grave) with other bodies, as he or his wife could not afford a proper burial. He is considered by most be THE greatest composer of all time.
In the fictionalized movie Amadeus, Salieri had a great gift, it just wasn't the one he wanted. His gift was to be the ONLY ONE who could recognize Mozart's genius for what it was.
Salieri was not a hack, you know. He wrote lovely pieces. He was not the "mediocrity" portrayed here at all. He just hasn't been _remembered_ as well as Mozart. After all, he couldn't have become the most well-known AND popular composers in Europe if his work was krap.
@@GregInHouston2 Then your thought is wrong, because Salieri neither hated nor was jealous of Mozart. They liked each other and helped each other out. Biopics are NOT reality.
In the context of the play and the movie, this is absolutely true. There's no play if Salieri and Mozart respected each other and got along well and went their way. And Salieri's quarrel was not with Mozart, as he says many times. It was through him and with his god.
Glad I am, Miss Cassie, that at long last you come upon this gem. Many have pointed this out already, but it cannot be said too often: _this is a work of fiction first, and fact second._ In a way, it's a pity that it's made so well, because it can convince the simple-minded that it is all sober history when, as you've doubtless learned by now, it is far from the truth in important respects. Yet I was sufficiently intrigued by Salieri, thanks to this movie, that I sought out a CD of *Axur* (his opera, the finale of which is staged in the movie) and finally received one for Xmas a few years ago. It really is quite good! Fun fact: Every Easter in Vatican City, Gregorio Allegri's *Miserere* (a lengthy, complex contrapuntal composition commemorating Christ's three days in the tomb) is sung in the Basilica. The Church regarded this piece of music so highly that the sole copy of the score was kept in the vaults of the Vatican library, and jealously guarded; in fact, to reproduce this holy work in any form was punishable by excommunication. Visiting Rome one year, young Mozart heard it performed (only once, of course). Returning to his rooms, _he transcribed the entire score from memory._ (Just couldn't resist the challenge, I guess.) And when the Pope got word of it, he was so impressed by this feat of mentation that instead of being kicked out of the Church, Mozart was awarded the Cross of the Order of the Golden Spur! I'm just a little sorry that you passed up *A Passage to India* this time around - it too is a magisterial work (the final film by the legendary David Lean, who also directed *Lawrence of Arabia* and *Doctor Zhivago* ), a film as immense in scope and sweep, and as breathtakingly beautiful, as India itself. But an even better film about India to my way of thinking is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year - Richard Attenborough's Oscar-winning opus *Gandhi,* with Ben Kingsley (who, like Attenborough, was not yet a "Sir") in his Oscar-winning role as the apostle of peaceful resistance to oppression. It would be nice if someone were to react to this film before the close of the year - and I think you could do it admirably. It really is a most inspiring movie about a most inspiring human being who stands to the 20th century as a ready-made icon of Good in the same way that Hitler stands for Evil. (Both men had careers that are almost beyond all believing.) But, whichever way you choose to go next, have fun, God bless, take care and KEEP GOING! (Not necessarily in that order.) 😎
One of the earliest known photographs is of Mozart's wife, Stanzi (sp?), in a group photo. She was extremely old in the photo as it was taken during photography's infancy. I was blown away when I learned it was her. One of my favorite cinematic moments is the two composers writing what would be Mozart's last piece. Whether it actually happened or not....? Who knows. Still a fantastic and moving scene.
what is known is that several composers helped Mozart write his Requiem on his deathbed. I remember one of them being called Süssmayer. I was writing this comment and started reading wikepedia about it. I'm still there. fascinating!!
The end of Act II of Marriage of Figaro that he describes at 17:13 is truly amazing. What he explains is that there are 20 minutes straight of music with no one talking or singing "recitative", which is a type of sing-speech typically used to connect scenes and push the plot forward in operas. The end of Act II is extremely difficult to pull off: he turns a duet into a trio into a quartet into a quintet, back to quartet, and then into a septet (seven people) to finish it off. All the while, he's making the characters talk to each other, talk to the audience, and argue with each other, while he's pushing the plot forward AND making it suitable for stage direction. It blew me away when I saw it live, and there are awesome recordings around TH-cam. If you ever have a chance to see Marriage of Figaro live, do it. The four hours flies by.
This is one of my favorite movies, even though this is largely apocryphal. A fiction of a great imagination using facts to reinforce the fiction. Salieri and Mozart were at least friendly colleagues, if not true friends in real life.
As far as I'm aware there's no historical evidence of animosity between them, but the way the movie plays out noone other than the priest would've ever learned of Salieri's hatred and scheming. The movie isn't supported by history but also not contradicted by it.
Probably my favorite film. I never understood the hatred from the classical community for this movie. I've seen it trashed all over classical message boards. In my opinion, it does not make Mozart look like a buffoon. He was of course more complicated a character. As a film (and play), it is brilliant. It deserved all the awards it received. The "Salieri killed Mozart" thing was just a rumor following Mozart's death. It gained a lot more traction with Alexander Pushkin's 1830 fictional drama "Mozart and Salieri" where Salieri does actually kill him. That play is largely what Peter Shaffer used when creating his own comedic play "Amadeus" from which this movie is based.
The best film ever made in my opinion, and yes, people that studied music trash it, but they don’t realize Mozart was quite like this, I have read 30 biographies of Mozart and it is quite true
Very simple: Most musicians, like everybody else in every profession, are mediocrities. And as a rule, mediocrities resent genius when they encounter it, and realize they can never, no matter how much they practice, approach that which those who have the gift can achieve without apparent effort. Myself, I always stand in awe of real genius, and my heart just leaps whenever I do encounter it.
He died of a combination of ailments, part gastrointestinal and consumption. The funeral was a pauper's service. There was an attempt to locate his remains for a separate burial. What exists today is a monument of sorts at the mass burial site.
The real tragedy of Salieri is how sometimes just the existence of extreme talent or genius can change your life because you were pulled into its orbit. In virtually all respects he was already better off than Mozart, as a financially stable and respected authority in his craft, but he's also talented enough to recognize just how good Mozart is by comparison even when others can't. The movie might be historically questionable, but I love how it shows two personalities that could have balanced each other were prevented from forming an actual genuine bond by one's obsessive resent and the other's oblivious devotion to his art above all else.
I've always felt extremely fortunate whenever I happen to encounter real genius, whether in my field or any other. It is a joy to watch someone truly excelling at something, regardless of whether you, yourself, could ever hope to match it.
I was like you after seeing "Amadeus".... curious about the factual events in Mozart's life. I bought a lot of books about Mozart but a really good one that I came across that was very intriguing, enlightening and entertaining is actually an audio book by an educational company called, "The Great Courses". They have several titles on different composers. I bought this particular title and all the other titles within this series on great composers on "Amazon Audio". There are three on Mozart that bring him to life through accounts of people who knew him, through his letters and people who corresponded with him, diaries, accounts from his wife and even composers who collaborated with him and a personal account of his final hours...the treatment/procedure that the doctor used, despite how weak he was, that contributed to his death. What makes it even more special is that his music is also included, that a lot of times, reflects the events in Mozart's life. There are three audio books: - Great Masters: Mozart - His Life and Music - The Operas of Mozart - The Chamber Music of Mozart
I was able to hear Mozart's Requiem performed live at my national arts theater and it was amazing. It is so much more powerful and all-encompassing live, even though I could only afford nose-bleed tickets.
F Murray Abraham won the Oscar for Best Actor, but it is truly rare when two actors get nominated in the same category. Tom Hulce was also nominated in the category.
4:06 He's a composer/musician/conductor. He wrote all of his music and can play violin and piano, harpsichord. When you're a conductor you can't play ALL the instruments of course. He's directing the musicians to play HIS music.
This movie is such a masterpiece. F. Murray Abraham's performance as Salieri is outstanding. He even got an Oscar for it, out of the eight that this movie won.
This is one of my favorite movies. I'm not an expert, but I think they took some liberties with the history. The end, I think, was accurate. His body was dumped into a pauper's grave. I don't know how long after his death his music became popular, but he's not the only artist to not be recognized during their lives. Vincent Van Gogh couldn't give his art away. His brother bought a few pieces out of charity.
It wasn't a pauper's grave, but he was buried in a simple unmarked plot as befitting his status. They don't know the exact spot where he's been buried, but the rough area in which he's likely buried has been identified. There's an old local myth that claims that nightingales sing more sweetly over his grave site than anywhere else in Europe
“Some liberties” is a vast understatement. I’d say about 80% of this movie is pure fiction. Edit: Still a really good movie, though, and deserving of its awards. Just not remotely historically accurate.
I have never seen anything by Salieri offered in any major cities opera season. Amazingly, anything by Mozart sells out well before the actual dates of the opera. The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Fígaro. Hundreds of years after his death and Mozart still sells them out. Impressive to say the least.
GIRL!!!!! you entered my world :D I fell in love with the world of classical music thanks to films such as this. FYI this comment is written before I start to watch your reaction :D
Thank you for reviewing this film, which is one of my favorites!!! As it was discovered watching the film, it's title is pronounced "Ah-mah-DAY-us" or "Ah-mah-DAY-oos." For those wondering, the largest liberates this film takes with history are: 1. Mozart likely died of a kidney infection 2. Salieri was married and never tried to seduce Constanze (this is only in the Director's Cut) although he did have a well-known and open affair with Madame Cavaleri 3. Mozart and Salieri were rivals but friends - Salieri was invited by Mozart to see The Magic Flute (Mozart never passed out performing in it nor did Salieri ever assist with the Requiem.) 4. The Requiem was commissioned in secret by a Count who wanted to pass it off as his own work for his deceased wife, and while Mozart died while composing it, it was a student of his that completed it. 5. Mozart's father may have not approved of all of his son's actions, they had a good relationship when Leopold died.
Thank you so much for this wonderful reaction/review of Amadeus. It was one of my late father's favorite films and this video was posted on TH-cam on what would have been his birthday. This film was so brilliant and I'm glad it's being appreciated nearly 40 years after it was released. The classics never go away, thankfully.
Watching you discover not just this movie....but Mozart himself....was really special. Fantastic. I was getting goosebumps. I love how much of Mozart's music you already knew! That proves what Salieri was talking about. Mozart also wrote "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"! (when he was, like, 3!). I know you know that one! The theatrical version is more concise, (and shorter), I much prefer it.......but you can't even find it anymore! It's too bad because it was perfect as it was, and now it feels a little bloated. But it's still great, either way. THANKS, CASSIE!!!!!!
I was a working musician in my younger years. There was always fellow musicians I would perform with that were just so naturally gifted and talented beyond my abilities that one just could not help standing back with a mixture of awe and envy. In the musician world , one very quickly figures out his "'place"" in the heirarchy when playing with other musicians. By the way , the very best most talented and gifted musicians are not always the ones who become famous or rich . High quality studio musicians , for example , are almost always leagues beyond in talent than the famous musician "'stars"" that they are backing up.
This is firmly in my all-time Top 10 films, maybe Top 5. Note the clever irony of it being named "Amadeus" when its focus is primarily on Salieri. I've seen it many times, my favourite of which being a screening in a playhouse in Edinburgh with *all* of the music performed *live* by an orchestra beneath the screen. Yes, it tangents quite significantly from actual history, but it does so to produce a supreme and haunting story (Peter Shaffer also wrote "Equus", which may be even more disturbing). And you're so right about the two lead actors - F. Murray Abraham (Salieri) in particular, who came pretty much from nowhere, won the Best Actor Oscar for this, and then has never been in another hit like it since. I'm so pleased to see Amadeus get attention from another big-name reactor (after Ashleigh Burton), and hopefully some others will follow suit after this - thank you, Cassie!
*Equus* was filmed in 1977, with Richard Burton in the leading role. Daniel Radcliffe appeared in a 2007 London revival of the play that later transferred to Broadway.
@@oliverbrownlow5615 Funnily enough, I also saw the play of "Equus" via that 2007 revival at the same Edinburgh Playhouse as I'd see the film of "Amadeus" a decade later. The only thing was it was Alfie Allen (as in brother of Lily and son of Keith) in the lead role instead of Daniel Radcliffe for the Edinburgh performances. One thing I remember well is the way they transported him via flashback to a beach with the use of a static yellow spotlight surrounded by flickering blue ones, to signify sand surrounded by shimmering water. Another is that the performance began with the curtain opening and Allen walking onto the stage in near-total darkness, standing still for a full minute as ominous string music played... and then walking off, the music fading and the curtain closing; a voiceover then came over apologising for technical difficulties. It got a sympathetic laugh; we'd all thought the lack of light was quite intentional! It started properly after another ten minutes or so, and was absolutely worth it.
I have many friends playing in this movie (not the major roles) and even didn't want go and see another movie about a composer ....But I went encouraged by my friend to see them.....WOW it was greatest movie experience ever and the most realistic impression how would genius musician live and die. ...trust me I shared accommodation with them....The Best Years of My life!
So glad you reacted to this masterpiece movie. It inspires people to learn more about Mozart's works & classical music in general. It also compels us to do some historical research. We find the masterpiece movie is just that - a compelling & brilliant movie.
I'm glad that you finally got around to this one. To be honest, there are a lot of films from the 1900's that were once immensely popular, and at the time, it felt as if they'd never go out of style. Unfortunately, time passes, and there were a lot of good movies made during this time. AS time passes, the most popular films stay at the top, while the lesser ones eventually fade. Eventually, even popular films can vanish, until they're rediscovered. I'm a bit surprised that you have no experience with music, as you've stated. It used to be that it was hard to get away from classical music in pop culture. Whether it be music for a commercial, the background for cartoons. Classical music always loomed in the background. I'd recommend adding a bit of classical to your life - as much as you can stand. You might find that there's more out there that you like. It's nice to remember culture as it was, and to preserve it. It's a lot like watching films that you've never seen before. It's interesting to see what the lives of the musicians of the past were like. They didn't just pick up an instrument & strum and sing. They wrote musical parts for many people. I am glad you enjoyed the film. There are still a lot of films that are new to you, to enjoy.
Cassie, I am SO glad you liked this film. I saw the stage play when I was a sophomore in college and I saw the the movie when it first came out in a packed theater in Dallas when I was a grad student. The collective **gasp** of the audience at the crucifix scene is one of my strongest memories as a film goer. If you enjoyed the music and are intrigued to hear more, look for the soundtrack. There are two volumes I believe. It is really good. 😊 Great job on this one. I really enjoyed rewatching it with you!
@@CaesiusX Yes!! It was the touring company production the winter of 82/83. This was just after Ian McKellen and Tim Curry did the Broadway opening run. I was a kid from the cornfields of Illinois having all sorts of eye opening experiences at Purdue University as an undergrad. Amadeus was one of them. 😃
Love your pure reactions and I quickly became a subscriber (also love it when you bring Carly along) Knowing you loved Casablanca and seeing it was in B&W, I feel obliged to recommend a few B&W classics which are great movies that I think you will love also. The first is The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) with a stunning performance by Charles Laughton and a very young Maureen O'Hara (The Quiet Man). Since you liked Bogart, 3 more of his popular ones are The Maltese Falcon, To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep. Back to Westerns, a young John Wayne (The Quiet Man) got his big break in Stagecoach (1939) He was the bridge between the popular cowboys of the 20s and 30s and Clint Eastwood. Don't know if you see a pattern yet, but 1939 is considered the Golden Year for Hollywood.
Peter Shaffer, who wrote the original play and screenplay for Amadeus also wrote the marvelous and chilling play Equus. Shaffer had a twin brother Anthony, also a talented playwright, who wrote the hugely successful play Sleuth. Amadeus plays with themes of identity, jealousy and creativity. Peter may have felt that he was always competing in the same arena as his brother.
Thank you for shining a light on this movie. Even as a winner of Best Picture, this is a movie that is not that remembered that much today. Glad you enjoyed it!
It is deeply underappreciated. One of the best soundtracks ever. Excellent editing. Beautiful sets and costumes. Everything about it is just really good.
Oh you picked one of my favorite films. And it is continued to be a favorite of mine since I was a kid. It made me appreciate classical music and theater. It made me search out the stories of these classic artists Mozart was Way beyond a genius and way before his time. He was loved and cherished and feared and exasperating and his relationship with salieri is only touched and more dramatically interpreted with this film but regardless it is a classic to be sure.
This was one of the first films I watched when I made a conscious decision to broaden my horizons in college. So, I chose a film whose cover art had always intrigued me and I was blown away.
I love watching you get progressively more invested in this movie as it goes on. You’re even listening to the way they talk and your commentary becomes more articulate.
I remember from a Two Set Violin video hearing that Mozart's original manuscripts really were clean and neat as if he was merely taking dictation and writing down music that was already complete in his head. Someone like Beethoven, on the other hand, had original manuscripts that were full of corrections and re-workings showing the passion and toil of working and re-working the music on the paper. (And when musicians play their respective music, it should be played to reflect that.)
While I love Two Set Violin, they are not music historians and have bought into some of the myths about Mozart. He absolutely made scribbles and corrections in his manuscripts, just like Beethoven and others. You can see them in scans of his manuscripts on various museum and library sites on the internet. It’s well-documented that Mozart’s family spread a lot of rumours and lies like this after his death to build up his persona, but they’re just not true.
One thing I LOVE so much about this movie is the message about music it sends. Music is divine and beautiful but mist important it is fun. Mozart is shown to be having so much fun and playing around with his music like a child. This is how music should be approached and if you ever want to improve and become good, play like a child...have fun and explore.
The great irony is that after Mozart died, Salieri lived to see yet another genius rise up in his place - Salieri's own former student, Ludwig van Beethoven.
No!!! Not Ludwig Van!!!
@@UltimateThanos 😂
@Brad1980 Beethoven was a student of Salieri's, which is what I was referring to.
@Brad1980 He was saying Beethoven was Salieri's student, not Mozart's.
@Brad1980 🙄
It's actually because of Constanze that so many people remember Mozart's work today. After his death he left a lot of debt. She went on a campaign of releasing and promoting his life's work. She sponsored a series of memorial musical events on which she was able to make a profit and pay off the debts. Because of her actions and influence, Mozart became even more renowned after his death.
Yes, as detailed in the book Mozart and Constanze, by Francis Carr, published in 1991. The actress who portrayed her, Elizabeth Berridge, looked remarkably like her.
@@dondragmer2412 So she was absolutely adorable, too?
@@dondragmer2412 Oh! I never knew about that book!Def gonna look into it...
@@geoculus5606 Right??? I remember watching this movie as a teenager and not being able to take my eyes off her whenever she was on screen.
yeah ok....I'm fairly sure that the music being the best ever written also helped as well
Like others have said, Salieri and Mozart were not enemies at all (but it makes for a great story). They admired each other’s work and Salieri was actually the more popular/successful composer of the time. Mozart did die young and poor (he was terrible at managing money) and he was buried in an anonymous pauper’s grave. He was known to have a distinctive laugh that many found irritating and he loved toilet humor! He did perform for royalty as a child and was an astonishing music genius.
Mostly, correct, but the anonymous pauper's grave is a myth generated from a misunderstanding I believe
Mozart actually wrote a piece called "Lick my Ass Ass All Nice and Clean". That's the level of humor we're dealing with here. :)
th-cam.com/video/-VsieYM4NZE/w-d-xo.html
admiring each others work is not the same as liking one another. and it is said Salieri did claim to kill Mozart. it could be he just got his music canceled. and Mozart was too advanced for his time. i had the fortune to be accepted to a school of the arts. played orchestral French Horn. the beauty of Mozart's music still fills my chambers. both architectural and biological. my heart swells, and a tear graces my cheek when hearing the melodies.
@@victore6242 Salieri taught Mozart's son. You think you would let your kid be taught to someone that hated you?
@@appledane I know! Omg, I've seen it performed by a children's choir which made it even more weird and gross.
Mozart is the most famous child prodigy in history. He was a musical genius. He was so special that two hundred and thirty years after he died you still recognised his melody even though you didn't know what he was famous for.
Kinda funny how recent his famous still is that they made his doppelganger the final boss of some rhythm game.
@@jayeisenhardt1337 looool
I wonder if we'll Ever see his like again. Can you imagine being That Gifted? At his age? Wow
He composed the alphabet song and happy birthday melodies... (Later the melodies would be used for the songs we know today)
@@deusexmachina2222 Didn't he also compose Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star? I think I read that somewhere
One of the best films ever made. F. Murray Abraham gives one of my favorite performances of anything. His Oscar win for his portrayal of Salieri is so well deserved.
Both he and Tom Hulce deserved the Oscar. Both were essential to each other's performance and neither was a "supporting" actor in this.
Well, technically, it was from Salieri's perspective, but I know what you mean. I think he was even more prominent in the original play.
One of the truly perfect films ever made. A masterpiece from top to bottom.
An absolutely jewel of cinema. And the confutatis scene my favorite! A few years ago I also discover this recreation of that scene and it became even better th-cam.com/video/dJ0AkP_BFhs/w-d-xo.html
@@MontyXZ A superb scene. One of the best scenes of the film. I’ve seen and loved that video many times now.
Mozarts Requiem to me is one of the greatest pieces of music ever written
By the way: If you ever got the chance to see "Amadeus" on stage, don't miss it! It's a totaly different experience than the movie!
I read that the director, Milos Forman, persuaded the playwright (Peter Shaffer) that a his play 'Amadeus' needed to be translated to "film language". Shaffer agreed since his former play 'Equus' with Richard Burton didn't succeed as film. A masterstroke by Forman was to have a priest listen to Salieri's story and confession..
I saw both (the play and the movie) and the movie is better. There are scenes that are much better in the movie such as "salieri's march". In the play its only Salieri and Mozart, but in the movie, everyone , including the Emperor, is there while Salieri is humiliated. Much much better effect. I dont think the director's cut really adds much, the salieri - constanza blackmail doesnt add much (its also on the play). The theatrical cut is the best in my opinion
Especially with a full orchestra!
One of the BEST movies ever made, won a ton of Oscars and I am soooo happy you watched this! ❤️👍 And yes, Mozart was a genius.
It was one of the best by far in my lifetime, really want to watch something like this again.
Yes, indeed. He composed his first opera, Apolla et Hyacinthus, at age 11.
The commentary is shallow, which is understandable because the commentator is a bubble-head.
Orson Welles, one of the greatest stage and film talents of his day, and director and star of what is considered to be the greatest film of all time once said, "No story has a happy ending unless you stop telling it before it's over." I am old enough now, to know the truth of that statement.
So nice to see some great old movies being watched. Seeing this in a MASSIVE one-screen theater at the age of 15 changed my life back in the ancient days of the 80s
I actually saw it in HS. One of my favorite teachers showed it to us. I've probably seen it 75 times since HS
Ancient days of the 80s????? Seems like yesterday when the hostages in Iran got released. The F-22 Raptor was designed in the 80s.
I was 15 when I first saw AMADEUS, too, and went back three times after that first viewing with my parents. So fortunate that my folks took me to these sorts of movies, and AMADEUS is one of my top 20 films of all time.
The music is the 3rd main character. It is glorious and used masterfully during the movie. The scene where they write the Requiem is one of the greatest scenes ever. This movie is just the tip of the iceberg as far as Mozart's music is concerned.
It would be more accurate to say that the music is the love interest of both - a love triangle:)
This video is an amazing dramatization of the scene with musical score:
th-cam.com/video/UMwaiA581AQ/w-d-xo.html
As the daughter of a violist, I have listened to Mozart since before I was even born. I love Mozart, I adore classical music, when I hear it I think of my family and what is important to me
My Mama played for me when i was in her Womb. My Love for classical music never died.
@@sirbonobo3907 I’m so glad you got to experience that, it’s such a blessing
Isn’t it sad he only penned 5 violin concerto’s. I think the 3rd is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written.
@@davidthompson62 And the most amazing thing is that he wrote all of them at the tender age of 19. But, he did many more piano concertos and admitted the piano was his favorite instrument.
The performance of the actor who plays Salieri is astounding. So great!
F. Murray Abraham
@@dondragmer2412 And he won the Oscar for this role.
The role of a lifetime..
I'm naming my firstborn "F" in his honor.
Also brilliant playing a bunch of grapes in a Fruit of the Loom commercial.
The reality is Salieri was well respected his entire life and Mozart was very dedicated to his work, there was no rivalry between the two.
And yes he did play music for aristocracy during his childhood because he was so talented
There are examples of Mozarts original workpages and they have sections scratched out and rewritten. He didnt just write it all flawlessly the first try. And you can still hear Salieri played on clasdic music stations occasionally.
Great movie but not really truthful.
@@abeartheycallFozzy There are Sallieri pieces here on TH-cam, really nice works!
Great movie, but yes, historical fiction.
Yep, the movie took serious liberties with the real relationship between the two. We also know who commissioned the Requiem Mass-& it wasn't Salieri. Though the true commissioner did intend to take credit for the piece.
Leck mich im Arsch = Fiction?
Go sink with "your Empire" .... ♥ from DK 1807!
Absolutely unbelievable movie. Especially for us musicians who understand music theory. The death bed scene gives me chills every time.
The march scene too when Mozart 'upgrades' Salieri's piece.
@@RideAcrossTheRiver And at the party when Mozart mocks Salieri's style as dissonant and unmelodic.
@@truevulgarian The film shows Salieri's operas as melodic and inventive.
The scene that I always go to is when Salieri is reading Mozart's music for the first time, and describes it to the priest. It always brings a tear to my eye. A great film and I really enjoyed watching it with you.
Me too. It’s a great scene.
Yes, it's my favorite scene also. Salieri is overwhelmed by the genius of Mozart
My dad bought us kids up on Opera. We were a lower middle class family, but my father was a huge fan.
He would sit us kids between two speakers and put on a record so that we could get the full stereo sound of the performance.
For me, it was strange watching this film, because I knew the notes before they came, but I didn't know the names of the compositions.
Thanks, pop. RIP.
Goes to show how popular Mozart's music is even today. Used in countless movie soundtracks and TV ads.
You're from the UK?
How did they treat your family at the opera?
@@AudieHolland
I'm sorry.. but I'm not from the UK. I'm not sure how that came about.
@@johnabbottphotography My bad. I assumed because you mention your family was lower middle class, which sounds rather British to me.
My daughter was perhaps four when we showed her this on VHS. She was entranced by the opera scenes, none moreso than the Commendatore scene from Don Giovanni. Two years later, we took her to see it performed at the Barns of Wolf Trappe, outside Washington, DC. She was gobsmacked and sat enraptured through the whole three hours. Later, she became a Russian major, and one of the works she read (in the original) was none other than Pushkin's "Mozart and Salieri". Thus is the great circle of life complete.
Favorite part was when Salieri sight reads Mozart’s original drafts, the glorious music plays, he is brought to ecstasy.
As a classical vocalist, I absolutely love this movie in spite of its inaccuracies if only because it gives regular viewers a glimpse into classical music even if they aren't fans normally.
Fun Fact: For the death bed scene none of the actors knew each other's lines. Each of them were given an earpiece, musicians dictated terms to the actors and it was done on the fly. That moment of Salieri's frustration of not keeping up, then getting it is the actor getting lost and then getting back on track with the scene. What talent!
Also, the scene that always gets me is when Salieri reveals his big plan and the expression on the priest's face is just one of abject horror at the monstrosity of Salieri's blasphemy. He wants to kill Mozart and by doing so humble God himself. Such powerful acting.
Fun Fact: Your "fun fact" really was one. Seen this a million times and never knew that. Well done my friend.
Do you have a source for this fun fact?
Literally false. The screenplay author has confirmed that he wrote the scene together with the film's musical director. The only non-written part was a single line of dialogue improvisation: "It goes with the harmony!"
@@llort7771 Tom Hulce has said in interviews that he would intentionally leave stuff out to make it look like Salieri was couldn't keep up.
The actors' ears were visible in that scene. You literally can see that they weren't wearing earpieces.
We still have letters that he wrote to his sister, an amazing musician herself, that displays the reality of his specific type of humor depicted in the movie.
I was looking for somebody mentioning her. It is said she was a great musician and a talented singer as well, but since she was a woman, there was not so much encouragement for her back then. Sad she is not even mentioned in the movie, which is, tho, one of my favourites movies of all times anyway.
I've never heard of her!!! Wow
Not to mention the letters Mozart wrote, as a youngster, to his cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart, "das Bäsle". Quite naughty. More or less the same kind of language Mozart uses in the early stages of this movie, when he is 'struggling' with Constanze.
My father was a huge Mozart fan. This was his favorite film. 🙏 RIP
So was mine. Probably one of the few people on Earth to have police called in multiple times on noise complaints due to him blasting classical music.
This type of music touches the soul
@@clevelandcbi That's so awesome! I was raised with Mozart and all the classic composers. Both my brothers were classically trained, one in guitar and the other in piano. So I literally grew up hearing this all the time as my brothers would be practicing it. Some of my friends I think it's kind of odd that I listen to opera. Now lemme tell you something... My brother who plays the piano just dropped off food for me and my mother. He made spaghetti with homemade sauce for us. Just so you're aware this is THE LAW that we were raised with in our house ok? You cannot make sauce OR any kind of Italian food WITHOUT Luciano Pavarotti playing!
😉❤️😎 #NYGenXBikerLady #Taino #Mohawk
R.I.P. 😢🙏❤️ sorry for your loss
@@clevelandcbi R.I.P. 😢❤🙏 sorr for your loss
This was the first movie I ever rented on VHS. Worth every penny.
Have to admit, though, can't see or hear the title without Falco starting to run in my head on endless loop...😅😅😅
The opera Don Giovanni actually premiered in the opera house where they filmed it. It is in Prague. Mozart had two sons and Salieri paid for Mozart's son's education. There was some jealousy but there was a lot of license taken in the play. I did love the fact that they used the music of Mozart and of Salieri in the movie.
In which part of the film we can hear a Salieri`s peace?
At the time Mozart was more popular in Prague than in Vienna,.
Both sons' educations? Yes, Salieri did write some great music. But I don't understand why Peter Shaffer, the playwright, villainized him. Did Salieri at the end of his life really delude himself into believing himself responsible for Mozart's death?
I just read that the Russian poet and short story writer Alexander Pushkin started the legend of Salieri pushing Mozart to his death; and the Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov's opera Mozart et Salieri popularized the legend. Hence it is still a popular speculation even to this day. I don't think there is evidence that Salieri himself ever believed himself responsible for Mozart's death.
@Jesse Oaks, It's a beautiful venue - I actually attended a performance of _Don Giovanni_ there once, and it was something special.
It stuns me that Tom Hulce (Mozart) is nearly 70 today. And that his rather fetching bride, played by Elizabeth Berridge is now 60. Time passes so quickly.
Tom Hulce and I share a birthday. I always loved him especially in this film.
@@32446 Animal House!
Fun fact: F. Murray Abraham, who played Salieri and took home an Oscar, played "The Leaf" on the Fruit of the Loom underwear commercials for the previous few years prior to this movie.
I remember those commercials! Lot of apple.... :)
Every time I see a stupid commercial, I think "That person probably studied at Juliard, and this is all they can get" it's a little sad
@@ahad2k11 Perhaps, but it beats them being on public assistance.
He also played the old lobby boy in The Grand Budapest Hotel.
I thought he was the grapes.
This and the Beethoven epic, Immortal Beloved, are my go to films about the two maestros that changed music, and gave us some of the most gorgeous moments in the last few hundred years.
My favorite movie... It led me to composing and performing with the Utah Symphony. I started out writing little symphonies like his and Beethoven's mixed with contemporary classical. The accuracy of the period work is astounding. It won the Best Picture. The difference between the play and the movie is that they used the best most expensive performances of his music and added it in the movie everywhere. You could watch it again just to focus on listening to the music.
This movie also heavily inspired me to be a composer, and led me into the deepest analysis i've done yet on his mass, and now it touches me with such divine bliss that I am grateful for this movie, and all the potential it has unlocked across so many people who watched it.
@@Xemptuous & @Heavy Vacation Thank you for sharing how this film came to inspire you. I find that in and of itself quite _inspiring!_
Be well! 🙋🏼♂️
Sincere congratulations to both of you!
Not the most "expensive" it's just performed by the Academy of Saint Martins in the Field conducted by Neville Mariner. Not the greatest legendary conductor ever. This orchestra is good but it's not Berlin or Vienna or Amsterdam .
The movie makes an interesting example of the Apollonian Vs the Dionysian artist.
Salieri is the Apollonian. He is dedicated, prudent and measured. He is not naturally talented, but pure dedication and clawed himself up to ability through pure willpower.
Mozart is the Dionysian. He is pure natural talent with no dedication. He is flighty, powerful, but lacks focus. He utilizes his natural talent to create beautiful pieces but fails to focus that talent.
Definitely one of my favorite movies ever.
Mozart ❤ my favorite classical composer, because of him I became a piano mover. Seriously, one of my all time favorite film✋🏻
Hilarious
Seriously under-rated comment
Ooooo, Groundhog Day reference, noice!
Unfortunately the ending burial part might be the most accurate part. We don't know where Mozart is actually buried, but he died poor. There are memorials around the area. Happy that you enjoyed the music, and hope that you share it with your family. It's worth it.
He wasn't that poor. But during a plague, non aristocrats were buried that way.
@@Tolstoy111 it should be mentioned that this way of massgrave burial from recicled simple coffins was however very recent invention introduced as part of very many reforms of Emperor Joseph II(who also followed Mozart to grave very soon afterwards)and did not survived Joseph reign for long.
There were pauper graves all around Europe.
When I was in Vienna a couple decades ago, it was possible to visit Mozart's home, referred to as Figaro House. It was actualy quite close to the centre of the old city and the cathedral (St. Steven's, as I recall).
The beggar's grave thing is actually a myth as a result of a mistranslation. Mozart was buried in a "common" grave, and translators assumed "common" meant it was a mass grave when it actually meant it was a grave for non-nobility. At the time in Vienna, there was a shortage of cemetary space, so common folk were buried without embalming and the graves would be reused every few years.
I was 15 when I saw it in 1984 and it’s been one of my favorite movies ever since.
good taste
I was 11
If that's current you on the pic you're, as Salieri says, miraculous!
I was 14 and it had the same impact on me. I’ve loved Mozart ever since. The first opera I saw at the age of 15 was “The Marriage of Figero”.
The story that the emperor tells about his sister and Mozart is actually true. Mozart did in fact play in front of the royal family as a young boy, tripped, and the princess Maria Antonia - yes the very one who became queen of France Marie Antoinette and who would lose her head during the french revolution - helped him up, and he announced he would marry her one day ❤
A few years before this movie came out, I saw the touring play for Amadeus, with Mark Hamill as Mozart. 😁
I bet that was a tour de force.
@@oliverbrownlow5615 I see what you did there lol 😏
Wow you were lucky to see Mark Hamill, I always wondered how he would have been as Mozart, but studios didn't want Luke Skywalker as Mozart, but Tom Hulce made a really good job after all.
At least he already had experience playing another character dealing with father issues and an emperor.
Antonio Salieri was a Contemporary of Mozart and was 6 years older than Mozart.
In his time Salieri was quite well known but his work faded in the early 19th Century and by 1979 when the fictionalized play on which the film was based was written he was almost totally unknown, but the play, then the 1984 movie gave him a bit of a revival.
In reality not much is known about the relationship Salieri had with Mozart, but it was certanly not as it was depicted in this story. Mozart was a pupal of Salieri along with Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, Ludwig van Beethoven, Anton Eberl, Johann Nepomuk Hummel.
One of my favorite movies. I know some things were exaggerated for dramatic effect, but as a musician who has neither perfect pitch or relative pitch and who can't memorize songs easily, I really admire musicians who do/can. I relate to the feeling of mediocrity especially when I'm playing with great players.
I’d say most of it is fictional.
One moment that everybody misses is the part where Mozart asks the Emperor to "Please let it be German." Although Mozart was Austrian, and therefore German would be his native language (and the Emperor's as well), it's such a coarse language to listen to (Dutch as well) that many believed that it wouldn't work for opera. Italian was seen as more melodic and easier on the ears, so to speak.
Truth is both men were accomplished contemporaries, almost friends. Movie is brilliant, saw it in theaters, but plays loose for the sake of a story. Still, a masterpiece. Everyone I knew had the poster.
The Emperor 's sister is Marie Antoinette, this is why the court composers opposed the Marriage of Figaro because it deals with the class system and King Louis and Marie Antoinette were feeling pressure from their French subjects which led to the French Revolution.
You should absolutely watch IMMORTAL BELOVED. Awesome movie about Beethoven, played by Gary Oldman. Amazing movie
One of my favorite movies!
@@rondascott2me too.
I fell in love with the movie Amadeus when it was released on VHS in1984....I think he lived in the 18th century, around 250 years ago...He was a musical genius....As we were watching this movie, my father said, a thousand years from now Mozart's music will still be relevant.
Love this film... in my top 20 films ever list. Oddly I saw it for the first time when I was 10 years old in 1984 LOL - still loved it. It only got better as I got older and understood it more.
12:03 "he doesn't want to sleep with her he just wants revenge."
This. This movie was Never about Mozart. This Film is about a man struggling with his own morality, with his beliefs, with his ego and with his own faith. This is cemented with the scene where his hand is shaking to ring the bell calling his servant to remove her after she returns showing for the first time Salieri's unshaking image falters, the image the audience holds, that the public holds, the royal Court holds, the king holds, he himself holds, is shaken to the core. He in that moment pivots his character, forsaking God and Himself to lash out in revenge for his own insecurities.
I could write a book on this movie.
Such an amazing movie, with of course the legendary Requiem composing scene, both actors giving the performance of a life time.
This is quite possibly my favorite movie of all time. I've seen it several dozen times but it doesn't matter, whenever I happen to catch it on TV (which is exceedingly rare nowadays, for some reason it was much more common in the 90s) I'll stop and watch it. An epic masterpiece, perfect in every way.
I had to move way for work in the late 80’s for 3 years and watched it 1 or 2 time a month to keep me sane. It was like a good friend.I read a college textbook on Mozart and know the real story but it is close enough for me.
This is my favourite movie of all time
This is probably one of my top 25 favorite films. It's my favorite film of the 80s and I think it's the best film of the 80s. In addition to being Mozart's middle name, Amadeus is Latin basically for "One Beloved of God." Pretty fitting for the film, right?
I love that little reaction you see on Salieri's face when he speaks that name - he looks up as if accusing God of favoritism.
Interestingly enough, Mozart almost never used his middle name and just called himself "Wolfgang Mozart".
Cassie! I'm SO glad you enjoyed this film. Amadeus has been one of my favorite films since it was released. The scene near the end where Salieri is at Mozart's bedside helping him with his composition always has me on the edge of my seat, and I was happy to see you get into that scene, too; I actually got kind of emotional watching your reactions as that scene progressed, knowing how it ends. I, too, am no authority on classical music, but I do occasionally like to listen to this soundtrack. Again, I'm really glad that you seemed to enjoy Amadeus. Keep up the great work; your videos are always so fun to watch. 🍿
As my nephew puts it: " ...it's a(n) emo' effect "
As someone who isn't a horror fan, it's great to see October reactions that aren't just about the frights.
Amen!
Yet, this movie does turn out to be strangely Halloween appropriate, what with a protagonist who burns a crucifix and renounces God, a glimpse of Mozart's spooky *Don Giovanni,* Salieri's creepy masquerade, the emphasis on Mozart's *Requiem* (Mass for the Dead), and the disturbing depiction of Mozart's body being thrown into a communal grave.
This story is more frightening than any horror flick.
That scene where poor Salieri is humiliated when he presents his march to Emperor Joseph, and Mozart turns it into so much better, is painful and priceless.
And total fantasy.
Which, of course, you all recognized as Cherubino's march, "Non più andrai" from "The Marriage of Figaro", right?
th-cam.com/video/e1-FKyOTvto/w-d-xo.html
Mozart was buried in a Pauper's grave and has never been found. He collapsed while directing "The Magic Flute" (Mr Clown was Shickenader who commissioned that opera.) His wife Constanza was the "Hero" who saved his work. It was well known that as a child he played for courts, but saving his actual work was the amazing part of this. His older sister Marianne, who he called "Nanneral, also was as talented in her own way, but women were not allowed to do that kind of work. A lot of the movie was true, but the "Plot" by Salieri was fictional. Salieri is actually a fine composer. Many anecdotes about Mozart's character were written of by people who knew him. He was a rude joker who liked to drink and have fun. He died of whatever the disease de jour was at the time. They did not know anything about germ theory, so it could have been anything. Typhus, cholera, you pick it.
He died of uraemia, (kidney failure).
Salieri in his day was a very talented composer and teacher. His students included Liszt, Schubert, and Beethoven. His music was and is well respected. The portrayal of him in this movie is quite exaggerated by all accounts and has portrayed him in an undeserved negative light. What the movie in a general sense touches on is what it it was like for Salieri (and contemporaries) to be compared to Mozart, a superstar. However, Mozart's music didn't become popular during his lifetime but years later. Salieri was pretty major at the time. Mozart and Salieri were acquaintances and possibly friends regardless of what the movie portrays. The movie is based on a story written years after Mozart's death where someone conjectured Salieri was involved in his 'untimely' death. There is a lot of factual representation in this movie of Mozart for what it's worth. I invite any and all interested in checking out a video reviewing the movie for its accuracy (not a reaction video) that I find quite entertaining as well as informative. It's done by 'The History Buff: at:
th-cam.com/video/_X_iAGFaE80/w-d-xo.html
little bummed, have just rewatched this video and some of the music has been deleted (copyright?) but it's still worth the watch
This movie is based on a story originated by Alexander Pushkin based on a rumor that blew up into what would we would called an urban legend today. What killed Mozart is a mystery. Salieri and Mozart had a collegial relationship and no outward animosity was known to exist between them.
@Darkstar You do realize your comment literally makes no logical sense. How exactly could I come up with any information about Mozart, the movie, Pushkin or the various plays that proceeded this movie without either reading it or hearing about it. If you want something original, then I can tell you that I managed to see the premiere of the play this movie is based on performed in the Estates Theater in 2017.
I love how at the beginning of the movie, the first thing we hear is Salieri crying out to Mozart to "forgive him" ... and the last words we hear Mozart say is "Forgive me?"
My late dad's ATF movie. I swear part of him loving it was because that laugh drove my mom crazy, and she'd do some errands while he got to chill.
I think it's in my dad's top five, but not quite his favorite.
Btw, the statement of Emperor Joseph II saying the opera had "too many notes" was irl something he said about one of Mozart's operas (though I'm not sure if it was "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" like in the movie). With another opera, the Emperor noted that "the Bass sounded too low".
Mozart's music is amazing. If you have iTunes or Spotify, you should have access to most of his works, performed by many incredibly talented musicians. Highly recommend checking it all out!
Josef II was a very smart man of many talents, but music really doesn't have been to be one of them.
I love, love, love this film, and am delighted to see that you’ve now watched and reacted to it. The duality of adoration and jealousy that Salieri has for Mozart in the film, right up to the credits, is both complex and enthralling. F. Murray Abraham played Salieri and won a well-deserved Academy Award for his performance.
Mozart died at the age of 35 of renal (Kidney) failure. As was alluded to in the film, Mozart did drink to excess at times and this, associated poor diet and primarily the acute effects of Typhus is thought by some to be the cause(s) of his death. He was buried in a "Pauper's grave" (mass grave) with other bodies, as he or his wife could not afford a proper burial. He is considered by most be THE greatest composer of all time.
In the fictionalized movie Amadeus, Salieri had a great gift, it just wasn't the one he wanted. His gift was to be the ONLY ONE who could recognize Mozart's genius for what it was.
No, Salieri had another gift: he was a great composer as well. That he is not as revered as Mozart does not make his music without worth.
Salieri was not a hack, you know. He wrote lovely pieces. He was not the "mediocrity" portrayed here at all. He just hasn't been _remembered_ as well as Mozart. After all, he couldn't have become the most well-known AND popular composers in Europe if his work was krap.
My thought exactly!!!
@@GregInHouston2 Then your thought is wrong, because Salieri neither hated nor was jealous of Mozart. They liked each other and helped each other out. Biopics are NOT reality.
In the context of the play and the movie, this is absolutely true. There's no play if Salieri and Mozart respected each other and got along well and went their way. And Salieri's quarrel was not with Mozart, as he says many times. It was through him and with his god.
Highly recommend the 1994 film "Immortal Beloved" starring Gary Oldman as Ludwig Van Beethoven. Fantastic movie.
OMG I love this movie! Get ready to laugh, cry, and dance a waltz! One of my all-time classics!
Glad I am, Miss Cassie, that at long last you come upon this gem. Many have pointed this out already, but it cannot be said too often: _this is a work of fiction first, and fact second._ In a way, it's a pity that it's made so well, because it can convince the simple-minded that it is all sober history when, as you've doubtless learned by now, it is far from the truth in important respects.
Yet I was sufficiently intrigued by Salieri, thanks to this movie, that I sought out a CD of *Axur* (his opera, the finale of which is staged in the movie) and finally received one for Xmas a few years ago. It really is quite good!
Fun fact: Every Easter in Vatican City, Gregorio Allegri's *Miserere* (a lengthy, complex contrapuntal composition commemorating Christ's three days in the tomb) is sung in the Basilica. The Church regarded this piece of music so highly that the sole copy of the score was kept in the vaults of the Vatican library, and jealously guarded; in fact, to reproduce this holy work in any form was punishable by excommunication. Visiting Rome one year, young Mozart heard it performed (only once, of course). Returning to his rooms, _he transcribed the entire score from memory._ (Just couldn't resist the challenge, I guess.) And when the Pope got word of it, he was so impressed by this feat of mentation that instead of being kicked out of the Church, Mozart was awarded the Cross of the Order of the Golden Spur!
I'm just a little sorry that you passed up *A Passage to India* this time around - it too is a magisterial work (the final film by the legendary David Lean, who also directed *Lawrence of Arabia* and *Doctor Zhivago* ), a film as immense in scope and sweep, and as breathtakingly beautiful, as India itself. But an even better film about India to my way of thinking is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year - Richard Attenborough's Oscar-winning opus *Gandhi,* with Ben Kingsley (who, like Attenborough, was not yet a "Sir") in his Oscar-winning role as the apostle of peaceful resistance to oppression. It would be nice if someone were to react to this film before the close of the year - and I think you could do it admirably. It really is a most inspiring movie about a most inspiring human being who stands to the 20th century as a ready-made icon of Good in the same way that Hitler stands for Evil. (Both men had careers that are almost beyond all believing.)
But, whichever way you choose to go next, have fun, God bless, take care and KEEP GOING! (Not necessarily in that order.) 😎
One of the earliest known photographs is of Mozart's wife, Stanzi (sp?), in a group photo. She was extremely old in the photo as it was taken during photography's infancy. I was blown away when I learned it was her.
One of my favorite cinematic moments is the two composers writing what would be Mozart's last piece. Whether it actually happened or not....? Who knows. Still a fantastic and moving scene.
that's crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
what is known is that several composers helped Mozart write his Requiem on his deathbed. I remember one of them being called Süssmayer.
I was writing this comment and started reading wikepedia about it. I'm still there. fascinating!!
The end of Act II of Marriage of Figaro that he describes at 17:13 is truly amazing. What he explains is that there are 20 minutes straight of music with no one talking or singing "recitative", which is a type of sing-speech typically used to connect scenes and push the plot forward in operas. The end of Act II is extremely difficult to pull off: he turns a duet into a trio into a quartet into a quintet, back to quartet, and then into a septet (seven people) to finish it off. All the while, he's making the characters talk to each other, talk to the audience, and argue with each other, while he's pushing the plot forward AND making it suitable for stage direction. It blew me away when I saw it live, and there are awesome recordings around TH-cam. If you ever have a chance to see Marriage of Figaro live, do it. The four hours flies by.
This is one of my favorite movies, even though this is largely apocryphal. A fiction of a great imagination using facts to reinforce the fiction. Salieri and Mozart were at least friendly colleagues, if not true friends in real life.
As far as I'm aware there's no historical evidence of animosity between them, but the way the movie plays out noone other than the priest would've ever learned of Salieri's hatred and scheming. The movie isn't supported by history but also not contradicted by it.
Probably my favorite film. I never understood the hatred from the classical community for this movie. I've seen it trashed all over classical message boards. In my opinion, it does not make Mozart look like a buffoon. He was of course more complicated a character. As a film (and play), it is brilliant. It deserved all the awards it received. The "Salieri killed Mozart" thing was just a rumor following Mozart's death. It gained a lot more traction with Alexander Pushkin's 1830 fictional drama "Mozart and Salieri" where Salieri does actually kill him. That play is largely what Peter Shaffer used when creating his own comedic play "Amadeus" from which this movie is based.
The best film ever made in my opinion, and yes, people that studied music trash it, but they don’t realize Mozart was quite like this, I have read 30 biographies of Mozart and it is quite true
Very simple: Most musicians, like everybody else in every profession, are mediocrities. And as a rule, mediocrities resent genius when they encounter it, and realize they can never, no matter how much they practice, approach that which those who have the gift can achieve without apparent effort. Myself, I always stand in awe of real genius, and my heart just leaps whenever I do encounter it.
I remember watching this movie as a freshman in high school in music appreciation class. Such a good movie
He died of a combination of ailments, part gastrointestinal and consumption. The funeral was a pauper's service. There was an attempt to locate his remains for a separate burial. What exists today is a monument of sorts at the mass burial site.
The real tragedy of Salieri is how sometimes just the existence of extreme talent or genius can change your life because you were pulled into its orbit. In virtually all respects he was already better off than Mozart, as a financially stable and respected authority in his craft, but he's also talented enough to recognize just how good Mozart is by comparison even when others can't.
The movie might be historically questionable, but I love how it shows two personalities that could have balanced each other were prevented from forming an actual genuine bond by one's obsessive resent and the other's oblivious devotion to his art above all else.
I've always felt extremely fortunate whenever I happen to encounter real genius, whether in my field or any other. It is a joy to watch someone truly excelling at something, regardless of whether you, yourself, could ever hope to match it.
I was like you after seeing "Amadeus".... curious about the factual events in Mozart's life. I bought a lot of books about Mozart but a really good one that I came across that was very intriguing, enlightening and entertaining is actually an audio book by an educational company called, "The Great Courses". They have several titles on different composers.
I bought this particular title and all the other titles within this series on great composers on "Amazon Audio".
There are three on Mozart that bring him to life through accounts of people who knew him, through his letters and people who corresponded with him, diaries, accounts from his wife and even composers who collaborated with him and a personal account of his final hours...the treatment/procedure that the doctor used, despite how weak he was, that contributed to his death.
What makes it even more special is that his music is also included, that a lot of times, reflects the events in Mozart's life.
There are three audio books:
- Great Masters: Mozart - His
Life and Music
- The Operas of Mozart
- The Chamber Music of
Mozart
I was able to hear Mozart's Requiem performed live at my national arts theater and it was amazing. It is so much more powerful and all-encompassing live, even though I could only afford nose-bleed tickets.
F Murray Abraham won the Oscar for Best Actor, but it is truly rare when two actors get nominated in the same category. Tom Hulce was also nominated in the category.
This is one of my favorite films of all time. I'm so glad to see you react to it.
4:06 He's a composer/musician/conductor. He wrote all of his music and can play violin and piano, harpsichord.
When you're a conductor you can't play ALL the instruments of course. He's directing the musicians to play HIS music.
Check out, " Immortal Beloved," with Gary Oldman. Its about Beethoven. very powerful and sad movie. Great reactions!
This movie is such a masterpiece. F. Murray Abraham's performance as Salieri is outstanding. He even got an Oscar for it, out of the eight that this movie won.
This is one of my favorite movies. I'm not an expert, but I think they took some liberties with the history. The end, I think, was accurate. His body was dumped into a pauper's grave. I don't know how long after his death his music became popular, but he's not the only artist to not be recognized during their lives. Vincent Van Gogh couldn't give his art away. His brother bought a few pieces out of charity.
It wasn't a pauper's grave, but he was buried in a simple unmarked plot as befitting his status. They don't know the exact spot where he's been buried, but the rough area in which he's likely buried has been identified. There's an old local myth that claims that nightingales sing more sweetly over his grave site than anywhere else in Europe
It wasn't that accurate. He wasn't buried in a mass grave. He had a simple unmarked one.
Mozart was beloved in Prague at the time. Vienna, not so much...
“Some liberties” is a vast understatement. I’d say about 80% of this movie is pure fiction.
Edit: Still a really good movie, though, and deserving of its awards. Just not remotely historically accurate.
I have never seen anything by Salieri offered in any major cities opera season. Amazingly, anything by Mozart sells out well before the actual dates of the opera. The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Fígaro. Hundreds of years after his death and Mozart still sells them out. Impressive to say the least.
GIRL!!!!! you entered my world :D I fell in love with the world of classical music thanks to films such as this. FYI this comment is written before I start to watch your reaction :D
Thank you for reviewing this film, which is one of my favorites!!! As it was discovered watching the film, it's title is pronounced "Ah-mah-DAY-us" or "Ah-mah-DAY-oos." For those wondering, the largest liberates this film takes with history are: 1. Mozart likely died of a kidney infection 2. Salieri was married and never tried to seduce Constanze (this is only in the Director's Cut) although he did have a well-known and open affair with Madame Cavaleri 3. Mozart and Salieri were rivals but friends - Salieri was invited by Mozart to see The Magic Flute (Mozart never passed out performing in it nor did Salieri ever assist with the Requiem.) 4. The Requiem was commissioned in secret by a Count who wanted to pass it off as his own work for his deceased wife, and while Mozart died while composing it, it was a student of his that completed it. 5. Mozart's father may have not approved of all of his son's actions, they had a good relationship when Leopold died.
"I had to look up whether Mozart was a painter or a musician."
OMFG.
Thank you so much for this wonderful reaction/review of Amadeus. It was one of my late father's favorite films and this video was posted on TH-cam on what would have been his birthday. This film was so brilliant and I'm glad it's being appreciated nearly 40 years after it was released. The classics never go away, thankfully.
Fantastic movie, thank you for reacting to it! Definitely deserves more attention from the TH-cam reaction community than it’s been getting
Watching you discover not just this movie....but Mozart himself....was really special. Fantastic. I was getting goosebumps. I love how much of Mozart's music you already knew! That proves what Salieri was talking about. Mozart also wrote "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"! (when he was, like, 3!). I know you know that one! The theatrical version is more concise, (and shorter), I much prefer it.......but you can't even find it anymore! It's too bad because it was perfect as it was, and now it feels a little bloated. But it's still great, either way. THANKS, CASSIE!!!!!!
An absolute masterpiece with stellar performances.
I was a working musician in my younger years. There was always fellow musicians I would perform with that were just so naturally gifted and talented beyond my abilities that one just could not help standing back with a mixture of awe and envy. In the musician world , one very quickly figures out his "'place"" in the heirarchy when playing with other musicians. By the way , the very best most talented and gifted musicians are not always the ones who become famous or rich . High quality studio musicians , for example , are almost always leagues beyond in talent than the famous musician "'stars"" that they are backing up.
This is firmly in my all-time Top 10 films, maybe Top 5. Note the clever irony of it being named "Amadeus" when its focus is primarily on Salieri.
I've seen it many times, my favourite of which being a screening in a playhouse in Edinburgh with *all* of the music performed *live* by an orchestra beneath the screen. Yes, it tangents quite significantly from actual history, but it does so to produce a supreme and haunting story (Peter Shaffer also wrote "Equus", which may be even more disturbing).
And you're so right about the two lead actors - F. Murray Abraham (Salieri) in particular, who came pretty much from nowhere, won the Best Actor Oscar for this, and then has never been in another hit like it since.
I'm so pleased to see Amadeus get attention from another big-name reactor (after Ashleigh Burton), and hopefully some others will follow suit after this - thank you, Cassie!
*Equus* was filmed in 1977, with Richard Burton in the leading role. Daniel Radcliffe appeared in a 2007 London revival of the play that later transferred to Broadway.
@@oliverbrownlow5615 Funnily enough, I also saw the play of "Equus" via that 2007 revival at the same Edinburgh Playhouse as I'd see the film of "Amadeus" a decade later. The only thing was it was Alfie Allen (as in brother of Lily and son of Keith) in the lead role instead of Daniel Radcliffe for the Edinburgh performances.
One thing I remember well is the way they transported him via flashback to a beach with the use of a static yellow spotlight surrounded by flickering blue ones, to signify sand surrounded by shimmering water.
Another is that the performance began with the curtain opening and Allen walking onto the stage in near-total darkness, standing still for a full minute as ominous string music played... and then walking off, the music fading and the curtain closing; a voiceover then came over apologising for technical difficulties. It got a sympathetic laugh; we'd all thought the lack of light was quite intentional! It started properly after another ten minutes or so, and was absolutely worth it.
I have many friends playing in this movie (not the major roles) and even didn't want go and see another movie about a composer ....But I went encouraged by my friend to see them.....WOW it was greatest movie experience ever and the most realistic impression how would genius musician live and die. ...trust me I shared accommodation with them....The Best Years of My life!
So glad you reacted to this masterpiece movie. It inspires people to learn more about Mozart's works & classical music in general. It also compels us to do some historical research. We find the masterpiece movie is just that - a compelling & brilliant movie.
I'm glad that you finally got around to this one. To be honest, there are a lot of films from the 1900's that were once immensely popular, and at the time, it felt as if they'd never go out of style. Unfortunately, time passes, and there were a lot of good movies made during this time. AS time passes, the most popular films stay at the top, while the lesser ones eventually fade. Eventually, even popular films can vanish, until they're rediscovered.
I'm a bit surprised that you have no experience with music, as you've stated. It used to be that it was hard to get away from classical music in pop culture. Whether it be music for a commercial, the background for cartoons. Classical music always loomed in the background. I'd recommend adding a bit of classical to your life - as much as you can stand. You might find that there's more out there that you like.
It's nice to remember culture as it was, and to preserve it. It's a lot like watching films that you've never seen before. It's interesting to see what the lives of the musicians of the past were like. They didn't just pick up an instrument & strum and sing. They wrote musical parts for many people. I am glad you enjoyed the film. There are still a lot of films that are new to you, to enjoy.
Cassie, I am SO glad you liked this film. I saw the stage play when I was a sophomore in college and I saw the the movie when it first came out in a packed theater in Dallas when I was a grad student. The collective **gasp** of the audience at the crucifix scene is one of my strongest memories as a film goer. If you enjoyed the music and are intrigued to hear more, look for the soundtrack. There are two volumes I believe. It is really good. 😊 Great job on this one. I really enjoyed rewatching it with you!
That must've been amazing. Did you happen to see the production with _Mark Hamill_ as _Amadeus?!_
@@CaesiusX Yes!! It was the touring company production the winter of 82/83. This was just after Ian McKellen and Tim Curry did the Broadway opening run. I was a kid from the cornfields of Illinois having all sorts of eye opening experiences at Purdue University as an undergrad. Amadeus was one of them. 😃
@@CaesiusX really??? never knew that!
Love your pure reactions and I quickly became a subscriber (also love it when you bring Carly along) Knowing you loved Casablanca and seeing it was in B&W, I feel obliged to recommend a few B&W classics which are great movies that I think you will love also. The first is The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) with a stunning performance by Charles Laughton and a very young Maureen O'Hara (The Quiet Man). Since you liked Bogart, 3 more of his popular ones are The Maltese Falcon, To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep. Back to Westerns, a young John Wayne (The Quiet Man) got his big break in Stagecoach (1939) He was the bridge between the popular cowboys of the 20s and 30s and Clint Eastwood. Don't know if you see a pattern yet, but 1939 is considered the Golden Year for Hollywood.
The actor who played Mozart was the voice of Quasimodo in Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Peter Shaffer, who wrote the original play and screenplay for Amadeus also wrote the marvelous and chilling play Equus. Shaffer had a twin brother Anthony, also a talented playwright, who wrote the hugely successful play Sleuth. Amadeus plays with themes of identity, jealousy and creativity. Peter may have felt that he was always competing in the same arena as his brother.
Thank you for shining a light on this movie. Even as a winner of Best Picture, this is a movie that is not that remembered that much today. Glad you enjoyed it!
It is deeply underappreciated. One of the best soundtracks ever. Excellent editing. Beautiful sets and costumes. Everything about it is just really good.
Oh you picked one of my favorite films. And it is continued to be a favorite of mine since I was a kid. It made me appreciate classical music and theater. It made me search out the stories of these classic artists Mozart was Way beyond a genius and way before his time. He was loved and cherished and feared and exasperating and his relationship with salieri is only touched and more dramatically interpreted with this film but regardless it is a classic to be sure.
My favorite movie of all time. Thanks for letting me watch it with you
This was one of the first films I watched when I made a conscious decision to broaden my horizons in college. So, I chose a film whose cover art had always intrigued me and I was blown away.
Oh, one of my favourite films of all time! It's a masterpiece! ❤
I love watching you get progressively more invested in this movie as it goes on. You’re even listening to the way they talk and your commentary becomes more articulate.
I remember from a Two Set Violin video hearing that Mozart's original manuscripts really were clean and neat as if he was merely taking dictation and writing down music that was already complete in his head. Someone like Beethoven, on the other hand, had original manuscripts that were full of corrections and re-workings showing the passion and toil of working and re-working the music on the paper. (And when musicians play their respective music, it should be played to reflect that.)
While I love Two Set Violin, they are not music historians and have bought into some of the myths about Mozart. He absolutely made scribbles and corrections in his manuscripts, just like Beethoven and others. You can see them in scans of his manuscripts on various museum and library sites on the internet. It’s well-documented that Mozart’s family spread a lot of rumours and lies like this after his death to build up his persona, but they’re just not true.
Fascinating! That is a myth I’ve believed for years (I guess ever since I saw ‘Amadeus’ back in the 80’s).
One thing I LOVE so much about this movie is the message about music it sends. Music is divine and beautiful but mist important it is fun. Mozart is shown to be having so much fun and playing around with his music like a child. This is how music should be approached and if you ever want to improve and become good, play like a child...have fun and explore.