Scenes From the Play “Amadeus” by Peter Schaeffer Essay

In this essay, I will describe the storyline, two scenes, and my overall impression of the play Amadeus. Amadeus is a play by a British playwright Peter Schaeffer, whose world premiere took place in 1979 on the stage of the Royal National Theater of Great Britain. The plot of this play is focused on two well-known musicians — Antonio Salieri (“Salieri”) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (“Mozart”). Salieri made numerous attempts to get back at Mozart because he was jealous of his musical capabilities, so, in the end, he decided to poison and kill the musical genius. Though Salieri succeeded at his evil plan, he later paid the price for it after seeing the flourishing of Mozart’s music. The public recognized the value of Mozart’s works, while the works of Salieri himself were forgotten.

I chose Antonio Salieri, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Katherina Cavalier as the most important characters of the play. As was mentioned above, Salieri is a famous musician and composer who does not seem to have the recognition he craves. The play begins with the reminiscent remarks of old Salieri. He recalls how he always wanted to have musical talent, which he passionately begged God for. In return, he promised to lead a righteous life, help the poor, and be faithful to his wife.

Salieri is married to Teresa but he is in love with his student Katherina Cavalier. Mozart left a terrible impression on Salieri when they first met, as he was flirting with Katherina and seemed like a very rude person overall. However, upon hearing his music, Salieri realizes that Mozart is incredibly gifted and starts to envy him. When Mozart presents Salieri to his bride Constance Weber, Salieri wants to take revenge on Mozart for seducing Katherina and stealing Constance from him.

The scene I would like to talk about in detail is called “Death of Mozart”. This scene focuses on Salieri, as he stands in the middle of the stage and talks about his life. His wife Teresa enters the scene, after her Katherina Cavalier appears as well and begins singing along with the piano player. Salieri openly describes the feelings and lust he has for Katherina, he says: “Understand, I was in love with the girl; Or at least in lust; I wasn’t a saint”.

Both Katherina and Teresa are wearing beautiful ancient-style dresses and wigs, as opposed to Salieri’s dark hair and clothing. The only pieces of furniture on the stage are a piano and a table, and there are red and blue curtains at the back. In Part 1 of the play, when Mozart and Constance played the cat and mouse game. Salieri was appalled by the behavior and relationship of Mozart and Constanze.

The stage’s setting, characters and their clothing in Part 2 are similar to what they looked like in Part 1. Mozart is not doing very well because the Emperor was not impressed with the opera that he ordered; in his opinion, there are too many notes. Mozart, on the other hand, does not act friendly with courtiers who do not appreciate music, yet criticize his works. When his opera gets rejected, Mozart exclaims: “They hate my music; It terrifies them; The only sound Italians understand is banality”. Mozart and his wife are barely making ends meet. Considering Salieri a friend, Amadeus asks him for help in getting a job.

But Salieri, overwhelmed by Mozart’s talent and where it is taking him, does everything he can so that Mozart does not become successful. The public does not accept Mozart’s opera well, Salieri and a small number of connoisseurs are the only people who understand how talented Mozart is. Due to Salieri’s advice, Mozart quarrels with the Freemasons, which results in them refusing to continue to support the composer. Salieri is both concerned and satisfied with the news, of course, he could never be sincerely happy for Mozart. Salieri ensured that he would have a conversation with the Emperor about attending Mozart’s rehearsal, but he never keeps the promise.

In my opinion, Amadeus is a very entertaining play. It is fascinating to observe the characters’ relationship with each other, their ever-changing emotions and motives. It is obvious that Salieri was jealous of Mozart since the moment he met him and heard him play, but jealousy and bad intentions only go so far. The most powerful moment in the play for me was when Salieri admitted that he killed Mozart, the words fell off his tongue so easily: “Mozart! Mozart! I cannot bear it any longer! I confess! I confess what I did! I’m guilty! I killed you!”.

He really killed Mozart, and it was not the poison, it was all the evil Salieri had done to him and his career. I enjoyed watching this play because I actually love some of Mozart’s music, it is calming, yet so mesmerizing. I am glad that I got the chance to look into Mozart’s life and music in the process of watching this play and writing this assignment.

Works Cited

Amadeus Part 1. (n.d.) Web.

Amadeus Part 2 (n.d.) Web.

Forman, Miloš. (1984). “Amadeus” Script. Web.