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Amadeus | Introduction

When Peter Shaffer's Amadeus opened at the National Theatre of Great Britain in November 1979, it was received enthusiastically by audiences and critics alike. One year after its premiere, London audiences began to line up at ticket offices at six in the morning on the day of performance. Shaffer revised the play extensively before its American debut in Washington, D.C., in November 1980. Soon after, the play opened on Broadway, where it won five Tonys, including a Tony for best drama of the 1980 season. The popularity of the play ensured the success of the 1984 film version, directed by Milos Forman, which received nominations for eleven Oscars and won eight, including best picture, best director, and best actor. Amadeus has also gained appreciative audiences internationally.

The play explores the rivalry between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, the court composer for the Emperor of Austria in the late eighteenth century. Shaffer became interested in the relationship between the two composers after learning about Mozart's mysterious death. Although failing to find evidence that Salieri murdered Mozart, Shaffer admits, in an interview with Roland Gelatt, that ''by then the cold eyes of Salieri were staring at me. . . . The conflict between virtuous mediocrity and feckless genius took hold of my imagination, and it would not leave me alone." Critics have praised the play's craftsmanship and its penetrating psychological study of the effects of success and failure and the search for spirituality.

Amadeus Summary

Amadeus opens with "savage whispers" that fill the theater. The citizens of Vienna in 1823 hiss the name "Salieri" and "assassin." Antonio Salieri, an old man, appears in a wheelchair, with his back to the audience. Two venticelli, "purveyors of fact, rumor and gossip throughout the play," hurry in, speaking rapidly about "the whole city . . . talking day and night." Salieri cries out, "Mozart! Pardon your assassin . . . have mercy." The venticelli explain that when Mozart died thirty-two years ago, there was some talk about him being poisoned by Salieri. They wonder why Salieri would do such a thing and why he would confess it now.

Salieri asks the audience to be his confessors. He admits his lifelong desire for fame, "yet only in one especial way. Music! Absolute music . . . music is God's art." He longed "to join all the composers who had celebrated His glory through the long Italian past." As a result, he implored God, "let me be a composer . . . in return, I will live with virtue . . . and I will honor You with much music all the days of my life." When God responded to him, "Go forth, Antonio. Serve Me and mankind, and you will be blessed," Salieri thanked him and promised, "I am Your servant for life."

The very next day, a family friend suddenly appeared and took him to Vienna, where he studied music and soon became the court composer. Salieri decided, "Clearly my bargain had been accepted." The same year the young prodigy Mozart was touring Europe. Salieri tells the audience, "I present to you—for one performance only—my last composition, entitled The Death of Mozart, or, Did I Do It? dedicated to posterity on this, the last night of my life." He then takes off his dressing gown and becomes a young man wearing the elegant clothes of a successful composer in the... » Complete Amadeus Summary