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Amadeus, the Movie Essay

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Amadeus begins with an attempted suicide by composer Antonio Salieri, who is overcome with guilt about supposedly killing Mozart. His life is saved by his aids and he is sent to what looks like a mental hospital, where a priest is sent to council him. The whole story is told through the eyes of Salieri on his death bed, confessing to his priest. The whole movie takes place in Vienna, Austria. Besides the first few scenes where Mozart is seen as a child, the story begins in 1782 when Mozart is the age of 26; the story being told by Salieri takes place around 1825, near his death. Amadeus is primarily set in the noble class, and doesn’t do the best job portraying the poor side of life. For the noble’s of course living conditions are fine, …show more content…

However Mozart never sees through his deception and thinks of his as a loyal friend and colleague to the end. Constanze Mozart, played by Elizabeth Berridge, is the wife of Mozart. She is by far the most sensible in the relationship. Throughout the whole movie she is concerned of Mozart’s frivolous spending and at some points, refusal to do work that really pays. She is also extremely concerned of Mozart’s physical and mental well-being. She is also the only one who can stand up to Mozart’s father for him, calling him lazy and unappreciative. I was much more fond of the symphony music played by Mozart, although there was not much featured in the movie. I am not a big fan of Opera’s to begin with, so I am a little biased when judging them. I found Don Giovanni and the Opera written alongside Salieri more preferential; there was more substance and feeling in those. The opera Figaro to be extremely boring; apparently so did Joseph II. It was extremely slow with the same dark melody the whole piece. I most enjoyed the first Opera commissioned by Emperor Joseph II. The whole piece was brilliantly put together, I can’t imagine how someone could put all those notes together and make is sound like it did. It reminds me of listening to Jimi Hendrix on the guitar, or Bach on the Harpsichord. Mozart was an extremely childish, immature person; yet one of the most talented musicians of all time.

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