Lorenzo Da Ponte

At the age of the Enlightenment, Antonio Salieri becomes the most triumphant musician in the city of Vienna, however, without any warning his harmonious universe comes to an utter halt. Salieri’s absolute faith in the world, in himself, and in God is all at once diminished by this spontaneous child composer. When the two opposite ends meet, there emerges a fury, a rage, and a passion in Salieri to sabotage the boy that has secured Salieri’s deserved God given talent; to destroy

Opera, as with any theatrical production is often indicative of some societal norm or expectation. However, Opera Buffa, as with any satire generally reaches into the outcasts of society to find humor in the contrasts with the “norms”. Interestingly, these comedic teachings often turn into the norms of tomorrow. These can go from political beliefs, drugs, clothing, hairstyles, relationships, anything that is different than expected. To help better explain this let us look at a modern example. I Love

Most biography movies usually are told from the point of view of a person whose name is in the title. The movie Amadeus by Milos Forman is about the famous musician and composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but the movie is not told from his point of view but from his rival, Antonio Salieri played by F. Murray Abraham. The story is set in 1823 as the elderly Antonio Salieri is placed in a lunatic asylum for attempting suicide. He launches into a long confession about his relationship with Mozart which

Amadeus Influential Values Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus presents to the reader many human values. The most prominent being envy, deceit and self-sacrifice. During the course of the play these features are displayed through Salieri’s actions, emotions and dialogue. The relationship between Salieri and Mozart is like a painting, commencing with splattered envy after Mozart’s extordinary musical talents disrupt Salieri’s clean, white, sanity. Splatters become blotches when Mozart uses Salieri’s

The Marriage of Figaro is an opera performed in 1786 in Vienna and remains another one of Mozart’s most prominent works. The opera is notable for its depiction of the increased social status of women and its critical commentary on the aristocracy and social hierarchy of its time, as the Countess and Susanna form a rapport that transcends class boundaries and gender roles. Mozart further raises the issue of aristocratic power while expressing the rights of the bourgeois, as women in the play are further

Mozart defied the rules, and destroyed expectations. He wrote what was never thought to exist. He turned tradition into innovation, and he destroyed all class barriers. Mozart rewrote history. Throughout this movie, Mozart broke standards time and time again. Whether it was writing opera’s about prohibited information, or composing in german so lower class residents understand could understand the language, Mozart never conformed. Throughout his career, Mozart continued to build on

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

Though extremely different in many ways, Amadeus was successfully translated from stage to film not as an adaptation but a parallel work. Peter Shaffer’s stage version is highly theatrical and unfortunately does not literally translate well to film, for multiple reasons. Shaffer and Milos Forman adapted Amadeus in a way that appealed to cinema audiences through cutting characters, expanding upon characters, altering language and narration, set and costume design, plot changes and taking full advantage

The arias 'Al desio di chi t'adora' from Mozart's revised “le Nozze di Figaro” sung by the character Susanna, and 'Come scoglio' from Mozart's “cosi fan tutte” sung by the character Fiordiligi were both sung by Adriana Ferrarese Del Bene at their premieres. Mozart wanted all arias he wrote for singers to “fit them like a well made garment”(?) so wrote them to fit their vocal abilities and strengths. In this essay I will be looking at the vocal abilities of Adriana and how Mozart used them in these

Wolfgang Mozart and Antonio Salieri are arguably two sides of the same coin and certainly foils. While Mozart embraces humanity and its flaws, Salieri shuns it, believing God’s grace and musical talent is all he needs. Amadeus is tired of “gods and heroes,” common to Italian operas, and doesn’t want a conventional job, believing “all serious operas written in [the 18th] century are boring” (Shaffer 2001, 69). Instead, he would rather compose operas about life and love and in harems, and insults Italians