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"AMADEUS" (PETER SHAFFER).
Term Paper ID:21726
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Essay Subject:
Examines play's portrayal (in Scene 16) of Mozart-Salieri relationship, musical composition, death/murder of Mozart.... More...
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4 Pages / 900 Words
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Paper Abstract:
Examines play's portrayal (in Scene 16) of Mozart-Salieri relationship, musical composition, death/murder of Mozart.
Paper Introduction:
Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus offers a dramatic representation of a debate that has been waged for some time over the reason for the death of Mozart and the possible involvement of Salieri in that event. Shaffer takes the position that Salieri had much to do with the death of Mozart and indeed poisoned him, while many scholars have suggested that this is simply a fanciful idea with no basis in fact. In the play, however, what is important is the way the issue is presented in dramatic so that the argument is given coherence, suggesting the motivation that might have caused Salieri to murder Mozart. In the scene under discussion, Shaffer uses dramatic ritual to connect the two composers by means of a pseudo-religious rite, showing how the two men are similar, how the death of Mozart means the death of Salieri, and how each is connected to a
Text of the Paper:
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The evocation of a religious ritual broadens themeaning of the scene and gives a context for the words and for the dramaticaction. For Salieri, on the otherhand, composing is a difficult and painstaking chore, and now he knows thatit is also a chore that will never produce music comparable to that ofMozart. Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus offers a dramatic representation of adebate that has been waged for some time over the reason for the death ofMozart and the possible involvement of Salieri in that event. If they see Mozart as apowerless, young, and untried musical talent, then they see his music aswell as not so important as that of a man like Salieri, a man tested bytime and a man who has served the musical world for some time. Music is the life force for Salieri, so important to him that he seesmore of its reality than do his contemporaries. Work CitedShaffer, Peter. Yet it becomes more and more evident that the two men are moreclosely linked than even Salieri believes, and Salieri's downfall is foundin the fact that he gets what he wants. Behold my vow fulfilled. Those with less musical acumen seeMozart's music as less important than that and allow their view of the man(Mozart) to color their view of the music. Salieri lives 3 years after Mozart's death and "enjoys" fame and approbation the entiretime. He knows this because he can distinguish music,while those who are looking up to him in his lifetime are "people incapableof distinguishing" (147). It is he who evokes Godby asking Salieri to answer for Him. Heachieves the fame he wishes, but he would have done so anyway given that helives in an age where no one but himself can distinguish the truth ofMozart's music. He does notsee beyond his own time to his place in history, but Salieri does. Hehas been ill for some time, ill because he has been poisoned by Salieri,though he does not know this. The profoundest voice in the world reduced to a nursery tune (141). In the scene under discussion, Shafferuses dramatic ritual to connect the two composers by means of a pseudo-religious rite, showing how the two men are similar, how the death ofMozart means the death of Salieri, and how each is connected to a certainconception of music. Salieri's pain derives from the fact that he knows the truth thatothers do not--he knows that Mozart is the god of music. The Communionhas linked Salieri inextricably with Mozart, but it has not infused Salieriwith the spirit of Mozart. Amadeus. it would be Mozart who would befamous and not Salieri: "I must survive to see myself become extinct!"(147). The memory of Mozart and his knowledge of hisown inability ever to be as great leads him to suicide. In Scene 16, Mozart is reduced to asking why this is happening tohim, whether he was really so wicked as to deserve this fate. New York: New American Library, 1984.----------------------- 1 That spirit has been murdered, leaving behindonly the knowledge of it that Salieri possesses and because of which hesuffers in his own success. Yet he also knows at the same time that this is no deserved and thatit will not outlive him. Yet Salieriknows that the vagaries of the moment are why he is elevated above Mozartand that posterity will have a different view. In the end. Salieri is indeed alone, andhe learns how much he needed the other man and how much he needed in facthis own hatred in order to survive. Shaffertakes the position that Salieri had much to do with the death of Mozart andindeed poisoned him, while many scholars have suggested that this is simplya fanciful idea with no basis in fact. He hasset about this by encouraging Mozart to compose certain works--he hasseduced Mozart into revealing the secrets of the Masons in his opera TheMagic Flute, for instance, and he is now pressing him to finish this Massin spite of his illness. Salieri brings down the god of music,and this false Communion is thus a perverted thing, an evocation ofreligion in service of a murder: Reduce the man: reduce the God. Intruth, his act in murdering Mozart is futile, as he must know it is. Salieri believes that God resides in Mozart,for otherwise he would not be able to produce such glorious music, and hehas decided that he has to drive the God out of the other composer. In Scene 16, Mozart is composing a Mass while he is also dying. It isalso the culmination of the play, the logical outcome of the envy that hasbeen engendered in the man from his exposure to Mozart and Mozart's musicand from his greater understanding of what is good in music than ispossessed by his contemporaries. This is why he is sofearful of Mozart--he knows that the music of this brash and annoying youngman will outlive everything he himself has written and will be the ultimatein musical power throughout the ages. His poisoning of Mozart is more direct and yet in some waysless painful, for it has an end, while the poisoning of Salieri has no endand extends beyond his life as Mozart's fame grows and his own diminishes. As the play unfolds, the viewer knows that Salieri is correct in hisassessment and that Mozart will be considered one of the greatest musicalvoices of any age, while Salieri will be relegated to the position of aninteresting but minor voice in the same era as the master. Salieri in this scene is symbolicallyrecreating Mozart's talent within himself, becoming Mozart through the actof Communion. In the play, however, what isimportant is the way the issue is presented in dramatic so that theargument is given coherence, suggesting the motivation that might havecaused Salieri to murder Mozart. His tragedy is that he knows great musicwhen he hears it without being able to match it in his own work. In the Communion, the wafer and the wine are transmuted into the bodyand blood of Christ, and the worshipper invites God into him or herselfthrough the act of Communion. Shaffer uses this scene as an evocation of theMass, subverting the usual structure of the Mass by substituting tornpieces of music for the wafer used in a real Mass. The scene is not realistic but dramatically evocative, embodying thethemes of the play in ritualistic acts that represent the conflicts of theplay for the audience. It shows Salieri's belief in Mozart as a conduit for God, as themeans by which God expresses His meaning to mankind through music.Salieri's crime is thus put into perspective and is shown in all itsfutility--the worshipper is killing the god he worships in a vain attemptto become that god, knowing all the while that this will never be.Salieri's act is the height of arrogance as well as of futility. Yet Salieri is acting as God himself,or more properly as the minor deity capable of killing the real God andassuming some of his power in the act. Mozart here is asking what has happened to him as his lifeebbs away. He is also resentful thatnot only is this the case, but in addition Mozart can write his music soquickly and easily, seemingly without effort. Salieri in effect isworshipping Mozart even as he destroys him, and as Salieri eats the musicpaper in the manner of the Communion, it is as if he were trying to becomeMozart. The two men are linked in this act,linked in this Communion, and linked by being poisoned with one another, asSalieri puts it. He asks that Mozart die and leavehim alone, and finally that is what happens. He remembers all the wonders of the world that were once at hisfeet and asks why they are being taken from him. Mozart's music is as poison to Salieri, a poison he musteat again and again, a poison which he symbolically eats as if in Communionin this scene. It is here that Mozart unmasks Salieri and learns of theother man's hatred and how that hatred has now poisoned him and destroyedhim.
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