Drama

Peter Schaffer: AMADEUS

Immediately after the death of the brilliant composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, legends, as usual, started to emerge that over time took on the form of sensation. Their scandalous character found nutrient soil in the haze of mystery, always surrounding a mysterious and unexpected death. An obituary published in the German newspaper Musikalisches Wochenblatt after Mozart´s death also stated: „Since his body was swollen after the death, it is said that he was poisoned.“ Even Mozart´s first biographer, Czech professor František Xaver, referred to alleged statements of Mozart´s friends and his wife Constanze, who supposedly said that Mozart once spoke about death, „He writes the Requiem for himself. He had tears in his eyes. "I feel I won´t be here much longer", he continued, "because they must have given me poison. I can´t shake the thought!" This legend, first portrayed by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin in a poetic drama Mozart and Salieri (1830), later transferred into opera of the same name by Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1879), and followed by the English playwright Peter Shaffer in the play Amadeus. Through Mozart and Salieri´s relationship, the author demonstrates never-ending questions about the clash between genius and a less successful creator who, in the shadow of Mozart´s fame, experiences the torment of not fulfilling his ambitions. The play is not a historical document. The author compositionally plays out the fictitious relationships of the main protagonists on the background of real characters and facts. Art licence allows Shaffer to depict with dramatic effect the artistic and human destiny of one of the greatest music geniuses. In such an anchored story, the playwright points out complexes and hatred that cause the suffering of others and ultimately turn against their inferiority. A film adaptation by Miloš Forman represents one of the highlights of period film in the world.