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What Amadeus gets wrong
BBC Culture ^ | 2/24/2015 | Clemency Burton-Hill

Posted on 02/24/2015 2:31:28 PM PST by Borges

It is 30 years since Amadeus swept the board at the Academy Awards. Miloš Forman’s 1984 film of Peter Shaffer’s 1979 play, took home eight statuettes that night, including best film, best director, best actor and best adapted screenplay. Arguably the finest movie ever made about the process of artistic creation and the unbridgeable gap between human genius and mediocrity, it has taken its place in motion picture history and is invariably described as a masterpiece.

All this is despite the fact the film plays shamelessly fast and loose with historical fact, taking as its basis a supposedly bitter rivalry between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his counterpart Antonio Salieri, court composer for Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, that may have been nothing more than a vague rumour. Alex von Tunzelmann, writing in the Guardian, is one of the many historians frustrated by the glittering success of a film that is so inaccurate, historically speaking. She describes it as “laughably” wrong – “a deadly rivalry that never was, a dried-up bachelor who was actually a father of eight, and flops that were hits in reality” – and reckons nothing about the film can redeem “the fact that the entire premise – that Salieri loathed Mozart and plotted his demise – is probably not true”.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; History; Music/Entertainment; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: academyawards; amadeus; antoniosalieri; mozart; oscar; oscars; petershaffer; salieri; wolfgangmozart
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To: tet68; Borges
Here's my favorite clip from the movie, edited down to the essential parts: Mozart Vs Salieri. One of the YouTube comments is spot on IMHO and aptly characterizes Mozart's genius but his naivety:

Mozart is unaware that he has just humilliated Salieri; he honestly thought he was helping him.

In spite of taking, ahem, liberties with the biographies, it remains an enduring, always enjoyable film.

21 posted on 02/24/2015 2:55:02 PM PST by re_nortex (DP - that's what I like about Texas)
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To: Borges

I guess this was to be expected. Hollywood remakes old moveis. Critics rehash old critiques.

When the movie came out, everyone from musicians, historians, and even Siskel & Ebert pointed out that that much license had been taken in creating the film and especially with regard to the creation of Salieri’s obsession/antagonism. Nothing new here.


22 posted on 02/24/2015 2:56:23 PM PST by MilesVeritatis (Devote yourself to the truth, no matter where it leads you.)
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To: dfwgator
Missed it by 8 seconds!


23 posted on 02/24/2015 2:57:32 PM PST by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
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To: re_nortex

Mozart really was rather callow towards his fellow musicians. His letters are filled with accounts of other musicians coming up short in some way and him describing how he ‘laughed till I fell over’ or ‘could have died laughing’. He was not a good colleague.


24 posted on 02/24/2015 2:57:37 PM PST by Borges
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To: Borges
How about, one of the big errors is that Mozart died young?

I can't get the link to work right now, but maybe it will soon: www.astroamerica.com/mozart.html. The theory is that Nissen, Mrs. Mozart's second husband, was actually Mozart, who faked his own death in order to avoid the politics of Vienna that were about to have him killed anyway, then engaged in identity theft by "becoming" Nissen. One of the pieces of circumstantial evidence is that Nissen spends most of the rest of his life writing Mozart's bio, and let's admit it, who spends decades writing the bio of one's wife's previous husband?

25 posted on 02/24/2015 3:06:26 PM PST by chajin ("There is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12)
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To: Billthedrill
Bach standing on one side of God’s throne and Beethoven on the other

Beethoven would have been behind the throne ... whispering in God's ear. And Bach would have been replaced by Haydn.

26 posted on 02/24/2015 3:08:04 PM PST by IronJack
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To: Borges
I think all films are entitled to some artistic license. Otherwise it becomes a boring documentary. The fact is, very few people have a life that would make an interesting film that people would want to spend money to see. Some dramatic tension often needs to get introduced to make the film compelling.

There are documentaries on Mozart for those who are inclined.

27 posted on 02/24/2015 3:14:43 PM PST by SamAdams76
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To: IronJack

You think Haydn was a greater composer than Bach?


28 posted on 02/24/2015 3:18:56 PM PST by Borges
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To: dfwgator

Rock me Amadeus. I’m actually listinening to Gustav Holst


29 posted on 02/24/2015 3:21:59 PM PST by real saxophonist (Spam, Spam, Spam, Bacon, and Spam. Extra Bacon.)
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To: fieldmarshaldj
F. Murray Abraham

Gee, what did Murray Abraham ever do to you? ;)

30 posted on 02/24/2015 3:23:40 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: Mad Dawg

Excellent.


31 posted on 02/24/2015 3:28:32 PM PST by dasboot
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To: blueunicorn6
What about Godzilla? How many movies have they made about Mozart? One. How many movies have they made about Godzilla? Dozens.

Ya got a point there, can't argue against it.........

32 posted on 02/24/2015 3:33:46 PM PST by Hot Tabasco (Uncle Sy: "Beavers are like Ninjas, they only come out at night and they're hard to find")
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To: TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig

Bingo! That’s the money line!


33 posted on 02/24/2015 3:33:59 PM PST by JewishRighter
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To: IronJack

My ears tell me Telemann was father to them all.


34 posted on 02/24/2015 3:35:18 PM PST by dasboot
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To: Borges

“You think Haydn was a greater composer than Bach?”

Yeah...I don’t get it either.


35 posted on 02/24/2015 3:36:41 PM PST by dasboot
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To: dfwgator
Gee, what did Murray Abraham ever do to you?

Well, since you asked:

Shark Swarm and Bloodmonkey.

36 posted on 02/24/2015 3:39:46 PM PST by Calvin Locke
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To: dasboot

Have your ears checked.


37 posted on 02/24/2015 3:44:47 PM PST by IronJack
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To: IronJack

LOL


38 posted on 02/24/2015 3:47:24 PM PST by dasboot
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To: Borges
If you want 'facts' watch a documentary.

Have you watched any "Documentaries" from the History Channel lately?

These are almost as historically accurate as Von Daniken's "Chariots of the Gods."

(where's the photo of that wild haired guy?)

:-)

39 posted on 02/24/2015 3:51:15 PM PST by BwanaNdege
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To: dfwgator

40 posted on 02/24/2015 3:52:02 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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