[IronJack]

Absolutely ridiculous. Salieri was a notable composer in his own right, while Mozart's reputation as a genius was largely the result of his being a child prodigy. His work, while brilliant and prolific, is occasionally repetitive and uninspired. Salieri had no reason to be jealous of Mozart, much less to murder him.

The rascally gadabout portrayed in "Amadeus" is complete and utter fiction. The movie is less a biography about Mozart than it is an object lesson in the conflict between excellence and average. Milos Forman and Peter Shaffer did the music world a disservice when they chose to play that lesson out against a backdrop of classical music.

[HiTech RedNeck]

One would think if there was a real rivalry, the two would have traded barbs in public. Kind of like Cruz and Trump do now. The alleged Salieri confession is not directly attested and was reported around a time he had gone insane and so who knows if he was kidding or imagined it.

[Trumpinator]

The movie set off a long running obsession with prodigy kids who graduate college in their teens or younger. We had that TV series about a kid doctor for example in the 80s or 90s - I can’t remember. Moms were buying headphones designed to be played over pregnant bellies and other nonsense like that. I think the fad died when the first batch of kids turned out to be just as smart (or dumb) as the the rest of the pack.