Amadeus Reflection Paper

The 1984 film Amadeus, directed by Miloš Forman, told the story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart story in such a way that an individual watching more than likely would have never imagined such a brilliant musician’s life having been the way it was portrayed in the film. When many people think of Mozart today, the thought of his skill to compose musical masterpieces is probably the first of many things to come to mind – his work speaks for itself; Mozart’s operas and symphonies are beautiful, so comparing it to the eighteenth century Classical era, Mozart’s work had to have been much loved and appreciated, right? Well, according to Amadeus, this was not necessarily the case.

The film opens up with secret rival Antonio Salieri attempting to kill

Salieri would eventually come to conclusion that God was laughing at him through Mozart. The film would go on to show how Mozart’s pride would eventually leave him in a poor financial situation because many people including those of the Emperor’s court brushing off his music. Once Mozart’s father passed away, Mozart turned to alcohol and became a heavy drinker and his wife would eventually take their son, Karl, and leave. While trying to compose several works, Mozart became very ill and exhausted, which would lead to him passing out during a performance of “The Magic Flute.” He and Salieri would work together on his Requiem, which would not be finished due to Mozart passing away, leaving Salieri to believe that God was against he and Mozart composing music together. With a plot like this, one of which where Mozart’s music was not good enough and despite the lessons he would give people, he still was struggling financially, I would have to say that, personally, this is not the life I would have thought Mozart lived, given how breathtaking his compositions are, how recognized his compositions are and the glory he receives for his work in today’s

It is pretty easy to understand why people were so critical over his compositions during this era, it is almost similar to how some people do not take to certain songs in modern music genres, but over a hundred years later, we tend to still hear Mozart’s music all the time, whether it is intentionally, on a radio station, in a movie soundtrack, fancy restaurant or elevator music, or even in music class and people of today’s society seem to appreciate it much more than the people during the eighteenth century did, at least from how Amadeus portrays the audience(s). Listening to Mozart’s productions today, people who enjoy classical music will definitely agree with me when I say that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s pieces are far from boring or tiring, and a true lover of this musical style will absolutely know when to clap. Also, there was a part in the film where Mozart is upset that the director wants him to rewrite a big section of his opera, if not the entire thing, and Mozart defends his work saying, “I can’t rewrite what’s perfect!” (Amadeus). In the film, Mozart seemed to have