Why Amadeus now, see sublime?

After many years from the first viewing, I just watched Milos Forman’s Amadeus (Director’s Cut) last night. I mainly wanted to confirm my initial impression of Tom Hulce, Mozart’s performance as more than helium laughs farcical. In contrast, actors F. Murray Abraham, Solieri, and Tom Hulce’s Mozart are readily apparent. Was this contrast more indication of acting understanding or lack thereof or prescribed by the screenplay and director? Was Mr. Hulce’s full-throttle performance as the ribald, mercurial prodigy Amadeus Mozart spot on, or a design of the script to create a stark contrast between protagonists? Salieri’s elevated social standing in Vienna was equal to his celebrity status as a musical artist. He taught many composers, including Ludwig van Beethoven, Carl Czerny, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Franz Schubert, and Franz Liszt. Salieri also taught Mozart’s son Franz Xaver. Salieri’s music slowly disappeared from the repertoire between 1800 and 1868 and was rarely heard after that period until the revival of his fame in the late 20th century. This revival was due to the fictionalized depiction of Salieri in Peter Shaffer‘s play Amadeus (1979) and its 1984 film version. The death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1791 at the age of 35 was followed by rumors that he and Salieri had been bitter rivals and that Salieri had poisoned the younger composer, yet this has been proven false. They were likely, at least, mutually respectful peers.

When one reads the historical record about the early behavior of pre-teen, teenager, and early adult Mozart the casting seems more than apt representation.

The Jury is no longer out, and the casting choices for two experienced stage actors, previous to these roles in Amadeus not well known, were beyond clever. Mozart was a slight man and plain of the face. Tom Hulce could read music, was an experienced stage actor and was more than ready for a role like Mozart. A renowned leading film actor could not have portrayed Mozart.

Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart was born on January 27th, 1756, in Salzburg, Austria, and by the age of five, he’d already written his first composition. At the same time, visiting Vienna in 1762, the Mozart children performed at the Hall of Mirrors within the Schönbrunn Palace in front of Maria Theresia. After the concert, little Mozart jumped straight onto the monarch’s lap after the concert to hug and kiss her. Such shocking behavior instantly made the child prodigy become the talk of the town instantly.

Six years later, in 1768, Maria Theresia granted the then 12-year-old Mozart a two-hour audience at the Imperial Palace, where the Habsburgs resided. His performance was so outstanding that he followed it up with a second concert in honor of the Duke of Württemberg in the autumn of 1781. That year, he was privileged enough to be invited to spend Christmas Eve at the Imperial Apartments with Emperor Joseph II, Maria Theresia’s son.

Mozart’s early talent for music was remarkable. At three, he picked out chords on the harpsichord; at four, playing short pieces; at five, composing. There are anecdotes about his special memory of pitch, his scribbling a concerto at the age of five, and his gentleness and sensitivity (he was afraid of the trumpet). Just before he was six, his father took him and Nannerl, also highly talented, to Munich to play at the Bavarian court, and a few months later, they went to Vienna and were heard at the imperial court in noble houses.

Together, Hulce and Abraham breathe life into Forman’s Amadeus, creating a film that transcends historical fiction and offers a timeless exploration of talent, ambition, and the human condition.