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Originally Posted by irishgrl
I have watched that film numerous times and each time it strikes me that Salieri KNOWS he is inferior to Mozart in musical ability. He always was. the difference that I can see is that Salieri PRAYED to be gifted and Mozart just WAS. Salieri's prayers were never answered (at least as far as he was concerned, especially in comparison to Mozart's ability) and Mozart only needed his father to foster his musical talent. To me, it seemed Salieri blamed everything on the difference in fathers. Salieri's father was a merchant. Mozart's father was a musician, and not just ANY musician, but a Gifted musician, who gave that knowledge to his son. along with a structure of performance that ensured Mozart wouldnt lose his knowledge.
Mozart therefore had the edge. And secretly, though Salieri saw Mozart's genius, he resented him too, for the "easy" path he thought Mozart had in Musical circles. That is why, later, when he had the opportunity, he "hindered and harmed" "God's creature" on Earth, in other words, he obstructed Mozart's progress any way he could. out of spite.
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That was a very interesting analysis, but even if the rivalry was definitely there and was harsh at times (even if judging by the still existing documents, it seemed it was more felt by Mozart than by Salieri), I really don't think Salieri poisoned Mozart, unfortunately Pushkin gave historic value to a rumour. As his contemporaries said when "Mozart and Salieri" was published, "Salieri probably didn't kill Mozart, but Pushkin killed Salieri".
About the greatest composer, of course Mozart is stellar (especially if you listen to it played by Horowitz, his albums started my love for classical music) but he just doesn't touch my soul as Bach, I think in his music there's an unreachable fusion between passion and spirituality, it's the same reason why I love Mantegna so much.
Romy