LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Antonio Salieri: God
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Antonio Salieri couldn't get over the fact that God gave such an incredible talent to such a buffoon, a party animal, a vulgar creature, such as Mozart. In contrast, Salieri doesn't understand why God gave him such a mediocre talent, but yet he had the ability to see real genius.
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Amadeus centers on the deep envy of the imperial court composer Antonio Salieri of Mozart's godlike gifts as a composer. Despite Mozart's uncouthness and immaturity, he produced one work after another that seemed divinely sponsored as they transcended his own personality. He was beloved of God -- truly befitting the name "Amadeus." Both the play and the film concern themselves with the most significant decade in the composer's life, beginning with his dismissal from the service of the Archbishop of Salzburg in 1781 until his death ten years later. During this time Mozart resided in Vienna and became a composer free from the daily obligations of court appointments, but encumbered by the quest for financial stability. In this decade Mozart composed a large number of works astonishing for their quality.
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Mozart is favored by God, or at least that’s what Mozart’s rival Antonio Salieri enviously believes. Why else does Mozart enjoy the trappings of success while Salieri is relegated to the fame of a second-rate composer? Winner of six Tony Awards and seven Drama Desk Awards, Amadeus explores the dark realm of what happens to those who are consumed by envy. Also an Academy Award-winning movie!
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Salieri was portrayed in the film by F. Murray Abraham, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Salieri is characterized as both in awe of and insanely resentful towards Mozart, going so far as to renounce God for blessing his adversary. Salieri's later hopitalization is portrayed as a stay in a mental hospital, where he announces himself as "the Patron Saint of mediocrity".
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The play begins when Salieri, now an old man, invites the audience to listen to his life story and how he tried to defeat God through Mozart. Sound familiar so far? There are some more differences.
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Set in 1781-91, the decade of Mozart's musical genius and personal failure at the Viennese court, the story is told in retrospect by Salieri, on the verge of his own death in 1823. A self-described musical mediocrity, he understands that Mozart's genius marks him as loved of God and hates him for it -- and Him, as well.
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