![]() Mozart wrote to his father in May 1783 about Salieri and Lorenzo Da Ponte, the court poet: “You know those Italian gentlemen they are very nice to your face! Enough, we all know about them. Their letters suggest that both Mozart and his father, being Austrians who resented the special place that Italian composers had in the courts of the Austrian nobility, blamed the Italians in general and Salieri in particular for all of Mozart’s difficulties in establishing himself in Vienna. ![]() For example, Mozart wrote in December 1781 to his father that “the only one who counts in eyes is Salieri”. In the 1780s, while Mozart lived and worked in Vienna, he and his father Leopold wrote in their letters that several “cabals” of Italians led by Salieri were actively putting obstacles in the way of Mozart’s obtaining certain posts or staging his operas. This was no literary fabrication, but was based on the hard evidence of Mozart’s own words, as expressed in letters to his father. He was jealous of Salieri’s success, and of Salieri’s position as the emperor’s favorite. The Mozart-Salieri rivalry even included a head-to-head battle during an opera composition competition held by Emperor Joseph II in 1786.Ĭontrary to the common perception, it was actually Mozart who was the envious one. Mozart and Salieri were rivals, to be sure. In reality, Antonio Salieri was respected by no less a genius than Beethoven, and all of Mozart’s closest friends and associates continued to associate cordially with Salieri after Mozart’s death. You can assume that his version of Salieri is a rather obvious subconscious representation of himself. In Pushkin’s case, his propensity for jealousy was indeed fatal. In English we often use the expression “fatal character flaw” with no regard for the literal meaning. The great Pushkin was a brilliant wordsmith, some say the very creator of modern Russian, but he was no historian, and was also a hot-headed ass whose character flaw was … (wait for it) … jealousy. It’s a case of “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” Although there does not seem to be any factual basis for the poisoning rumor, that’s what everyone now thinks, if they think about the matter at all. The idea became permanently cemented into our modern consciousness by “Amadeus,” first a celebrated play, and then Oscar’s “Best Picture,” which perpetuated the poisoning myth. Just a few years after Salieri’s death, Pushkin wrote a short play («Моцарт и Сальери») that gave a public, artistic airing to an idea that previously had been merely a rumor in intellectual circles – that a jealous Salieri had poisoned Mozart. (The New Yorker covered the modern misperception of Salieri with an excellent and detailed article.) ![]() To celebrate this special holiday each year, in honor of Abraham’s memorable representation of the sycophantic and hypocritical Salieri, we take this time to honor our loved ones publicly and to their faces, but then to betray them behind their backs and take credit for their achievements.Īs far as we know, the “Salieri killed Mozart” legend is total bullshit, as is just about everything else people think they know about Salieri. Today is Abraham’s birthday, so happy 84th birthday, you magnificent, Mozart-killing bastard. He won an Oscar for playing the cunning, Machiavellian character of Antonio Salieri, “the patron saint of mediocrities,” and possible poisoner of Mozart. ![]() It is so named in honor of the greatest role of my favorite living character actor (since Wilford Brimley died), and my fellow Longhorn, the F man himself, F. ![]()
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