Amadeus - Music Featured In The Motion Picture

I had previously watched this film, but it was long enough ago that even though I could remember the general plot outline, I was looking forward to watching again to refresh my memory, and more importantly to listen carefully to the music featured. This time around I watched the 'Directors Cut' version on Blu Ray.

The music featured in Amadeus is almost exclusively composed by Mozart. Exceptions include a jaunty piece played by ethnic musicians in the Archbishops palace, which turned out to be Bubak and Hungaricus, an early 18th-century piece of gypsy music. Also featured is Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, as well as some music by Salieri - excerpts from what I believe is his opera Axur, re d'Ormus.

There is of course a wealth of music written by Mozart in the film, from a wide variety of styles. The music is carefully selected to enhance the drama on the screen. There is a mixture of diagetic and non-diagetic music. On one hand you have scenes where the music is obviously heard for people dancing, or where an actual orchestra is playing, and/or people are singing. Conversely, there is also music that is not heard by the characters on screen, but only by the viewer. This is often used to ratchet up the tension in a particular scene, making special use of Mozart's more dark or stormy pieces, such as his Requiem Mass in D Minor.

Some parts of the film make use of a Mozart melody, but use it in a different context. In the scene where Mozart 'improvises' over Salieri's welcome march, the tune he plays is actually Non Piu Andrai from his opera 'The Marriage of Figaro'.

There was a small scene that I particularly enjoyed because it featured fragments of a wide range of Mozart's music. Constanze has taken a portfolio of Mozart's work to show to Salieri, and as the composer is leafing through the pages he is hearing the music in his head and is in awe. The fragments of music in this scene includes Mozart's Concerto for Flute and Harp, K. 299, Symphony No. 29 in A, K. 201, Concerto for Two Pianos, K. 365, Symphonie Concertante, K. 364 and Mass in C Minor, K. 427, Kyrie.

Similar to the 'improvisation' on Salieri's march, there are other times in the film where Mozart's music is played in a completely different context to the norm, for example when Mozart is attempting to teach the young girl piano, he is playing the overture from The Marriage of Figaro. This is a good example of a piece that wasn't composed for piano being used as material for the character of Mozart to play.

In Conclusion

I thoroughly enjoyed this film, and although highly fictionalised, it provides a platform from which to explore the story of Mozart and Salieri's relationship, and the origin of the rumours of Mozart's murder. Mostly coincidentally, for the exercise prior to this I chose to research Salieri, and a small part of that involved researching this supposed feud between the two composers. I think this enabled me to watch the film from a different perspective to how I did when I first watched it several years ago.

I thought the score choices for this film were excellent for several reasons. Firstly, a very wide range of Mozart's music was chosen including plenty from his operas, piano concertos, sacred vocal works and symphonies. The music was also used to great effect, and showcased the wide range of styles that Mozart composed, from jaunty dance music to sombre music for the dead. This was used to support the action on screen, and did a great job at enhancing the mood particular to the scene.