Meg Tilly was cast as Mozart's wife Constanze, but she tore a ligament in her leg the day before shooting started. Hulce reportedly used John McEnroe's mood swings as a source of inspiration for his portrayal of Mozart's unpredictable genius. In his autobiography Beginning, Kenneth Branagh says that he was one of the finalists for the role of Mozart, but was dropped from consideration when Forman decided to make the film with an American cast. Mozart's high-pitched laugh is heard as the screen fades to black. As he is pushed down the hall in a wheelchair, Salieri declares himself "the patron saint of mediocrities" and mockingly absolves the other patients of their own inadequacies. Having finished his tale, Salieri asks how a merciful God could destroy his own beloved just to keep a mediocrity like Salieri from sharing in his glory. Mozart is taken out of the city and unceremoniously buried in a mass grave. A guilty Constanze returns home and locks the unfinished Requiem away, only to find that Mozart has died from overwork. The next morning, a gravely ill Mozart apologizes to Salieri for his previous behavior. Salieri transcribes Mozart's verbal commands, and they work through the night. Salieri takes him home and offers his assistance on the Requiem. Mozart collapses during a performance of his finished work, The Magic Flute. The couple fight and Constanze leaves with their young son, Karl. Mozart, desperate for money, obliges, despite Constanze's insistence that he finish the Requiem Mass. Salieri plots to kill Mozart once the piece is finished, then premiere it at Mozart's funeral, claiming the work as his own.Īt a parody of one of Mozart's own operas, Emanuel Schikaneder asks Mozart to write an opera for his theater. Wearing Leopold's party mask, Salieri visits Mozart and commissions a Requiem Mass. Salieri recognizes the dead commander as symbolic of Leopold and hatches a plan. Messengers arrive in Vienna with news of Leopold's death, and in response a grief-stricken Mozart pens Don Giovanni. When Mozart is summoned to court to explain, he manages to convince the Emperor to allow his opera to premiere, despite Salieri and the advisers' attempts at sabotage. She takes him to the Mozart residence, where he discovers that Mozart is working on an opera based on the play The Marriage of Figaro, which the Emperor has forbidden. Salieri hires a young girl to pose as the Mozarts' maid while spying for him. Leopold disapproves of his son's hedonism and the family argues until Leopold leaves town. Constanze and Mozart take Leopold to a masked party (which Salieri also attends), where Mozart entertains the guests with musical antics. His father, Leopold Mozart, comes to visit him in Vienna. Mozart, meanwhile, struggles to find work and begins drinking. Salieri is enraged that God has bestowed upon Mozart the talent he has so desperately desired and vows to destroy Mozart. Constanze visits Salieri to persuade him to make the Emperor reconsider, but she is unsuccessful. The Emperor desires that Mozart instruct his niece, Princess Elisabeth, in music, but Salieri discourages him from doing so. Salieri suspects that Mozart has slept with the star, Caterina Cavalieri, despite his engagement to Constanze Weber. Mozart premieres Die Entführung aus dem Serail to mixed reviews from the Emperor. Mozart happily accepts the job, much to the annoyance of Salieri. The Emperor desires to commission Mozart to write an opera and, despite the reservations of his advisers, summons him to the palace. Salieri attends the performance to meet Mozart and, despite Mozart's obscenity and immaturity, finds his talent to be transcendent. Mozart arrives in Vienna to perform at the request of his employer, the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. He is educated in Vienna and becomes court composer to Emperor Joseph II. Soon after, his father dies, which Salieri takes as a sign that God has accepted his vow. He prays to God that, if he will make Salieri a famous composer, he will in return promise his faithfulness. Salieri recounts how, even in his youth, he desired to be a composer, much to the chagrin of his father. Two servants take him to a mental asylum where a priest, Father Vogler, implores him to confess. 6.3 More Music from the Original SoundtrackĪn elderly Antonio Salieri confesses to the murder of his former colleague, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and attempts to kill himself by slitting his throat.