A fantastic portrayal of Joseph II.. Down to his awkward but down-to-earth personality, to his selective enforcement of his absolute powers when he sees fit. They couldn't have done a better job.
@@grapes639 He was actually mostly unpopular, since he was too hasty with his reforms and was not good at appeasing the estates. He abolished many religious holidays and also wanted peasants to be paid in money instead of goods, which they did not want since they didn't even use money. The abolition of serfdom was also very unpopular with the Hungarian nobles, who rose up in rebellion, and his church reform made him unpopular with the clergy. His administrative reforms however were highly effective, but hardly anyone took notice of that
That little nod and wink to Salieri is just fantastic. Salieri always says Mozart is better, which he is, but never realizes how much influence he has on Mozart. Mozart comes to him for help and for questions. He was excited and immediately looked at Salieri, who like a mentor motion for him to take a chill pill.
When I saw this film in 1984 I was 16. When Salieri says "these are originals?" I thought oh no, he's going to steal the music. What a delight the way this movie delivered so many ingenious surprises. F. Murray Abraham gave a performance that stands today as one of the very best in film history. What a wonderful film and my exposure to Mozart and 💕 grew and grew after this film.
The emporer is from ferris bueller isn't he? I'm like salieri everyone thinks my music sucks but I am working to out write mozart on my channel. And I will do
@@erik878 no he's from the US. "Ferris Bueller" isn't a country, it's a movie. So one can't be "from" Ferris Bueller. Also, he's a big big paedophile. He's sexually attracted to children.
Mozart must've made quite an impression on The Emperor the way he described that opening scene, to make him so eager to see this, that he decided to attend the rehersal.
In a way Mozart was sort of a pet of the Emperor and the movie tries to show it. The emperor gave him a job so he would stay in Vienna and gave his wife a pension after he died
@@markusnashorn1145 The movie isn't accurate in its representation- it's very Hollywood. In those days, unless you were aristocracy, you were buried in a common grave- which would be excavated after ten years. And it was not common for mourners to attend, although it is possible a handful of his colleagues attended, including Salieri. He was buried according to his rank in society. However, outside of that memorials were held in Vienna and Prague that were attended by huge amounts of people, reflecting where he stood as a musician and how he would stand in history
Joseph II was a very interesting person. He was both conservative but also liberal, and I use both in the classical sense, not today’s versions. He was actually quite down to earth as far as monarchs of the time. He was fairly open to progress but did so with a measure of restraint, and rightly so. He ruled over a multi-ethnic empire and at the same time, unrest was growing in France, whom his sister was the Queen.
I mean sure if you are comparing him to the tsar or sultans or whatever godforsaken wretches were ruling Africa and Asia but he was right at par with the European monarchs of that era like Frederick and Louis xvi.
@@dannytallmage2971 Although with some effort I am less offended by your remarks, Catherine II of Russia, a contemporary of Joseph II, was quiet liberal & enlightened in a similar fashion. That is when she wasn't attempting to destroy the Ottomans & Poles. As to the "Godforsaken wretches", they had to wait until the 20th century to hit their strides in two world wars.
I like the little joke "is it modern ?" The casting made this a flawless film (that and the editing - the delete scenes were rightly cut in my opinion). I was drawn to the actors in the smaller roles, Patrick Hines as Kappellmeister Bonno, Jonathan Moore as Baron van Swieten and of course Charles Kay as the pompous Count Orsini-Rosenberg.
I agree with you. Just recently saw the "director's cut" on Netflix, and felt the added scenes should rightly have been left out; they made the whole movie drag. The theatrical release was much better, as it moved along more smoothly.
Mozart so adorable, after bowing to the Emperor, elated that he gets to share his wonderful music, winks at Salieri thinking he's the one that made it happen. If I could go back in time I'd want to meet Mozart I think above all. 🎹🎶🥰
I got to see this movie when it first came out at a small theater in Baltimore. I went with my mom at a very young age, and it made quite an impression on me! I loved the entire experience. My mom also took me along to concerts at The Myerhoff! Awesome times to me!
The smallest nitpick, but in reality, not in a thousand years would have the director turned his backside to the emperor like that when he went to talk to Mozart.
Europe is now more richly cultured today than it's ever been before. Let me guess, you're an American? We here in Europe understand class and culture better than you yanks ever could do.
Actually the movie is about 60-70% factual. Mozart's personality, the way his career went, even the little details like Salieri's sweet tooth are historically accurate. The only part that's fully fictional is of course the way Salieri and his relation to Mozart is portrayed here. But even that's executed in a genius way. In the movie, nobody ever finds out the way Salieri really feels, apart from The Priest of course. Every public action Salieri takes, makes him look like a somebody that really wants to help Mozart, and that's the way the history books portray him.
In addition to his personal taste, the Emperor also had his reputation to think of. I mean, this opera is about to be performed for him and all the nobles currently in Vienna. It was a state occasion. How would it have looked if they all saw what was being done at this rehearsal? The Emperor would've been the laughing stock of Europe!
Seems well thought... but it is astonishing that Orsini did not work this out by himself, and cut only the music. Or he was even more vicious as he intended to humiliate Mozart step by step, he would have cut the scenes also but just before the representation...
Very honorable for an emperor to just come in and sit along side his subjects........most would want the area cleared out and wanted to be carried up the balcony
Read about Joseph II. This was during the enlightenment and lead his nation in some of the greatest reform of that time. Truly fascinating character in history and died far too young.
The emperor and france were at war. He banished all french customs, tastes and culture including ballet. Ballet was a french art and the emperor decried no ballet in any music including opera
LOL, no ballet in the opera. Too French. Too evocative of the absolute monarchy of Louis XIV who happened to loved to dance, in this enlightenment age of tumultuous anti-monarchism.
I saw this splendid movie ages ago. Was there a scene where a critic said that Mozart should not be sung in German, because it was too 'gutteral' a language, compared to Italian?
If nothing else, the real Joseph II was actually highly enthusiastic over Mozart's work, and musically talented himself; the idea here is that Salieri is interpreting him as having next to no sense in music at all because he once nitpicked that Mozart's music had too many notes (which really happened).
Ну, никто не обидится, особенно из историков. Император в этом Шедевре - это вкус и потребности зрителя. Моцарт или Бетховен, это вам музыковеды расскажут с помощью БСЭ или Британики для хорошо подготовленной аудитории, а также для широких кругов интересующихся. Можно и не интересоваться, музыка и ее основы широко используется современными авторами.
The Emperor had decreed a law that there was to be no ballet in any opera. Mozart had written one in as part of the wedding. The Director ordered him to remove it. Mozart appealed to Salieri (who he thought was his only friend at court) to speak to the Emperor about it. As Salieri points out, the Emperor NEVER attended rehearsals, so there was no law about stopping the music when he showed up.
@@obscurousx1275 The context is, put simply, that the Emperor didn't like ballet. He considered it 'erotic' and 'sensual' and didn't want to see it, especially since it usually had nothing to do with the plot of the opera.
@@MihailJrschannel Amadeus is an English-language play/film, not a German-language one. In the future, don't be so dumb. Have some respect for how theatre is supposed to work. The fact you even thought this was written only to be a Hollywood film, and hence needed a "screenwriter", when in fact it was always a play originally, just goes to show how ignorant you are regarding the whole thing. Have you ever even been to the theatre before?
his majesty, in real life, contradicted everyone and as a result had no close friend, he died as lonely person, abandoned by everyone. his so called reforms failed. he had by no means amiable or winning character, great many hated him.
"great many hated him" yes, the aristocrats, whose powers his reforms effectively limited, did, but the common people loved him for exactly that reason. Here in Austria he's still known under the name "Bauernbefreier" in English "liberator of peasants" bc one of the first things he did when he came to power was abolishing serfdom, which, naturally, made the upper classes hate him. It mostly only seems that he was largely hated bc those people, the aristocracy, were the ones writing history, not the commons.
Are you kidding? It won Academy Awards for Best Actor, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction & Set Decoration, Best Writing, Screenplay from another medium (play by Peter Schaffer), Best Costume Design, Best Sound, & Best Makeup! Good thing you're not a movie critic.😂😂
@@WillSing4TP So what? MacDonalds sells a lot of hamburgers, doesn't make it good food. This film t was sensationalised Hollywood-style dross, historically inaccurate and its treatment of Mozart demeaned its subject matter.
