“I looked on astounded as from his ordinary life he made his art. We were both ordinary men, he and I. Yet from the ordinary he created Legends--and I from Legends created only the ordinary!” ArtMozartSalieriArtistic SubstanceMusical History Book:Amadeus Source: Amadeus
“The Enemy Within by Stewart Stafford There is more to a smile than the baring of teeth, His grin had all the warmth of daggers unsheathed, The lips did part but the eyes remained staring, The skin was pocked and trust was badly faring. The lips quivered at every imagined slight, The eyes glittered like a serpent's at twilight, Arms crossed in constant defence, The foot tapping, waiting to take offence. Who knows or cares of his jealousy's genesis, He strove beyond measure to become my nemesis, Seeking to frustrate me at every turn, And put me prematurely in a cremation urn. The hero can fend off any attack, Except for the knife that's plunged in the back, They may not even know the weapon's in far, Until the assailant's coup de grâce. © Stewart Stafford, 2021. All rights reserved.” PoetryPoemJealousyEnemiesRivalryNemesisMozartBackstabbersSalieriStab In The Back Author:Stewart Stafford
“Entirely in agreement with Salieri when he rails against God for having given humanity the gift of Mozart's divine music, for the sole purpose of making us look ridiculous and plunging us into despair. Salieri sets himself up as Man's champion against divine injustice. It is the same problem as that of the Grand Inquisitor in the Brothers Karamazov. When Christ returns to earth he says to him: 'We manage humanity for its greatest happiness. It has paid for this with its mediocrity. Don't come disturbing this fragile balance with insane promises. ' And he condemns Christ to death once again. Salieri is not mean-spirited: it took pride, not to become jealous of Mozart, but to challenge God and ask: 'Tell it to me plainly, why am I not Mozart?' For God mocked us by throwing Mozart among us in the guise of a vulgar being, who did not even bear the exceptional marks of grace. God is toying with us, and that is unbearable. Mozart must be destroyed. All that challenges God is noble in spirit and superior to gaping, unconditional admiration of His works. We will not have the same problem with Changeux's Neuronal Man, emerging on the horizon like Nietzsche's Last Man, with his cortical and synaptic flatness. Farewell Mozart, farewell Salieri, no more grace, but no more challenges either, such is the solution offered by modern science to the insoluble despair of the difference between men. Signs, signs? Is that all you have to say? People act and people dream, they speak or they don't - none of that is unreal. Shut up and watch. See the philosophical beauty of these closing years of the century, the stars in the sky falling lower as the fateful date approaches, and the interactive horizon of couples in love - all this is beyond doubt, and it moves me to tears . . . The age, the coming age is like a metropolis deserted by its population, cut off from its sources of energy. Are you going to say that, are you going to go on with these twilight rantings? Every century throws the reality principle into question as it closes, but it's over today, finished, done. Everybody works these days. Narrative and moral passions, the philosophical animal spirits, are literally blocking the electronic animal spirits, a thousand times more lively and insignificant. Videos and advertisements, credits, news reports and sports flashes, Dallas, that's television, all that transfers easily, with the minimum of energy, on ephemeral film. But pure television, like pure painting or pure speed, is hard to bear.” MozartSalieriInsustainabilityGod And HumanityMan And TechnologyPure Postmodernity Book:Cool memories Source: Cool memories
“Mental health professionals of the 1960s make their 1990s counterparts look like Mozarts trampling upon Salieri’s lesser work.” Mental HealthMozartSalieri Book:The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August Source: The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
“I never thought I would write the way that I write for the studios now, which is like, not little novels, but be someone who literally is more like, you know, sometimes I guess we describe, we're more Salieri than Mozart.” KnowsWayWritingLittlesSometimesNovelLike YouStudiosSalieri Author:Thomas Lennon
“I never quite dare to believe I'm brave enough to be an artist, but I'm on the side of artists. I think of myself as a bit of a Salieri, looking with longing eyes at Mozart.” ThinkingBelieveEnoughEyeArtistBitsSidesLongingBraveDareNever QuitSalieri Author:Stephen Fry
“There was a moment of extraordinary humbleness and humility and pride, as well, with my father when he turned to me - and I think it was after I played Salieri in "Amadeus" at university. And he said, You're better than I ever was or ever could be, you should do this for profession. You'd have a good time.” ThinkingShouldWellsSaidMomentsFatherHumilityPrideExtraordinaryUniversityProfessionGood TimesBe YouHaving A Good TimeHumblenessSalieriAmadeus Author:Benedict Cumberbatch
“The psychological detective story in "Equus" made Peter Shaffer's name as a playwright. But it was his next play, "Amadeus," that cemented his reputation, largely because of the movie version. Another battle of wills, it was the story of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart seen through the eyes of lesser composer Antonio Salieri.” MadePlayStoriesEyeNextNamesBattleVersionsPsychologicalReputationComposerPeterPlaywrightDetectivesThrough The EyesAntonioDetective StoriesNext PlaySalieriAmadeus Author:Bob Mondello
“In my teens I fancied myself an artist; I hung out with the eccentric art teacher at my high school, painted still lifes and portraits and landscapes in watercolor and acrylics, took private lessons, won some blue ribbons for my earnest renderings. My lack of talent did little to dampen my enthusiasm. In college I thought I'd continue, but, like Salieri, I quickly realized that while I had the ability to appreciate art, I wasn't actually very good.” LittlesArtStillsSchoolArtistAbilityTeacherTalentCollegeLessonsHigh SchoolAppreciateBlueVery GoodEnthusiasmLandscapeTeensHungPortraitsEarnestEccentricRibbonsRenderingStill LifeArt TeacherWatercolorsSalieri Author:Christina Baker Kline
“In Mozart and Salieri we see the contrast between the genius which does what it must and the talent which does what it can.” DoeTalentGeniusContrastSalieri Author:Maurice Baring
“As much preparation as I had made for the old man Salieri, gestures and so on, the fact is after sitting for hours, your movements are kind of slow.” MenKindMadeFactsHoursMovementSittingPreparationOld ManGesturesSalieri Author:F. Murray Abraham
“Salieri was a pupil of Gluck. He was born in Italy in 1750 and died in Vienna in 1825. He left Italy when he was 16 and spent most of his life in Vienna. He's the key composer between classic music and romantic music. Beethoven was the beginning of romantic music, and he was the teacher of Beethoven and Schubert.” LeftBornTeacherKeysMusic IsDiedClassicComposerPupilsViennaClassic MusicSchubertSalieriRomantic Music Author:Cecilia Bartoli
“People realize that Salieri is not the man we saw in the Amadeus movie. That man had no talent. It was a great movie, but the Salieri character was a big fiction.” PeopleMenCharacterBigsRealizingFictionSawsTalentHe ManHairstylesSalieriAmadeus Author:Cecilia Bartoli
“My reaction to Radiohead isn't as simple as jealousy. Jealousy just burns; Radiohead infuriate me. But if it were only that, I wouldn't go back and listen to those records again and again. Listening to Radiohead makes me fell like I'm a Salieri to their Mozart. Yorke's lyrics make me want to give up. I could never in my wildest dreams find something as beautiful as they find for a single song - let alone album after album.” IfsWantGivingDreamBeautifulSongSimpleRecordsListeningGiving UpAlbumsReactionsAgain And AgainWildest DreamsRadioheadSalieri Author:Dave Matthews