Shaffer, Peter. Amadeus. New York: HarperCollins, 1981.
Read this after watching the film Amadeus, which is adapted from this work, Shaffer’s original play.
Like the film, the play follows the (largely fictionalized, it sounds like) rivalry between Italian composer Antonia Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The play relies even more heavily on Salieri as narrator of the action and shaper of the audience’s view of Mozart — on stage, Shaffer’s Mozart is cruder and more infantile than he is in film, peppering his dialogue liberally with shit and piss references and reverting to a child-like state during his final breakdown. Salieri’s the star of this version, not Mozart — milking his chance to tell his story to an audience every second he’s onstage, gleeful and wicked. Salieri’s downfall also gets much more push here; he pursues his grudge against Mozart even after the composer’s death, always hoping to win immortality and overcome the God against which he has pitted himself.
And on the original run in the U.S., Tim Curry played Mozart and Ian McKellen played Salieri. Oy, I would have loved to have seen that. Ian McKellan rocks. Though F. Murray Abraham as Salieri in the film rocked the part, too, I thought.
Someone’s done a lot of word-looking-up work already for this play, over at this dramaturgical study guide.
The Prater: A centuries-old public park in Vienna.
For more, there’s always Wiki.
“Into this space superb backdrops were flown, and superb projections thrown, to show the scarlet boxes of theaters, the trees of the Prater, or a huge gilded object composed of Masonic emblems.” (xv)
Metternich: Probably Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, who lived from 1773 to 1859, and, according to Wiki, was “a German-Austrian politician and statesman, and one of the most important diplomats of his era. He was a major figure on the negotiations leading to and at the Congress of Vienna and is considered both a paradigm of foreign policy management and a major figure on the development of diplomacy. He was the prime practitioner of 19th century diplomatic realism, deeply rooted on the balance of power postulates.”
“VENTICELLO 1: They say even Metternich repeats it.” (2)
Kapellmeister: “The leader of a choir or orchestra.”
“VENTICELLO 2: [To COOK] What exactly does he say, the Kapellmeister?” (3)
Fortepiano: “Any of various precursors to the modern piano.”
“He gets out of the wheelchair and huddles over to the fortepiano.” (6)
Figuration: In music, “1. Ornamentation of a passage by embellishing and often repeating figures. 2. The pattern made by such embellishment or repetition.”
“He stands at the instrument and begins to sing in a high cracked voice, interrupting himself at the end of each sentence with figurations on the keyboard…” (6)
Recitativo Secco: “Unaccompanied (or very barely accompanied) recitative, used in opera for explanation,” according to 8notes.com.
More at Wiki, o’course.
“…interrupting himself at the end of each sentence with figurations on the keyboard in the manner of a recitativo secco.” (6)
Gluck: Christoph Willbald (great name) von Gluck. He lived from 1714 to 1787 and was “a German operatic composer noted for his emphasis on dramatic impact and musical simplicity. His works include Orfeo ed Euridice (1762) and Alceste (1767).” According to Wiki, he was also Marie Antoinette’s music teacher.
“I was taught invocation by Gluck, who was a true master at it.” (7)
Rossini: Gioacchino Antonio Rossini, who lived from 1792 to 1868. He was an “Italian composer whose numerous operas include The Barber of Seville (1816) and William Tell (1829).”
“Nowadays, since Rossini became the rage, they prefer to watch the escapades of hairdressers.” (7)
Soutane: “A cassock, especially one that buttons up and down the front.”
“Also listening are COUNT VON STRACK; COUNT ORSINI-ROSENBERG; BARON VAN SWIETEN; and an anonymous PRIEST, dressed in a soutane.” (9)
Divisi: According to Wiki, “divided; i.e., in a part in which several musicians normally play exactly the same notes they are instead to split the playing of the written simultaneous notes among themselves. It is most often used for string instruments…”
“We smoothed their noons with strings divisi!” (11)
Chitarrini: According to this very nice study guide to the play, “diminutive of chitarra, the Italian word for ‘guitar.’”
Still, what would this mean, exactly? What would a “little guitar” be? A violin? An instrument that’s no longer played today? I don’t know.
“We pierced their nights with chitarrini!” (11)
Motet: “A polyphonic composition based on a sacred text and usually sung without accompaniment.”
“More motets and anthems to God’s glory.” (19)
Adagio: “1. In a slow tempo, usually considered to be slower than andante but faster than larghetto. Used chiefly as a direction. 2. Music A slow passage, movement, or work, especially one using adagio as the direction.”
“But presently the sound insisted–a solemn Adagio in E flat.” (18)
Divertimento: According to Wiki, “a music genre, with most of its examples stemming from the 18th century. The mood of the divertimento is most often lighthearted (as a result of being played at social functions) and it is generally composed for a small ensemble.”
“A Divertimento in D.” (20)
Cassazione: According to the same study guide, “an informal instrumental piece meant to close a concert.”
“A Cassazione in G.” (20)
Stephanie: Gottlieb Stephanie, who lived from 1741 to 1800. A German who, after serving as a soldier and being captured by the Austrian army, became an actor, playwright, and librettist in Vienna; he wrote the libretto for Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail. All according to the German Literature Companion at Answers.com.
“ROSENBERG: And who, pray, is it by? MOZART: Stephanie. ROSENBERG: A most unpleasant man. MOZART: But a brilliant writer.” (23)
Tonic: In music, “the first note of a diatonic scale; the keynote.” Diatonic means “of or using only the seven tones of a standard scale without chromatic alterations.”
Music terminology and I, not so well acquainted.
“Tonic and dominant, tonic and dominant, from here to resurrection! Not one interesting modulation all night!” (32)
Dominant: In music, “the fifth tone of a diatonic scale.”
See “tonic,” above, for the definition of “diatonic” and the representative sentence.
Chromatic: In music, “1. Of, relating to, or based on the chromatic scale. 2. Relating to chords or harmonies based on nonharmonic tones.” The “chromatic scale” is “a scale consisting of 12 semitones”; a “semitone” is “an interval equal to a half tone in the standard diatonic scale”; and from there, I lose my thread of definitions.
“Show them one chromatic passage and they faint!” (32)
Accacciatura: “An ornament note that is one half step or one whole step below a principal note and is sounded at the same time as the principal note, adding dissonance to a harmony,” according to the American Heritage Dictionary over at Bartleby.com.
“I think I shall write a Grand Fantasia for Billiard Balls! Accacciaturas! Whole arpeggios in ivory!” (38)
Counterpoint: “1. Melodic material that is added above or below an existing melody. 2. The technique of combining two or more melodic lines in such a way that they establish a harmonic relationship while retaining their linear individuality. 3. A composition or piece that incorporates or consists of contrapuntal writing.”
“But that was a Spanish cat of the Enlightment. It appreciated counterpoint.” (49)
Coloratura: “1. The ornamentation of music written for the voice with florid passages, especially trills and runs. 2. Vocal music characterized by florid ornamental passages. 3. A singer, especially a soprano, specializing in such ornamentation.”
“Nowadays all cats appreciate is coloratura. Like the rest of the public.” (49)
Haydn: Franz Joseph Haydn, who lived from 1732 to 1809. He was an “Austrian composer who exerted great influence on the development of the classical symphony. A contemporary of Mozart, he wrote numerous symphonies and string quartets as well as operas and concertos.”
“VENTICELLO 1: Haydn calls the quartets unsurpassed. SALIERI: They were, but no one heard them.” (53)
Beaumarchais: Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, who lived from 1732-1799. He was a “French writer whose best-known works are the comic plays Le Barbier de Séville (1775) and Le Mariage de Figaro (1784), which inspired operas by Rossini and Mozart.”
“Figaro! . . . The Marriage of Figaro! That disgraceful play of Beaumarchais!” (55)
Contredanze: According to the same study guide, “a fast dance movement constructed from a series of repeated eight measure strains that maintain the simple motive and textural quality of dance music.”
“Now it’s tokens! And for what? Pom-pom for fireworks! Twang-twang for contredanzes!” (71)
Baden: Possibly “a historical region of southwest Germany. In the 1840s it was a center of the German liberal movement.”
“She’s taken the baby and gone to Baden. To the spa.” (81)
Bedizen: “To ornament or dress in a showy or gaudy manner”
“The three sit on the front bench: MOZART sick and emaciated; CAVALIERI blousy and bedizened; SALIERA as elegant as ever.” (83)
