Amadeus Blu ray Book Blu ray

Amadeus Blu ray Book Blu ray

Abrahams salieri declares war against the heavens for speaking through the genius of wolfgang amadeus mozart played by hulce. Flashbacks illuminate the mad energetic brilliance of mozart and salieris struggle with his own mediocrity. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 02/10/2009 Starring: F Murray Abraham Jeffery Jones Run time: 180 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Milos Forman

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star Mozart was not like this
I am aware that sometimes a movie take liberties about the subject they depict but in the case of Amadeus we are not talking about liberties, but about complete and utterly false distortions of who Mozart was, and about his life and history.

Had this movie been about a fictional character, I would have judged it as very good. But since it claims to be about Mozart, than lets get some facts straight (I wont even touch the subject of Mozart’s genius - suffice to say he was the greatest composer who ever lived, and every composer who lived after him recognised this)

- Mozart never signed any composition with the name Amadeus - but with Amade. Mozart’s name was actually Teophillus or Gottlieb - which in latin would translate to Amadeus, but he never used the latin name, instead he used the french translation - Amade.

- Mozart was NOT a poor guy, whose talent was unappreciated by his contemporaries. In fact Joseph Haydn, one of Mozart closest friends - and of course not shown in this picture - has said, in 1785, to Mozarts father Leopold, during Leopold’s visit in Viena : “Your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name” (in the movie Salieri is credited with this line). Mozart was the first free-lance composer the world has ever know, and he was making A LOT of money. He lived in a house in central Vienna, had servants and a carriage (big thing in those days). He was probably the best dressed in all Vienna, and everybody who knew his recognized that Mozart had a sublime and perfect taste in everything he did.

- The myth of Mozart poverty comes from two facts. Nr. 1 - he was buryied in the common grave. Of course, it’s never mentioned that 90% of Viena’s population at that time was buryied in the same way, since there was an imperial edict forbidding individual graves to anybody but the aristocracy. Nr. 2 - he borrowed money once or twice from a friend in 1788. Well, Austria was at war those days, the economy was in shambles, and Mozart, as a freelance composer, whitout a patron to support him, had to adjust. But at his death he was not a poor man, 1791 was a great year for him, as he made quite a little fortune with ZauberFlote and La Clementa di Tito, as well and some other works that he publised.

- Mozart seldom drank. He probably enjoyed a glass of wine once in a while, but he was NOT the alcoholic shown in the movie.

- Mozart never cheated on his wife - if fact he was one of the most straitforward of all composers, probably as much as Bach. He loved Constanze with all his heart, and she loved him back the same way. There are hundreds of letter that survie to prove this. Constanze never cheated on him either, she gave birth to six children, of who only 2 survied to adulthood. She never dumped Mozart - but due to health problem she went to Baden a couple of times (which was not cheap, and Mozart paid for it)

- Salieri and Mozart never had any problems or dispute, in fact they even were on the same stage a some point. Leopold - who was a conspiracy theory addict - claimed that there was a cabala of italians that conjured against him and Wolfgang, but later on, when Mozart broke away from his father, he realized that this was not true. In fact, later on, Constantze trusted the musical education of her two surviving sons (not one, as depicted in the movie) to Salieri. Whould a mother have trusted her sons to the man who murdered their father?

- Salieri was a great composer, one of the best of his time. His music is not in the repertoire anymore, but lets remember that at that time there were hundreds of composers, who wrote tons of music, since in a time with no TV, CD, iPOD, cinema, etc, music was all there was. The fact only two names from that era are still performed today, Mozart and Haydn, is a testament to their great genius, and not a proof that the others were bad, or mediocre. Salieri was one of the best composers around at that time, and this is why Beethoven chose to select his as his canto teacher in the 1790’s. He was also a very generous man, who helped a lot o people in his life. It is claimed that later in his life, in 1822, when he was in a mental hospital, he admited to poisoning Mozart, but this is denied by the two servants that cared for him (those two depicted at the beginning of the movie), who declared under oath that he never said that.

- Mozart was not a vulgar man. There are hundreds of leters surviving him to prove this. He used some foul language sometimes, but in a clever way, not in the grotesque way depicted in the movie.

- Mozart did not died alone. He was surounded by his whole family, and his final ilness span over 6 weeks. It is not sure what it was, but the final blow that led to his death was the medical treatment he was submitted to. As his wife’s sister recalls - he was severly bled that night (blood letting was the miracle cure for everything in those days), after which he never regained consciousness, and died the following morning. The treatment was applied by one of the best doctors of the time - another proof that Mozart was not a poor guy. Sophie Weber claimed that the procedure seemed to have made Mozart worse, but that he would have died anyway. Let me have some serious doubts on this.

- Magic Flute was premiered some 3 month before Mozart death. In fact Mozart had time to write quite a few things inbetween, including the opera La Clemenza di Tito. The Magic Flute was extremely succesfull, and was preformed almost every other night at Shickaneder’s theatre, bringing a lot of cash to Mozart. In 1892 it already reached 100 performances.

- Don Giovanni was actually comissioned by the Opera in Prague, where it was a great succes. It was comissioned after the huge succes of Le Nozze di Figaro. Mozart was venerated like a god in Prague.

- Although Mozart was tidyer than other composers, Beethoven for instance, he was not pouring out music dictated by god with the only duty to write it down. He worked very hard for his composition, and he was not afraid to cut and throw away what he was not satisfied with.

- Reqviem was comisioned not by Salieri, but by count Franz von Walsegg, who had the habit of comissioning works from different composers and then publish them as his own. Mozart knew who he was composing the reqviem for. He was working on it when he died, and left it unfinished.

And the list goes on, like for instance the King not being able to play well the piano - Joseph II was in fact a skilled piano player and sometimes even played on stage; or Mozart composing Noze di Figaro without the king knowing about it - the opposite is actually true, the king knew and first approved of the text of Da Ponte, and then Mozart started working on it.

Mozart was a great man. A great musical genius, but also a nice and considerate person, who has almost never iritated and morose, a nice guy who almost never spoke a bad word about anybody. He was perfectly aware of his genius - but what genius is not?

He deserves a lot more than the parody he is given in this movie.

5 Stars Absolutely the best depiction
of Mozart and the era he lived in. The music is superb, the costumes, the acting, the settings are exceptionally well done. But most of all, the pace that carries the viewer through the emotions and keeps it up till the end is outstanding. It’s not at all often that one connects to a high level to the character’s lives. If I could own only one DVD, this would be the one.

3 Stars DIRECTOR’S CUT DOESNT DELIVER
Like Wolfgan Amadeus sais in the movie, too many notes! How can can you re-write what’s already perfect ???…the original movie is GREAT…Directors cut gives scenes that mislead the characters personalities already established….TOO MANY NOTES!!!

Also I am maaad with Amazone because when I bought the blu ray never says it’s the directors cut which I already have and hate!

GET THE THEATRICAL VERSION IN BLU RAY!!!

4 Stars Very good piece of work
The movie is a classic , beautiful photography and narration , great performances , and sound!!!

In Blu Ray is even better!!!

5 Stars This movie will make anyone an instant classical music fan
This is a must see movie. The acting, directing, costumes and, of course the music are stellar. The directers cut is longer then the original but it is just more of a great thing. Also the short section on the making of the film is worth veiwing.

This movie is rated as on of the top 100 films by the AFI and you can see why.

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