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How To Kill A Man, According To Amadeus

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How To Kill A Man, According To Amadeus

Daniel Lavery
Oct 27, 2020
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How To Kill A Man, According To Amadeus

www.thechatner.com

Isaac Fellman beat me to some, but not all of it:

“But what [Salieri’s] really doing, by railroading [Mozart] into a place of lonely illness, is forcing him to see only Salieri and recognize the million-watt intensity of his fandom. They haven’t invented the lamp yet that could be a good metaphor for Salieri’s fandom. He can only express it in candles, which must be frustrating.”

ANTONIO SALIERI, GROTESQUE WITH REMORSE, TRIUMPH, AND TIME: twas I who killed Amadeus Mozart, Padre, ‘twas I who brought down the curtain on the last and greatest concerto Europe ever hist – I killed him.

A SHIVERING PRIEST, TERRIFIED OF THE REAL: mein Gott…how did you do it

SALIERI: I befriended him

PRIEST: yes

SALIERI: I gave him a job when he needed money

PRIEST: I see, pray continue

SALIERI: One time I did not do him a favor even though I said I would do him a favor

PRIEST: yes, yes, go on

SALIERI: One time we stayed up all night and hummed together

and we talked about what happens after you die and I helped him with a project he was working on and we were perfectly in sync and we sang to each other for hours and appreciated one another perfectly and I told him to rest when he was pushing himself too hard and he told me I was his best friend and I watched him sleep

PRIEST: I see

SALIERI: My humming was sometimes quite full of resentment

fin

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How To Kill A Man, According To Amadeus

www.thechatner.com
1 Comment
Alex (they/them)
Oct 27, 2020

Amadeus (and this scene in particular) is one of my all-time favorites. This made my day!

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