Ahh the Confutatis, Mozart, Salieri and Marriner make some highly memorable
moments out of this one.  One of the most enjoyable scenes in Amadeus.  I'm
sure there is nothing to compare with it in "Dumb and Dumber".

You know, I agree with Norman.  I enjoyed that film a lot.  I'm no scholar,
nor a knowlegable musicologist, just a musician (shameless plug--visit
http://www.serafinotrio.com) but I think it is silly the fairly typical
attitude of the musical "cognescenti" towards that film.  Okay, it was
not Historically Informed, there were some leaps of imagination re the
relationship between Mozart and Salieri, but there was also a lot of that
film which was true, and some that, well, could have been.  To say that M.
and S.  had nothing more in common that the fact that they were both
18th-century composers is as much an assumption as it is to believe that
Mozart dictated the last notes of his life to a repentant Salieri.  We
weren't there, and it those details aren't written down anywhere, so why
not present one version in a theatrical interpretation? The film was never
presented as a documentary, simply a could-have-been piece of
entertainment.

If you want to see a truly factual history of Mozart's life, see a
documentary.  But "Amadeus" was a beautifully crafted film, the music
wonderfully recorded, and the characters alive and believable.  And I must
say that certain scenes from that film have stuck with me and help me put
his music in perspective when I perform it.  The image of him writing on
the pool table as he bounced the ball around, the snowy Vienna winter, him
working in the pit just as I have on so many occasions, his passionate
belief in his art, his sense of humor, all accompanied by that wondrous
music, truly changed my feeling about Mozart and the meaning of his music.
Mozart isn't dusty, cold analysis or haughty elitism, he is flesh and blood
to me and thanks to that film I feel more of a personal connection to him
than to almost any other composer.

Dave Runnion
www.serafinotrio.com