Janos Gereben wrote:

>It's such a mystery, not Mozart's death, but how two such European artists
>as Forman and the playwright Peter Shaffer could produce this convoluted,
>contrived, overblown Hollywood "spectacle."

Senator Ted Kennedy made a speech a while back in which he exhorted
his political opponents rather sternly to "leave our Medicare alone!" I
think of this speech whenever I hear those who feel a bond with classical
music take on the movie "Amadeus" with a similar "leave our Mozart alone!"
indignation.  "Amadeus" is after all only a movie, although a movie based
on a contemporary play, with forebears going back to a much older play (by
Pushkin) and an opera based on that play (by Rimsky-Korsakov).  If instead
of Mozart and Salieri the characters were named Smith and Dale, I wonder
how much more fairly the movie might be judged; as a movie, a movie with
faults, yes, but also one with more than a few virtues, plus some great
music.

John Dalmas
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