Robert Peters wrote:

>Tremendous news for all fans of Peter Shaffer!  A new play by him will
>have its premiere soon.  As the author himself told me in a confidential
>telephone conversation on this April 1 the play will have the title
>"Ludwig" and deal with the life of Beethoven.  Beethoven will reveal the
>secret cause for his deafness: he listened to an opera by Antonio Salieri
>and there, hurt deeply by the mediocrity of Salieri's music, his hearing
>ailings began.

Poor Salieri.  To what ends will people go to use the guy to express the
utmost disdain? I caught the movie "The Last Castle" on cable the other
night.  An opening scene introduces the James Gandolfini character, whom
the filmmakers want us to see early on is a certified loser.  How do we
know that for certain? Among other clues, he is playing a record of
Salieri's music, and in case we don't recognize the piece and get the
point we are even shown the cover of the album.

My question is: If it hadn't been for Peter Shaffer's play and its
subsequent film version, would this scene have made any sense to the
audience of a rousing, flag-waving movie like "The Last Castle"? Shaffer's
opus has taken its hits on this list, but it certainly has entered the
popular imagination.

John Dalmas
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