Christopher Webber wrote:

>I think this is a very revealing quote from Shaffer.  Working on the play
>is to be become aware that the playwright (and his mouthpiece Salieri)
>indeed became consumed with jealousy of poor Wolfie!  This, doubtless, is
>what led him to pull his composer down a peg or two.  The hero is Salieri,
>Mr. Ordinary, Mr. Mediocre (a libel on Salieri, too, of course).

To say that Salieri is the "hero" of the play is to misinterpret it. He
may be the main character as he is in the movie - but the "hero"? No.

>The line about the "magic flute at the lips of God" gives us a very good
>example of Shaffer's customary impressiveness of utterance, combined with
>total vacuity of meaning.

This line is not the best written line in the world but it is by no
means without meaning.

>The last line shows his innate sympathy with the bourgeois white collar
>worker "measuring out his life with coffee spoons"; and his surprising,
>paradoxical suspicion of the artistic life.  Odd that, from one of the
>most bankrolled playwrights of his day (now, not surprisingly, passed).

I think you deliberately misinterpret Shaffer. He is not suspicious of
the artist, he admires him for being the creator of wonderful art
whereas we all (me, you, everyone) have to live a life full of
trivialities. This is a statement full of truth I think.

>Whether or not we choose to drag God screaming and kicking into the frame,
>anyone unable to evince some regret the passing of the man whose art was
>expanding along such diverse lines as Mozart's in the late quartets and
>quintets, not to mention the Requiem, The Magic Flute and La Clemenza di
>Tito, is clearly not to be taken seriously either as a chronicler or a
>critic.

You absolutely misinterpret Shaffer's lines which are actually full of
admiration for Mozart. Yes, Shaffer says that Mozart died very young.
But he then mentions that he lived a full life in these few years giving
us all wonderful music. You must be very blind not to be able to read
these lines correctly. You sound as if everyone has to weep day and
night because Mozart died so early. Yes, it is a pity. But hey, (and
this is what Shaffer says): what a life did he live in these short
years, what fantastic music did he write whereas we live our lives with
trivialities (like exchanging emails, listening to zarzuelas and so on).

Robert