Mike Leghorn replies to me:

>IMO, the right reason to like Mozart is for who he really was, and the
>most revealing record we have of who he was is his music.

Interesting, Mike.  Now could you please tell who Mozart really was.  Which
Mozart do you refer to - the Mozart of Mike Leghorn, the Mozart of Robert
Peters, the Mozart of Einstein, the Mozart of Peter Shaffer, the Mozart of
the modern Mozart scholars, the Mozart of Karajan, the Mozart of Marriner,
the Mozart of Salzburg, the Mozart of Vienna, the Mozart of little children
watching the Magic Flute for the first time, the Mozart of Gulda, the
Mozart of Anthony Burgess.............

>Yikes!  Excuse me!  I never said people have to be scholars in order to
>have the right to buy CDs.  It's a free market, and let's face it, cool
>hairdos sell.

But you implied that the lady is wrong in liking Mozart because of Amadeus
and wrong in liking Vivaldi because of Kennedy.  I say again: leave her
alone!  I don't care why she likes Mozart and Vivaldi.  It is not our
business why anyone likes any kind of music and there is no right way to
like Mozart or Vivaldi as you seem to believe.

>>>It's great if the movie Amadeus gets people more interested in Mozart.
>>>However, they're interested for the wrong reasons.  How do you get them
>>>interested for the right reasons? Solving world hunger may be easier.
>>
>>Tasteless remark.
>
>Why?

Because Amadeus and Mozart are a very trivial matter compared with world
hunger, starving people, famines.  Tasteless to mention world hunger in
such a banal discussion as ours.

>>There are scenes in the movie where Mozart conducts from the keyboard.
>>And the movie is not about historical accuracy.  And do you remember how
>>lively and happy Leonard Bernstein could look when he conducted?
>
>Yes, but there are also scenes where he conducts from a podium.  In order
>for my disbelieve to be suspended, there needs to be some historical
>accuracy.  What if the characters wore jeans and 'T' shirts? To someone who
>is completely ignorant of how fashions have changed over the centuries,
>that would be OK.

Interesting idea: why not film Amadeus in modern times? I don't care for
historical accuracy when it comes to art and credibility has nothing to do
with historical accuracy.  Baz Luhrman's Romeo and Juliet was very credible
to me and not a whiff historically accurate.  And I love opera productions
where Fidelio or Don Giovanni wear jeans.  Why not?

>Goodness, I'm only offering my opinion!!!!  In the movie, Mozart did more
>than "better" a simple march -- he went nuts with it.  Are we talking about
>the same movie?

Yes, we do.  One of the functions of the scene is to show exactly this:
that Mozart went nuts about a simple march.  The Mozart of the movie is
totally ignorant when it comes to treating other people with respect.
He hurts Salieri without even noticing it and this will be one of the
reasons why he will be destroyed by Salieri in the end.

>You've disagreed (strongly) with every point I've made.  What a strange
>coincidence that we should be perfect opposites of each other.  I guess
>I should be glad that I'm me, and not you:-)

Well, Mike, to be me has some advantages.  One is: I like Amadeus which is
a wonderful movie.

Robert