Steve Schwartz quotes:

>Norman M. Schwartz on Amadeus:
>
>>Several years ago, an interview with Shaffer appeared in the Sunday NY
>>Times and he's no dope and is somewhat of a true Mozart scholar.
>
>He may know something about Mozart, but he appears (or at least in the
>movie) to know very little about 18th-century mores.  Much is made of the
>Mozart character's "crudeness." Simply put, Mozart learned his manners from
>the aristocracy, rather than from the middle-class prudes and parvenus.

Peter Shaffer has an acute awareness of Wolfie's familial background,
personality and character that Steve Schwartz might have overlooked or
rather unlikely is unaware of.  The booklet accompanying the CD "Mozart
Unexpurgated", Scatological and Other Songs, Canons and Piano Variations
(Tall Poppies TP009) makes point of Mozart's smutty sense of humor, with
his references to "shit", "arses" and "farts" along with "strings of
childish onomatopoeia, ie.  "Muck chuck, suck!".  In fact there is to be
found a level of "infantilism and coprophilia" which is most accurately
portrayed by Peter Shaffer in Amadeus.  Furthermore there is an abundance
of evidence in family letters including an affectionate letter of 1777 of
Frau Mozart to her husband Leoplold, which might best not be quoted!  "All
of this would be of merely biographical interest were it not for the fact
that this secret family language spilled over, once or twice, into Mozart's
music."

In any event "Amadeus" does in in fact contain both accuracies and fiction.
Take it or leave.  (I, in fact attended three different performances of the
Broadway show, two performances of the original one with Frank Langella and
the second with David Birney portraying Salerei, and the more recent second
Broadway production starring David Suchet and Michael Sheen.  I've had the
VHS and DVD since there availability and am unashamed to say that I find
pleasure in the all!)

Norman M. Schwartz
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