It cannot be said that the plot is based on Pushkin’s fiction. But the poisoning of one composer by another is also not a real historical fact. This plot is based on gossip magazines. Knowing how this gossip is formed, it can be assumed that a certain magazine publication in Austria, wanting to gain popularity, wrote that Salieri poisoned Mozart. Other journalists picked up and inflated this “sensation” to incredible proportions. It is only known that the unfortunate Salieri for many years could not wash himself away from the label of an envious person and a poisoner. The original source of this gossip is unknown. But it took root, and after Salieri’s death it was reported that Salieri had confessed to the murder on his deathbed.
Some writers accuse Pushkin of slandering the famous Italian composer. We will not blame our poet for this, who created a tragedy so remarkable in its psychologism. Moreover, this legend was not an invention on his part. It is not his fault that he relied on magazine rumors, thanks to which, it should be noted, from the pen of the great poet two wonderful literary heroes were born - the images of Salieri and Mozart.
In the tragedy "Mozart and Salieri" the main characters are opposed to each other. The conversation will be about the comparative characteristics of Mozart and Salieri - the prototypes of the great composers of the same name. In this review, it will be a little difficult to separate literary heroes from their real prototypes, since Pushkin sought to recreate the images of living people.
One of them - Salieri personifies the genius of evil, who is strangled by envy. He realizes that he has to work hard to succeed. The Italian is overly self-critical of himself and others, tense. And this tension breaks through his music.
The contrast, the different attitude towards life and towards their creations among the main characters is revealed in relation to the old violinist. Mozart laughs at his performance. He is happy that his music has reached the people. And he doesn’t care at all that the violinist plays poorly and is often out of tune.
Salieri only sees that the violinist is shamelessly distorting a brilliant work. And there is no doubt that if a violinist were to play an aria from some opera by Salieri, he would strangle the musician for such a performance. But Salieri’s music, written according to the canons of harmony and musical literacy, did not leave the theater stage, and street violinists did not perform it.
Mozart is 35 years old, full of strength, at the peak of his capabilities and talent. He enjoys life and treats everything with humor.
Salieri carried poison with him for 18 years. The monologue admits that at some point he also envied Hayden’s lightness and musicality (Franz Joseph Haydn, (1732-1809) - Austrian composer, contemporary of the heroes of the tragedy). But then he managed to drown out the temptation with the dream that a Master might appear, stronger than Gaiden. There were moments when Salieri wanted to kill himself, which is also a sin before God. But he was stopped from taking this step by the hope of experiencing more moments of delight and inspiration. In Mozart, Salieri found his worst enemy. During lunch in a tavern, he poured poison into Mozart's glass.
The killer always finds an excuse for his crime. The justification for Salieri is an imaginary salvation.
I was chosen to
Stop it - otherwise we will all die,
We are all priests, ministers of music,
I’m not alone with my dull glory….
What good is it if Mozart lives?
And will it still reach new heights?
Will he elevate art? No;
It will fall again as he disappears:
The image of Mozart personifies genius. To say that this is a genius for good would be too simplistic. Mozart is a Divine Genius, to whom talent and ease in music are given from God. He is a very easy-going and cheerful person in life. He loves life and strives to enjoy it. And this trait of the young composer also irritates Salieri. He cannot understand how it is possible, having such talent, such abilities, to be wasted on trifles. “You, Mozart, are unworthy of yourself,” says Salieri.
But Mozart's last days are darkened. It seems to him that he is being pursued by the “man in black” who ordered the Requiem. It is known that after starting work on the Requiem, the real (not literary) Mozart fell ill. The work was intense and took away his strength. Mozart felt that the Requiem was killing him. Obviously, the information, presented in a mystical sauce, was leaked to the press, and Pushkin knew about it. The black man in the tragedy is an image of death hovering over the brilliant composer.
Salieri did not live to be 75 years old. He is known as the greatest mentor who trained great composers. Among them are L. Beethoven, F. Liszt, F. Schubert. He wrote more than 40 operas and minor works. But Salieri’s works are too serious for “average minds” and are mostly known to specialists. Mozart's operas are staged in theaters. His music is heard at concerts. People enjoy listening to Mozart in recordings, and sometimes, without thinking about the authorship, they set beautiful melodies from Mozart as ringtones on their phones.
Mozart:
Wait, here you go
Drink to my health.
But my deity got hungry.
He's a genius, like you and me.
And genius and villainy are two incompatible things.
Health, friend.
For a sincere union,
Binder Mozart and Salieri,
Two sons of harmony.
If only everyone felt so strong
Harmony! But no: then I couldn’t
And the world to exist;
Nobody would
Take care of the needs of low life;
Everyone would indulge in free art.
We are few chosen ones, happy idle ones,
Neglecting despised benefits,
One beautiful priest.
Salieri:
Everyone says: there is no truth on earth. But there is no truth - and above.
I set it as a stool for art;
I became a craftsman: fingers
Gave obedient dry fluency
And loyalty to the ear. Killing the sounds
I devoured the music like a corpse. And now - I’ll say it myself - I’m now
Envious.
I envy; deep,
I'm painfully jealous. - Oh heaven!
Where is rightness, when a sacred gift,
When immortal genius is not a reward
Burning love, selflessness,
Works, zeal, prayers are sent - And illuminates the head of a madman,
Idle revelers?.. It’s not funny to me when the painter is worthless
Raphael's Madonna gets dirty for me;
I don't find it funny when the buffoon is despicable
Alighieri is dishonored by parody.
Let's go, old man. You, Mozart, are God, and you don’t know it yourself. I know, I do.
I was chosen to
Stopping is not it, we are all dead,
We are all priests, ministers of music...
But is he right?
And I'm not a genius?
Genius and villainyTwo things are incompatible. Not true:
And Bonarotti? or is it a fairy tale
Dumb, senseless crowd - and was not
The creator of the Vatican was a murderer?
Geniuses and villainy -
Two things are incompatible.
A. Pushkin. Mozart and Salieri
Pushkin’s “little tragedy” about Mozart and Salieri is based on the famous legend about the death of the famous composer at the hands of a musician friend who was jealous of his fame and talent.
Before us are two people whose lives are closely connected with music, but the goals and motives of creativity are different. Salieri became interested in music from childhood and set himself the goal of understanding the secret of the wonderful sounds that make people cry and laugh. But, studying hard, trying to give his fingers “obedient, dry fluency and fidelity to the ear,” he chose the path of craft:
Having killed the sounds, I tore apart the music like a corpse. I believed harmony with algebra.
Only having achieved the intended results, the musician “dared... to indulge in the bliss of a creative dream.” Having endured many hardships and hardships during his studies, Salieri regards writing works as hard, painstaking work, the well-deserved reward for which is success and fame.
With strong, intense constancy I finally reached a high degree in boundless art. Glory smiled at me...
That is why he does not accept Mozart’s “frivolous” attitude towards his great talent. But for Mozart, music is always the joy of creativity, inner freedom. He is independent of the opinions of others. Magic art is given to him easily, without coercion, causing Salieri to envy and irritate:
Where is rightness when a sacred gift, When an immortal genius is not sent as a reward of burning love, selflessness, labor, diligence, prayers - but illuminates the head of a madman, idle revelers?..
It is incomprehensible to the self-loving and proud Salieri that a composer endowed with a divine gift can stop to listen to the artless playing of a blind street musician and still find pleasure in it. Salieri is discouraged and annoyed by Mozart’s offer to share his joy:
I don’t find it funny when a worthless painter stains Raphael’s Madonna for me, I don’t find it funny when a despicable buffoon dishonors Alighieri with a parody.
Pushkin contrasts Salieri’s moral limitations with his direct and cheerful perception of Mozart’s life, which leads him to the idea of poisoning the great composer. Salieri justifies his envy and jealousy with false concern about the fate of art, which, having been raised by Mozart to unattainable heights, will be doomed to fall down again after his death: Material from the site
...I was chosen to Stop him - otherwise we all died, We are all priests, ministers of music, I’m not the only one with my dull glory...Salieri's position is contrasted with Mozart's conviction that “genius and villainy are two incompatible things.” Mozart is alien to narcissism and pride; he does not exalt, but equates himself with everyone who knows how to feel the “power of harmony”:
We are a few chosen ones, happy idle ones, Neglecting the despicable benefits, One beautiful priests.
I think that it is true talent and inner freedom that put Mozart above Salieri, who will forever remain a loser after the death of his wonderful friend, because with a guilty conscience he will never touch the secrets of the superhuman...
WHAT PERSON WAS SALIERI?
Could the great Schubert write something like this about a bad, angry, envious person?
Professor Boris Kushner answers this question like this:
“What kind of person was Salieri? I think the answer to this question is already clear to some extent. A bad person will not be able to show the same feeling of gratitude that Salieri discovered in relation to his teachers Gassmann and Gluck. And, of course, a bad person will not give free lessons and selflessly engage in the affairs of widows and orphans of musicians. This impression is complemented by the notes of Salieri himself, left by him to Ignaz von Mosel, and by the testimony of his contemporaries. Salieri writes about his life ingenuously and even, it seems, somewhat naively. The descriptions of his early awakening attraction to music and even passing details, such as his addiction to sweets, are touching. The pages of memoirs that talk about Salieri’s first love and his marriage evoke heartfelt sympathy” (209).
Unfortunately, the idea of Salieri as a gloomy, rational man, alien to the true joys of life and knowing nothing but music, is quite widespread. But this is not true at all. Memoirs of contemporaries and later biographical works characterize Salieri as a very positive and friendly person. Here, for example, is what the famous tenor and composer Michael Kelly, Mozart’s friend and participant in the premiere of “The Marriage of Figaro”, writes in his “Memoirs”:
“One evening Salieri invited me to accompany him to the Prater. At that time he was composing his opera “Tarar” for the Grand Opera in Paris. We settled down on the banks of the Danube, behind a cabaret, where we drank soft drinks. He pulled from his pocket a sketch of an aria he had composed that morning and which had subsequently become popular. Ah! Povero Calpigi. While he sang this aria to me with great expressiveness and gestures, I looked at the river, and then suddenly I noticed a large wild boar crossing it, just near the place where we were sitting. I started to run, and the composer followed my example, leaving behind Povero Calpigi and, what is much worse, a flask of excellent Rhine wine. We then laughed a lot about what happened, finding ourselves out of danger. In fact, Salieri could joke about everything in the world, he was a very pleasant person, deeply respected in Vienna, and I consider it great happiness that he paid attention to me" (210).
Johann Friedrich Rochlitz, who knew Salieri well, gives us the following description of him: “Hospitable and amiable, friendly, cheerful, witty, inexhaustible in anecdotes and quotes, an elegant little man, with fiery sparkling eyes, tanned skin, always sweet and neat, lively temperament, easily flammable , but just as easily reconciled" (211).
Salieri's biographer Adolphe Julien writes:
“Kind, cheerful, highly spiritual, compassionate. Salieri knew how to establish sincere friendships with many artists and amateurs. He was small in stature and always dressed with some sophistication, he had dark skin, dark and fiery eyes, an expressive look and great mobility in gestures. No one knew so many different piquant stories, and no one knew how to tell them with such enthusiasm in such a strange jargon, where Italian, German and French were mixed in equal proportions. A big lover of sweets, he could not pass by a candy store without going in and filling his pockets with jelly beans and sweets. He quickly became angry, but easily calmed down, giving excellent examples of great kindness. Time had not weakened his gratitude for what Gassmann had done for him in his youth, and he took up the education of his daughters, still so young after the death of their mother, providing for all their needs and making one of them an outstanding singer: he was their protector, like Gassman was his own protector" (212).
“Possessing an amazing capacity for work, the maestro from Legnago wrote from 1770 to 1804 42 operas and no less number of oratorios, cantatas, duets, trios, choruses and instrumental pieces. In 1804 he abandoned dramatic successes to devote himself entirely to the imperial choir. The resignation he asked for in 1821 was given to him only in 1824. One can only recognize that it is fair that the emperor fully retained his salary after he left his posts... Salieri was smart and possessed a variety of knowledge. He was amiable and had a character made for society; he charmed all the companies he visited with his piquant manner of telling jokes. His language, a mixture of Italian, French and German, amused his listeners. If he sometimes showed himself too clever in taking advantage of the friendships he established with people, then, on the other hand, there were facts in his life when he looked the most attractive. Let's not forget that Salieri, already at an advanced age, always remembered the kindness of Gassman, which he showed to him at the very beginning of his career. He did more than just remember it: he paid his debt to the memory of his benefactor, who, dying, left two girls deprived of support. The composer took care of them and paid all the expenses for their education. From his marriage he had three daughters, who tenderly looked after him and surrounded him with attention when he became old" (213).
Boris Kushner gives the following story showing how well-developed Salieri's sense of humor was:
“The composer lived in a house that his wife and her brother inherited from their father. The wife's brother was in charge of the house affairs. One day, the composer began to be harassed by visits from a certain lady who rented an apartment in the house and wanted to change the terms of the contract. Salieri's explanations that he had nothing to do with all this did not help. Then, during the next conversation, he told the lady that he could help her only in one way: let her write her request, and he would put it to music. The lady retreated" (214).
And here, for example, are humorous and at the same time very touching poems written by Salieri himself:
Sono ormai sessanta e otto,
Sor Antonio, gli anni vostri,
E mi dite che vi bollica
Spesso amore ancora in petto.
Eppur tempo mi parrebbe,
Di dover finir, cospetto.
Che ne dice Ussignoria?
Risposta: La ragione, si podria (215) .
They can be translated into Russian something like this:
To you already, Signor Antonio,
Sixty eight. It happens…
But in your chest you say
Love still burns.
Eh, it's long overdue
Calm the violent temper!
What do you say to this?
Answer: It's hard to argue, your truth.
In L. V. Kirillina’s essay “The Stepson of History” we read:
“From the late portraits of Antonio Salieri, a face looks at us that is not at all marked with the mark of Cain. The face is handsome and respectable, moreover, not dignified and arrogant and not coldly aloof, but quite inviting, somewhat soft and sensitive. None of his traits reveal hidden depravity, hypocrisy, cunning or ruthlessness. Whatever may be said about the dubiousness of the conclusions of physiognomy, the appearance of a person, especially in old age, usually allows one to guess about his life experience and reveals some character traits, more often than not the most pleasant ones. In this case, we can only talk about the absence of traces of any strong passions or fatal actions. This is the face of a man who has lived a prosperous life and is not tormented by any furies, but at the same time has not become ossified in well-fed complacency” (216).
To imagine what Salieri looked like, it is best to look at the famous actor Oleg Tabakov in the play “Amadeus,” which has been played on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater since 1983. A.P. Chekhov. Tabakov has been playing this role consistently since the premiere. Here he is - a good-natured man with rosy cheeks and mischievous dimples. It is clear that Tabakov played and plays the character created by Peter Scheffner, but anyone who saw him in this role could not help but notice how Oleg Pavlovich sometimes leaves the given image and looks slyly into the audience, which exploded with applause. A great artist not only plays the role of a great composer, he also looks like him...
In fact, Salieri was rather short than average in height. The main traits of his character are listed by everyone: lively, amiable, witty, imaginative, likable, modest, sentimental, etc.
According to the literary critic and writer L.P. Grossman, “Salieri is not a smug mediocrity, he is a remarkable thinker and theorist, an outstanding philosopher of the arts, a tireless seeker of perfect beauty” (217).
Undoubtedly, Salieri had great musical talent. Adolphe Julien compares him to the composer Antonio Sacchini (Sacchini), born in 1730 in Florence and wrote 45 operas during his life. He writes: “Salieri, during his life and after his death, had a fate very similar to the fate of Sacchini: while alive, he did not occupy a position corresponding to his genius, and after his death he did not retain a sufficiently high position in the capricious memory of his descendants. He was unlucky to arrive at a transitional age, and although his musical knowledge enabled him to rise above Sacchini in the interpretation of the strongest and noblest feelings, he was eclipsed by the radiance of Gluck's glory. Both of them created remarkable works for the French stage, worthy of being ranked among masterpieces, both of them could have occupied the first row at any other time, but fate prepared for them to be born at the very moment when a genius of the highest order held the entire musical world under his rightful dominion, absorbing everything that imitated him, and fighting everything that challenged him" (218).
So, Antonio Salieri was a composer whose works deserve to be considered masterpieces. First of all, this applies to the operas “Danaides” (a masterpiece in every sense of the word) and “Tarare” (an opera worthy of occupying the highest place in world musical history).
Of course, saying this, it should be understood that the aesthetics of that time were very different from modern ones. It is now customary to assert that Mozart’s music is “a symbol of undisguised genius”, that it “has a unique effect on a person”, “heals the bodies and souls of people”... In this sense, Mozart was lucky: his music has passed through the centuries and continues to serve as a role model and in the 21st century. However, at one time, Mozart stood on a par with many excellent composers (Gluck, Haydn, Boccherini, Galuppi, Paisiello, Cimarosa, etc.), who shared the applause of the public. Salieri is rightfully included in their number. But the latter was also an organized and surprisingly efficient person, who did not wait months for inspiration, like many of his colleagues, and understood what deadlines were, which, however, did not prevent him from maintaining his self-esteem always and everywhere. Music became an ideal for him, but at the same time, in everyday life he was a person without obvious flaws: loyal, caring, grateful, ready to help his friends...
And yet, was he engaged in intrigue?
L. V. Kirillina gives an excellent answer to this question:
“No more than it was and, unfortunately, remains common for professional musicians and the artistic environment in general. Being a favorite of Emperor Joseph II and having strong connections at court, he could, if he wanted, bring a lot of trouble to his colleagues. There have been examples of such behavior in history: for example, J.B. Lully, taking advantage of the patronage of Louis XIV, mercilessly dealt with all competitors and actually became the musical “monarch” of France. The conductor of St. Stephen's Cathedral, G. Reuther, did not behave in the best way in Vienna during the time of Maria Theresa, who did not allow young musicians to play and threw the young J. Haydn out into the street when his voice broke. Salieri did nothing of the kind, and his struggle for a place in the sun never took on the character of a war of destruction. What Mozart called Salieri’s “intrigues” in his letters were rather petty intrigues or simply misunderstandings caused by a coincidence of circumstances (besides, Mozart himself, with his caustic tongue and some arrogance in dealing with fellow composers, was not at all an example of angelic meekness) " (219) .