Amadeus piano duet
January 4, 2009 6:29 PM Subscribe
In the movie Amadeus, what is the piano duet played by Salieri and Emperor Joseph?
Another question on behalf of my housemate, a man of broad interests.
Another question on behalf of my housemate, a man of broad interests.
oh wait, i assumed you were talking about the march that the emperor plays when they first meet mozart. but i don't think that was a duet? now i'm not sure which part of the film you're talking about.
posted by sergeant sandwich at 6:54 PM on January 4, 2009
posted by sergeant sandwich at 6:54 PM on January 4, 2009
Response by poster: It's near the beginning of the movie, when Salieri is talking about his ascent from peasantry to being a court composer. The line in the script goes something like this: "One day I was a child in nowhere, Italy, and then I was in Vienna, the city of musicians." You then see the two of them at the piano together and hear the piece in question. Although you don't see their hands on the keyboard, it sounds like a four-hands duet.
posted by ottereroticist at 7:06 PM on January 4, 2009
posted by ottereroticist at 7:06 PM on January 4, 2009
According to my boyfriend:
Salieri was standing over Emperor Joseph playing Non piu andrai from Marriage of Figaro chanting, "Tem-po, tem-po, tem-po!"
To his knowledge, Salieri didn't write the melody that the Emperor writes as Mozart enters the room.
What they probably did (Neville Mariner who was conducting and may have been the music director) is deconstructed Non piu andrai and made it sound like Salieri wrote it so they could allow Mozart to do a fantasy on it. Mozart was known for taking other people's melodies and doing a much better job of them AND doing it in their presence. So the scene may have been apocryphal, but something like that likely did happen.
Of course, they invented a LOT in the movie- dramatizing and cobbled together from the enmity that a lot of Mozart's contemporaries felt for him into a storyline.
posted by arnicae at 8:26 PM on January 4, 2009
Salieri was standing over Emperor Joseph playing Non piu andrai from Marriage of Figaro chanting, "Tem-po, tem-po, tem-po!"
To his knowledge, Salieri didn't write the melody that the Emperor writes as Mozart enters the room.
What they probably did (Neville Mariner who was conducting and may have been the music director) is deconstructed Non piu andrai and made it sound like Salieri wrote it so they could allow Mozart to do a fantasy on it. Mozart was known for taking other people's melodies and doing a much better job of them AND doing it in their presence. So the scene may have been apocryphal, but something like that likely did happen.
Of course, they invented a LOT in the movie- dramatizing and cobbled together from the enmity that a lot of Mozart's contemporaries felt for him into a storyline.
posted by arnicae at 8:26 PM on January 4, 2009
If you can link to the scene you're talking about, my boyfriend will identify it. He knows what you mean, but can't remember more about the song other than it was "church music".
posted by arnicae at 8:37 PM on January 4, 2009
posted by arnicae at 8:37 PM on January 4, 2009
Best answer: Can't help identify the music, but I believe this is the scene you're talking about.
posted by chrismear at 8:57 PM on January 4, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by chrismear at 8:57 PM on January 4, 2009 [1 favorite]
Best answer: The lines you cite are from Scene 20 (Old Salieri's Hospital Room):
"One moment I was a frustrated boy in an obscure little town. The next I was here, in Vienna, city of musicians, sixteen years old and studying under Gluck! Gluck, Father. Do you know who he was? The greatest composer of his time. And he loved me! That was the wonder. He taught me everything he knew. And when I was ready, introduced me personally to the Emperor! Emperor Joseph - the musical king! Within a few years I was his court composer. Wasn't that incredible? Imperial Composer to His Majesty! Actually the man had no ear at all, but what did it matter? He adored my music, that was enough. Night after night I sat right next to the Emperor of Austria, playing duets with him, correcting the royal sight-reading."
Shaffer doesn't specify any music for this scene, and it's succeeded by a scene at the Archbishop of Salzburg's residence, where gypsies play.
Non piu isn't heard until Scene 47, at the Royal Palace's Grand Salon, following the "March of Welcome." (Here's the melody.)
Note that several pieces in the film were excluded from the soundtrack.
Link to screenplay
posted by terranova at 8:58 PM on January 4, 2009
"One moment I was a frustrated boy in an obscure little town. The next I was here, in Vienna, city of musicians, sixteen years old and studying under Gluck! Gluck, Father. Do you know who he was? The greatest composer of his time. And he loved me! That was the wonder. He taught me everything he knew. And when I was ready, introduced me personally to the Emperor! Emperor Joseph - the musical king! Within a few years I was his court composer. Wasn't that incredible? Imperial Composer to His Majesty! Actually the man had no ear at all, but what did it matter? He adored my music, that was enough. Night after night I sat right next to the Emperor of Austria, playing duets with him, correcting the royal sight-reading."
Shaffer doesn't specify any music for this scene, and it's succeeded by a scene at the Archbishop of Salzburg's residence, where gypsies play.
Non piu isn't heard until Scene 47, at the Royal Palace's Grand Salon, following the "March of Welcome." (Here's the melody.)
Note that several pieces in the film were excluded from the soundtrack.
Link to screenplay
posted by terranova at 8:58 PM on January 4, 2009
Response by poster: Thank you, chrismear, that is indeed the scene in question.
The music in that scene is definitely not Non piu from Figaro.
posted by ottereroticist at 9:08 PM on January 4, 2009
The music in that scene is definitely not Non piu from Figaro.
posted by ottereroticist at 9:08 PM on January 4, 2009
To clarify, my boyfriend was stating that scene 47 was Non piu, not scene 20 (hat tip to terranova).
He has listened to the youtube a few times through (thanks chrismear) and thinks that it may have either been from Salieri's unpublished Sonata in C from 1783, or they could have just made it up.
It was very common in Baroque and Classical eras for teachers to write little exercises like that for their students to practice on that emphasized fundamentals of keyboard playing (for example Johan Fux's textbook on counterpoint with instructional exercises, Gradus ad Parnassum as well as Bach's six preludes and fugues and his two-part inventions) while demonstrating at-least serviceable compositional knowledge.
posted by arnicae at 9:43 PM on January 4, 2009
He has listened to the youtube a few times through (thanks chrismear) and thinks that it may have either been from Salieri's unpublished Sonata in C from 1783, or they could have just made it up.
It was very common in Baroque and Classical eras for teachers to write little exercises like that for their students to practice on that emphasized fundamentals of keyboard playing (for example Johan Fux's textbook on counterpoint with instructional exercises, Gradus ad Parnassum as well as Bach's six preludes and fugues and his two-part inventions) while demonstrating at-least serviceable compositional knowledge.
posted by arnicae at 9:43 PM on January 4, 2009
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posted by sergeant sandwich at 6:51 PM on January 4, 2009