MovieChat Forums > Amadeus (1984) Discussion > Too Much Music

Too Much Music

posted 9 years ago by scottsteaux63-735-780576
13 replies | jump to latest

I happen to be a musician and I love Mozart, but I saw the original Broadway play AMADEUS and the focus was on character motivation; there was music in the play but it was all in the background. Putting some of it on the screen may have seemed like a good idea at the time but in the end they put in too much; the extensive scenes of Mozart's and Salieri's operas being performed become tiresome after a while and the resulting film is bloated and top-heavy with music. The end result is that the thrust of the drama is muted and the story itself ends up being lopsided. The original play was more about Salieri than it was about Mozart; by including so much of Mozart's music Forman switched the focus of the film from the Broadway lead to what had been, and despite Hulce's wonderful performance, is still a second banana role.

Oh God. There's nothing more inconvenient than an old queen with a head cold!

[–] Jamal-Nazreddin 9 years ago

^
Are you making some kind of joke? Or referencing the emperor complaining about There are simply too many notes.?

[–] scottsteaux63-735-780576 9 years ago

Are you making some kind of joke?

No, I am not joking. It's kind of hard to explain unless you are familiar with Peter Shaffer's original play. The music was all in the background in the stage production; in the film Forman has it front and center to the point where the music is almost the star of the production.

You'd have to either see or read the play; the original was less about the music than about the legend (possibly started by Salieri himself) that Salieri had a hand in Mozart's death.

Oh God. There's nothing more inconvenient than an old queen with a head cold!

[–] lynniepinnie22 9 years ago

I look at it as the music is another character. A film about Mozart without music would be frankly, ridiculous

[–] scottsteaux63-735-780576 9 years ago

A film about Mozart without music would be frankly, ridiculous

Let me be clear: I was not suggesting a film WITHOUT music. But I saw the original Broadway play on which this movie was based and while there was a certain amount of Mozart's music in it, it was mostly in the background of the drama that was playing out on stage between the various characters. The extra music, moreover, adds nearly an hour to the running time without advancing the plot. At the moment where the Emperor yawns during a performance of FIGARO I must say I couldn't blame him.

Oh God. There's nothing more inconvenient than an old queen with a head cold!

[–] DoctorShemp 8 years ago

It deserves to be front and center because his music is the entire goddamn motivation of the story, and of Salieri. And why not make use of the greatest artistic body of work of all time? Hearing that the music is "more in the background" in the play sounds dreadful, i'd probably get blue balls from that. Like that Jimi Hendrix biopic where they couldnt even use any of his actual music

[–] scottsteaux63-735-780576 8 years ago

It deserves to be front and center because his music is the entire goddamn motivation of the story, and of Salieri. And why not make use of the greatest artistic body of work of all time? Hearing that the music is "more in the background" in the play sounds dreadful, i'd probably get blue balls from that. Like that Jimi Hendrix biopic where they couldnt even use any of his actual music.

I wish I could explain it to you but I stand by what I said. The play was electric,exciting, dramatic, and funny all at once. The film adaptation took a brilliant piece of theatre amd steamrollered it into a flat and uninspiring yawn-fest.

ALL PLAYWRIGHTS SHOULD BE DEAD FOR THREE HUNDRED YEARS!!!

[–] marlarkey 9 years ago

As a musician you should be able to recognise that this is not a film, it is an opera :)

[–] scottsteaux63-735-780576 9 years ago

😁

Oh God. There's nothing more inconvenient than an old queen with a head cold!

[–] Suzume-san 8 years ago

I think you're probably right, Scott.

https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/amadeus

[–] aidankost 8 years ago

I beg to differ. They could have hundreds of stage performances, and I'd've never gotten tired. Mozart and Salieri always were there music, and since this is about them, it's about their music.

[–] scottsteaux63-735-780576 8 years ago

Spare me, please, would you? You are not going to change my opinion and I am obviously not going to change yours so let's just leave it at that.

😀

Oh God. There's nothing more inconvenient than an old queen with a head cold!

[–] imjustasking (162) 4 years ago

Scott,I agree with your comment about Amadeus.All the music (being a musician also) was an attempt to add grandeur and make the overly-long film justifiable. It ended up steamrolling over the plot---making the story itself secondary. Those who can't understand think you want to take ALL of the music out(oversimplified thinking).Like if the music was removed we'd forget it was about a composer(2 actually) AND his music.Pearls before swine.

[–] wiiztec (258) 7 months ago

Yeah I got real sick of all the opera, wish it had more piano and less opera singing