Mozart Reflection Name:___________________________________________________Score:_____/50

Society and Mozart’s Music

1. Describe 18th century society. How did people act? What was expected of musicians? How did this affect the
music that was written?
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2. Why did the Emperor outlaw The Marriage of Figaro? Why did he outlaw Ballet in opera? What does this say
about 18th century society?
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3. What kinds of things does the movie say about Mozart's ability as a composer (does he work hard? is he well-
trained? does he "earn" his success?)
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4. What kinds of things does the movie say about Mozart as a man (citizen, husband, and father)? In today's
superstar terms, is he a "role model"?
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5. How did events in Mozart’s life affect the music he wrote? Be specific.
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6. The movie displays several examples of opera. Was it what you expected it to be? How was opera for the
wealthy court different from opera for the lower classed people? What are your thoughts on opera now that you
have seen some examples? Explain what you liked/disliked.
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Plot and character reflection

Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.
Amadeus, Was It True?
© Copyright 1997, Jim Loy
Amadeus, what a great movie. And we got to know Mozart better than we ever did before. But, the movie was
fiction. There are a lot of books and movies which are fictional accounts of real events and real lives. Mainly, they add
dialogue to the true story. How much of Amadeus was true?
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a child prodigy. His father took him on tour, when he was 6 years old, and the
child supported the family for many years. He was a great piano and organ player, probably the greatest of his time. He
also became the greatest composer of his time, effortlessly composing vast amounts of music in his short life. He died at
the age of 35.
There was a bitter rivalry between Mozart and Salieri. They competed for teaching jobs and for royal
commissions. Salieri and his friends belittled Mozart, and told lies about him. When Mozart died, there were (untrue)
rumors that Salieri had poisoned him.
Mozart Reflection Name:___________________________________________________Score:_____/50

Mozart's behavior was sometimes bizarre. There has been a suggestion that he had Tourette’s syndrome, in
which a person compulsively swears and is verbally offensive. The evidence for this is not completely convincing.
In the movie, Salieri (wearing a mask) commissions Mozart to write a Requiem mass, and then helps him to write
it. In real life, a man in a mask did commission the Requiem. It was the servant of a rich man, who planned to claim to
have written the Requiem himself. Mozart, probably already sick, took the mysterious masked stranger, and the
commission of a Requiem, as evidence that he would soon die. He died before he could finish the Requiem, it was
finished (poorly, it would seem) by his student Sussmayr (Süssmayr).
Being penniless, Mozart was buried in a common grave. His body was soon dug up and reburied in a more
respectable grave. His wife apparently had a fairly profitable career, as an impoverished widow, begging for money from
the King and other people.

7. Using the five parts of plot, give a full description of the movie.
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8. The characters in this movie were real people and the basic outline of Mozart's career is accurate, BUT the
specific events are invented (Salieri never tried to kill Mozart and the two were professional rivals). Does this
change the way you think of the film? Why?
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9. What character(s) did you empathize with? Why?
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10. What are the main conflicts that Salieri had with Mozart? Do you think he is correct in how he feels? How he
behaves?
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Movie Criticism
11. Describe in detail what you liked/disliked about the movie using one or more of the three elements of Drama.
(technical, literary, and performance)
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