Mozart

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Such a wonderful performance by F. Murray Abraham from the 1984 film Amadeus.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGSzeHKgHfI&NR[/youtube]
"On the page it looked nothing. The beginning simple, almost comic. Just a pulse. Bassoons, basset horns, like a rusty squeezebox. Then suddenly, high above it, an oboe. A single note, hanging there unwavering, till a clarinet took over and sweetened it into a phrase of such delight! This was no composition by a performing monkey! This was a music I'd never heard. Filled with such longing, such unfulfillable longing, it had me trembling. It seemed to me that I was hearing the very voice of God."

"Serenade For Winds; K 361; 3rd Movement" in its entirety. Close your eyes when you listen and feel the music flow. Salieri was right.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnkWEVIOhQ0[/youtube]

Another scene, and my favorite. You can see the frustration and epiphany Salieri has when he discovers Mozert's genius in composition after composition. The fact that he can hear the music in his head by simply viewing sheet music is amazing.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5BpzmTIZMU&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Salieri's epiphany is definitely one of the best moments in the whole film. There are so many great ones to choose from though! As a kid, I was instantly captivated by the movie and obsessed with Mozart from the opening scene when I heard Symphony #25 play as Salieri was dragged through the snowy streets of Vienna (or, in reality, Prague).

I'm going to have to go watch it now for the 242nd time!

I am obsessed with Mozart and just finished watching it again last evening. The movie is great and his music-- even greater!

One of my favorite scenes:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z4ZFCv9bjQ[/youtube]

"That doesn't really work, does it? Did you try..."

The film was quite good. I find Mozart as played obnoxious [and suspect I would think the same of the real one] and his music is borderline for me - Bach / Telemann barcoque is my speed, Handel is a bit radical and Mozart a bit flippant. But well done.