Amadeus (1980), a play by Peter Shaffer. Shaffer's version of the Mozart‐Salieri story, told from Salieri's point of view, was done in London in 1979 and first offered to Broadway in 1980, winning the Tony Award and running just short of three years. Ian McKellen was the original American Salieri and Tim Curry was Mozart, under the careful direction of Peter Hall. An acclaimed London revival failed to run when brought to Broadway in 1999.

1845–90, king of Spain (1870–73), duke of Aosta, son of Victor Emmanuel II of Italy. After the expulsion (1868) of Queen Isabella II, Juan Prim urged the Cortes to elect Amadeus as king. He accepted the crown reluctantly. Just before the new king arrived in Spain, Prim was assassinated. The upper classes were opposed to Amadeus, who belonged to the anticlerical house of Savoy, and he was unable to gain significant support in any segment of society; repeated attempts were made on his life. When a new rebellion by the Carlists began, Amadeus abdicated and returned to Italy. A year later Alfonso XII was proclaimed king.

A visionary who experienced an apocalypse and revelations, in one of which he learned the two psalms composed by Adam, one a mark of joy at the creation of Eve, and the other the dialogue he held with her after they had sinned. Both psalms are printed in the Codex Pseudepigraphus Veteris Testamenti of Johann Albert Fabricius, published at Hamburg, 1713-33.

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Peter Shaffer 1979

When Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus opened at the National Theatre of Great Britain in November 1979, it was received enthusiastically by audiences and critics alike. One year after its premiere, London audiences began to line up at ticket offices at six in the morning on the day of performance. Shaffer revised the play extensively before its American debut in Washington, D.C., in November 1980. Soon after, the play opened on Broadway, where it won five Tonys, including a Tony for best drama of the 1980 season. The popularity of the play ensured the success of the 1984 film version, directed by Milos Forman, which received nominations for eleven Oscars and won eight, including best picture, best director, and best actor. Amadeus has also gained appreciative audiences internationally.

The play explores the rivalry between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, the court composer for the Emperor of Austria in the late eighteenth century. Shaffer became interested in the relationship between the two composers after learning about Mozart’s mysterious death. Although failing to find evidence that Salieri murdered Mozart, Shaffer admits, in an interview with Roland Gelatt, that “by then the cold eyes of Salieri were staring at me.... The conflict between virtuous mediocrity and feckless genius took hold of my imagination, and it would not leave me alone.” Critics have praised the play’s craftsmanship and its penetrating psychological study of the effects of success and failure and the search for spirituality.

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