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On the way back from some errands this morning, I passed a poster for a performance of Mozart's Requiem, so naturally my thoughts turned to Peter Shaeffer's Amadeus. Leaving aside the story's fictional nature, it's a well-told story, enough to make the central premise believable; but now, when I strip that premise down, I'm not sure I buy the idea of the protagonist being homicidally envious of a man who's had less material success than he has, but who he knows has more actual talent.
The character is psychopathic enough to kill out of jealousy at others' success, but philosophical enough to judge success on aesthetics rather than money or acclaim; and I'm not sure those two things go together very often.
To be fair, Salieri in the play starts out just trying to make sure Mozart doesn't get any good gigs, and then his obsession sort of gets away with him. Like I said, it's well-told enough to be plausible.
The character is psychopathic enough to kill out of jealousy at others' success, but philosophical enough to judge success on aesthetics rather than money or acclaim; and I'm not sure those two things go together very often.
To be fair, Salieri in the play starts out just trying to make sure Mozart doesn't get any good gigs, and then his obsession sort of gets away with him. Like I said, it's well-told enough to be plausible.
