The Cast
F. Murray Abraham >> Antonio Salieri
Tom Hulce >> Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Elizabeth Berridge >> Constanze Mozart
Simon Callow >> Emanuel Schikaneder/Papageno
Roy Dotrice >> Leopold Mozart
Christine Ebersole >> Katerina Cavalieri/Costanza
Jeffrey Jones >> Emperor Joseph II
Charles Kay >> Count Orsini-Rosenberg
Kenneth McMillan >> Michael Schlumberg
Kenny Baker >> Parody Commendatore
Lisabeth Bartlett >> Papagena
Barbara Bryne >> Frau Weber
Martin Cavina >> Young Salieri
Roderick Cook >> Count Von Strack
Milan Demjanenko >> Karl Mozart
Peter DiGesu >> Francesco Salieri
Richard Frank >> Father Vogler
Patrick Hines >> Kappelmeister Bonno
Nicholas Kepros >> Archbishop Colloredo
Philip Lenkowsky >> Salieri's Servant
Herman Meckler >> Priest
Jonathan Moore >> Baron Van Swieten
Cynthia Nixon >> Lorl
Brian Pettifer >> Hospital Attendant
Vincent Schiavelli >> Salieri's valet
Douglas Seale >> Count Arco
Miroslav Sekera >> Young Mozart
John Strauss >> Conductor
Karl-Heinz Teuber >> Wig Salesman
Cassie Stuart >> Gertrude Schlumberg
Rita Zohar >> Frau Schlumberg
Miro Grisa >> Figaro
Helena Cihelnikova >> Countess
Karel Gult >> Count Almaviva
Zuzana Kadlecova >> Susanna
Magda Celakovska >> Cherubino
Slavena Drasilova >> Barbarina
Eva Senkova >> Marcellina
Leos Kratochvil >> Basilio
Gino Zeman >> Don Curzio
Janoslav Mikulin >> Dr. Bartolo
Ladislav Kretschmer >> Antonio
Karel Fiala >> Don Giovanni
Jan Blazek >> Commendatore
Zdenek Jelen >> Leporello
Quotes
Salieri: Everybody liked me. I liked myself. Until he came.
Father Vogler: Oh, that's charming! I'm sorry; I didn't know you wrote that.
Salieri: I didn't. That was Mozart.
Salieri: That was Mozart! -- that dirty-minded little creature I had just seen crawling on the floor!
[The Emperor offers the sheet music of Salieri's welcome march to Mozart.]
Mozart: Keep it Majesty, if you want. It's already here in my head.
Emperor Joseph II: What? On one hearing only?
Mozart: I think so, Sire, yes.
Emperor Joseph II: Show us.
Katerina Cavalieri: I heard you met Herr Mozart.
Salieri: News travels fast in Vienna.
Katerina Cavalieri: And he's been commissioned to write an opera. Is it true?
Salieri: Yes.
Katerina Cavalieri: Is there a part in it for me?
Salieri: No.
Katerina Cavalieri: How would you know?
Salieri: Do you know where it's set, my dear?
Katerina Cavalieri: No.
Salieri: In a harem.
Katerina Cavalieri: What's that?
Salieri: A brothel!
Katerina Cavalieri: Ohhhh.
Salieri: Mozart, it was good of you to come!
Mozart: How could I not?
Salieri: So, did my work please you?
Mozart: [hesitantly] I never knew that music like that was possible!
Salieri: [uncertainly] You flatter me.
Mozart: No, no! One hears such sounds, and what can one say but... "Salieri."
Salieri: God was singing through this little man to all the world, making my defeat more bitter with every passing bar. But then, do you know what happened? A miracle!
Salieri: He was my idol. I can't think of a time when I didn't know his name.
Emperor Joseph II: Your work is ingenious. It's quality work. And there are simply too many notes, that's all. Just cut a few and it will be perfect.
Mozart: Which few did you have in mind, Majesty?
Mozart: "Confutatis Maledictis." When the wicked are confounded. "Flammis Acribus Adictis." How would you translate that?
Salieri: Consigned to flames of woe.
Mozart: Do you believe it?
Salieri: What?
Mozart: A fire which never dies, burning you forever?
Salieri: Oh yes.
Mozart: Forgive me, Majesty. I am a vulgar man! But I assure you, my music is not.
Salieri: Actually, the man had no ear at all. But what did it matter? He adored my music.
Salieri: While my father prayed earnestly to God to protect commerce, I would offer up secretly the proudest prayer a boy could think of: Lord, make me a great composer. Let me celebrate Your glory through music and be celebrated myself. Make me famous through the world. Dear God make me immortal. After I die let people speak my name forever with love for what I wrote. In return I will give You my chastity, my industry, my deepest humility, every hour of my life, Amen.
Emperor Joseph II: Name us a German virtue!
Mozart: Love, your Majesty.
Salieri: Oh, love! Of course, in Italy we know nothing about love!
Mozart: No, I don't think you do. I mean, watching Italian opera -- all those male sopranos screeching, stupid fat couples rolling their eyes about; that's not love, that's just rubbish!
Mozart: Whom did they choose?
Salieri: Herr Zummer.
Mozart: Herr Zummer? But the man's a fool, he's a total mediocrity!
Salieri: No, no, he has yet to achieve mediocrity.
Mozart: It's unbelievable. The director has actually torn up a huge section of my music. They say I have to rewrite the opera. But it's perfect as it is! I can't rewrite what's perfect!
Constanze Mozart: Wolfie, I think you really are going mad. You work like a slave for that idiot actor who won't give you a penny. And here, this is not a ghost! This is a real man who puts down real money. Why on earth won't you finish it? Can you give me one reason I can understand?
Mozart: It's killing me.