February 28, 2013
Vasudha's first birthday
February 26, 2013
February 22, 2013
Amadeus
In the last few years, Poonam and I have been listening to a lot of western classical music, specially that of Mozart and Bach. That is funny because neither of us had an ear for classical music, western or Indian (excepting Telugu devotional songs). The catalyst for this change was the movie 'Amadeus', a bio-pic on the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of the giants. We were recommended the movie by Dheeraj, my erudite cousin from the Vepakomma side. The movie was made in the 80s and had won 8 Oscars and many other awards that year.
The movie is unique because the story of the 'hero' is told from the point of the view of the 'villain'. It starts with a young priest visiting an old man in an asylum, to take his confession. The old man is Salieri, a composer who was in patronage of the same court as Mozart. Salieri hums three tunes to the young priest, but the priest know only the third. Salieri tells the priest that the first 2 were his compositions, and the 3rd was that of Mozart, a bumptious, irreverent vain little man, to whom God had given genius in spades.
That sets the tone of Salieri's confession. Salieri is a god-fearing, devoted and competent composer in the Emperor's court in Vienna, happy with his life, till Mozart comes along. Salieri despises the lewd and irreverent Mozart but is also in awe of his indubitable genius. As their confrontations and his defeats grow, Salieri start questioning his faith in God. Salieri makes pact after pact with God, including a vow of celibacy, and asks for that divine inspiration which Mozart seemed to have an undeserving amount of. But God does not relent.
Salieri, in a crisis of faith, hatches a clever scheme to murder Mozart and steal his finest work. His intent is to show Mozart and God that he will snatch the glory he deserves, if God is not willing to grant it. But before he can steal the almost-complete Requiem, Mozart dies of natural causes. In the eyes of Salieri, God would rather kill Mozart than let Salieri share even a bit of his glory. Thus ends his confession to the shaken priest.
What a perspective! Even a man consumed by hatred and jealousy towards Mozart couldn't help being awed by his music. In some ways, Salieri is Mozart's best fan, as only he realized the transcendent heights of Wolfgang's music - the rest of the court is never as moved, and Mozart dies a near pauper. Salieri's awe communicates itself to the audience, and is a far more effective of highlighting Mozart's genius than through a straightforward narrative. The movie features most of Mozart's works as part of the story line.
Before we saw the movie, I couldn't stand classical 'drone' music. Now, we can listen to it for hours at a stretch. So watch it if you can. And here is the Mozart tune that Salieri hums to the priest.
PS: Mozart is good, but Bach is better by miles. So try his music too.
The movie is unique because the story of the 'hero' is told from the point of the view of the 'villain'. It starts with a young priest visiting an old man in an asylum, to take his confession. The old man is Salieri, a composer who was in patronage of the same court as Mozart. Salieri hums three tunes to the young priest, but the priest know only the third. Salieri tells the priest that the first 2 were his compositions, and the 3rd was that of Mozart, a bumptious, irreverent vain little man, to whom God had given genius in spades.
That sets the tone of Salieri's confession. Salieri is a god-fearing, devoted and competent composer in the Emperor's court in Vienna, happy with his life, till Mozart comes along. Salieri despises the lewd and irreverent Mozart but is also in awe of his indubitable genius. As their confrontations and his defeats grow, Salieri start questioning his faith in God. Salieri makes pact after pact with God, including a vow of celibacy, and asks for that divine inspiration which Mozart seemed to have an undeserving amount of. But God does not relent.
Salieri, in a crisis of faith, hatches a clever scheme to murder Mozart and steal his finest work. His intent is to show Mozart and God that he will snatch the glory he deserves, if God is not willing to grant it. But before he can steal the almost-complete Requiem, Mozart dies of natural causes. In the eyes of Salieri, God would rather kill Mozart than let Salieri share even a bit of his glory. Thus ends his confession to the shaken priest.
What a perspective! Even a man consumed by hatred and jealousy towards Mozart couldn't help being awed by his music. In some ways, Salieri is Mozart's best fan, as only he realized the transcendent heights of Wolfgang's music - the rest of the court is never as moved, and Mozart dies a near pauper. Salieri's awe communicates itself to the audience, and is a far more effective of highlighting Mozart's genius than through a straightforward narrative. The movie features most of Mozart's works as part of the story line.
Before we saw the movie, I couldn't stand classical 'drone' music. Now, we can listen to it for hours at a stretch. So watch it if you can. And here is the Mozart tune that Salieri hums to the priest.
PS: Mozart is good, but Bach is better by miles. So try his music too.
Glad everyone in the family is OK!
Scary when such stuff hits so close to home.....so sad for all the poor souls who died or were injured.
February 16, 2013
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