Amadeus Quotes
Katerina Cavalieri : Looks don't concern me, Maestro. Only talent interests a woman of taste.
Movie: Amadeus
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.
Movie: Amadeus
[ 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.
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.
Movie: Amadeus
[ Having played two pieces of music to the priest, who doesn't recognize either ]
Salieri : Can you remember no melody of mine? I was the most famous composer in Europe. I wrote 40 operas alone.
Salieri : Can you remember no melody of mine? I was the most famous composer in Europe. I wrote 40 operas alone.
Movie: Amadeus
Salieri : You don't mean to tell me that you're living in poverty?
Mozart : No. But I'm broke.
Mozart : No. But I'm broke.
Movie: Amadeus
Constanze Mozart : [ to Mozart's father ] May I offer you some tea, Herr Mozart?
Mozart : Tea? Who wants tea? Let's go out! This calls for a feast. You don't want tea, do you, Papa?
Constanze Mozart : Wolfie...
Mozart : I know, let's go dancing! Papa loves parties, don't you?
Constanze Mozart : Wolfie!
Mozart : What? How can you be so boring? Tea...
Mozart : Tea? Who wants tea? Let's go out! This calls for a feast. You don't want tea, do you, Papa?
Constanze Mozart : Wolfie...
Mozart : I know, let's go dancing! Papa loves parties, don't you?
Constanze Mozart : Wolfie!
Mozart : What? How can you be so boring? Tea...
Movie: Amadeus
[ Mozart loses at musical chairs ]
Emanuel Schikaneder : Herr Mozart, why don't you name your son's penalty?
Mozart : Yes, papa. Name it. Name it, I'll do anything you say. Anything.
Leopold Mozart : I want you to come back to Salzburg with me, my son.
Mozart : Papa, the rule is you can only give a penalty that can be performed in the room.
Leopold Mozart : I'm tired of this game, I don't want to play anymore.
Mozart : But my penalty! [ jumping up and down like an angry child ]
Mozart : I've got to have a penalty!
Emanuel Schikaneder : Herr Mozart, why don't you name your son's penalty?
Mozart : Yes, papa. Name it. Name it, I'll do anything you say. Anything.
Leopold Mozart : I want you to come back to Salzburg with me, my son.
Mozart : Papa, the rule is you can only give a penalty that can be performed in the room.
Leopold Mozart : I'm tired of this game, I don't want to play anymore.
Mozart : But my penalty! [ jumping up and down like an angry child ]
Mozart : I've got to have a penalty!
Movie: Amadeus
Mozart : Why must I submit samples of my work to some stupid committee just to teach a thirteen-year-old girl?
Count Von Strack : Because His Majesty wishes it.
Mozart : Is the emperor angry with me?
Count Von Strack : Quite the contrary.
Mozart : Then why doesn't he simply appoint me to the post?
Count Von Strack : Mozart, you are not the only composer in Vienna.
Mozart : No. But I'm the best!
Count Von Strack : Because His Majesty wishes it.
Mozart : Is the emperor angry with me?
Count Von Strack : Quite the contrary.
Mozart : Then why doesn't he simply appoint me to the post?
Count Von Strack : Mozart, you are not the only composer in Vienna.
Mozart : No. But I'm the best!
Movie: Amadeus
Mozart : [ of his great opera, "Figaro" ] Nine performances! Nine, that's all it's had! And withdrawn!
Salieri : I know, I know, it's outrageous. Still, if the public doesn't like one's work, one has to accept the fact gracefully.
Mozart : But what is it that they don't like?
Salieri : I can speak for the emperor. You make too many demands on the royal ear. The poor man can't concentrate for more than an hour... you gave him four.
Mozart : What did you think of it yourself? Did you like it at all?
Salieri : I thought it was marvelous.
Mozart : Of course! It's the best opera yet written, I know it... Why didn't they come?
Salieri : I think you overestimate our dear Viennese, my friend. You know you didn't even give them a good bang at the end of songs, to let them know when to clap?
Mozart : I know, I know, maybe you should give me some lessons in that...
Salieri : I know, I know, it's outrageous. Still, if the public doesn't like one's work, one has to accept the fact gracefully.
Mozart : But what is it that they don't like?
Salieri : I can speak for the emperor. You make too many demands on the royal ear. The poor man can't concentrate for more than an hour... you gave him four.
Mozart : What did you think of it yourself? Did you like it at all?
Salieri : I thought it was marvelous.
Mozart : Of course! It's the best opera yet written, I know it... Why didn't they come?
Salieri : I think you overestimate our dear Viennese, my friend. You know you didn't even give them a good bang at the end of songs, to let them know when to clap?
Mozart : I know, I know, maybe you should give me some lessons in that...
Movie: Amadeus
Mozart : [ about the royal composer's position he did not get ] 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.
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.
Movie: Amadeus
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!
Movie: Amadeus
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.
Mozart : It's killing me.
Movie: Amadeus
Salieri : All I wanted was to sing to God. He gave me that longing... and then made me mute. Why? Tell me that. If He didn't want me to praise him with music, why implant the desire? Like a lust in my body! And then deny me the talent?
Movie: Amadeus
Salieri : Leave me alone.
Father Vogler : I cannot leave alone a soul in pain.
Salieri : Do you know who I am?
Father Vogler : It makes no difference. All men are equal in God's eyes.
Salieri : [ leans in mockingly ] *Are* they?
Father Vogler : I cannot leave alone a soul in pain.
Salieri : Do you know who I am?
Father Vogler : It makes no difference. All men are equal in God's eyes.
Salieri : [ leans in mockingly ] *Are* they?
Movie: Amadeus
[ first lines ]
Salieri : Mozart! Mozart, forgive your assassin! I confess, I killed you...
Salieri : Mozart! Mozart, forgive your assassin! I confess, I killed you...
Movie: Amadeus
Salieri : My father, he did not care for music. When I told him how I wished I could be like Mozart, he would say; "Why? Do you want to be a trained monkey? Would you like me to drag you around Europe, doing tricks like a circus freak?" [ Salieri chuckles ruefully ]
Salieri : How could I tell *him*... what music meant to me?
Salieri : How could I tell *him*... what music meant to me?
Movie: Amadeus
Mozart : Sire, only opera can do this. In a play if more than one person speaks at the same time, it's just noise, no one can understand a word. But with opera, with music... with music you can have twenty individuals all talking at the same time, and it's not noise, it's a perfect harmony!
Movie: Amadeus
Mozart : I am fed to the teeth with elevated themes! Old dead legends! Why must we go on forever writing about gods and legends?
Baron Van Swieten : Because they do. They go on forever. Or at least what they represent. The eternal in us. Opera is here to enoble us. You and me, just the same as His Majesty.
Baron Van Swieten : Because they do. They go on forever. Or at least what they represent. The eternal in us. Opera is here to enoble us. You and me, just the same as His Majesty.
Movie: Amadeus
Salieri : On the page it looked nothing. The beginning simple, almost comic. Just a pulse - bassoons and 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.
Movie: Amadeus
Mozart : [ speaking backwards ] Say I'm sick. Say I'm sick!
Constanze Mozart : Yes, you are. You are very sick.
Mozart : No! Say it backwards, shitwit!
Constanze Mozart : Yes, you are. You are very sick.
Mozart : No! Say it backwards, shitwit!
Movie: Amadeus
Constanze Mozart : Stop it!
Mozart : I am stopping it! Slowly. There? See? I've stopped. Now we're going back.
Constanze Mozart : No!
Mozart : Yes, yes! You don't know where you are! Here, everything goes backwards. People walk backwards, dance backwards, sing backwards, and even talk backwards.
Constanze Mozart : That's stupid.
Mozart : Why? People fart backwards.
Mozart : I am stopping it! Slowly. There? See? I've stopped. Now we're going back.
Constanze Mozart : No!
Mozart : Yes, yes! You don't know where you are! Here, everything goes backwards. People walk backwards, dance backwards, sing backwards, and even talk backwards.
Constanze Mozart : That's stupid.
Mozart : Why? People fart backwards.
Movie: Amadeus
Constanze Mozart : No. I'm not going to marry you. You're a fiend!
Mozart : [ speaking backwards ] Ooy vol I tub. Ooy vol I tub!
Constanze Mozart : Tub, but. I. Vol, love... But I love you?
Mozart : [ nods, mouths ] I love you.
Mozart : [ speaking backwards ] Ooy vol I tub. Ooy vol I tub!
Constanze Mozart : Tub, but. I. Vol, love... But I love you?
Mozart : [ nods, mouths ] I love you.
Movie: Amadeus
Count Orsini-Rosenberg : Italian is the proper language for opera. All educated people agree on that.
Movie: Amadeus
Mozart : The whole thing is set in a harem, Majesty. In a seraglio.
Count Orsini-Rosenberg : You mean in Turkey?
Mozart : Yes, exactly.
Count Orsini-Rosenberg : Then why especially does it have to be in German?
Mozart : It doesn't, especially. It could be in Turkish if you really want.
Count Orsini-Rosenberg : You mean in Turkey?
Mozart : Yes, exactly.
Count Orsini-Rosenberg : Then why especially does it have to be in German?
Mozart : It doesn't, especially. It could be in Turkish if you really want.
Movie: Amadeus
Salieri : So rose the dreadful ghost from his next and blackest opera. There, on the stage, stood the figure of a dead commander. And I knew, only I understood that the horrifying apparition was Leopold raised from the dead! Wolfgang had summoned up his own father to accuse his son before all the world!
Movie: Amadeus