Equally, his personality is considered repulsive by many, creating a true contradiction.And his untimely death fueled speculation — which has never been substantiated — that he was murdered by Salieri, a jealous rival composer.
That speculation formed the basis for one of my all-time favorite films, "Amadeus."
But, even if there was no truth behind the speculation on the nature of Mozart's relationship with Salieri, it was a remarkable film, written, directed and performed by people who understood music as well as they understood their own craft — filmmaking.
That is, indeed, a rare combination in an art form that tries to relate the story of another art form.
And, at the heart of the film was always the music, Mozart's music. "It is miraculous," says Salieri at one point in the movie. And so it was.
But it could also be a burden for the admittedly "vulgar" Mozart.
Even so, it appears that composition came easily to Mozart. I can't verify the accuracy of this comment, but in the film, Mozart's character says a particular piece of work that has not yet been committed to paper is "all right here in my noodle." The rest, he says, "is just scribbling. Scribbling and bibbling, bibbling and scribbling."
It is strongly suggested in the movie that Salieri commissioned Mozart to compose the demanding "Requiem" with the intention of killing his rival and then passing off the "Requiem" as his own at Mozart's funeral — and it is also suggested that working on the ultimately unfinished composition was what really killed Mozart.
In the film, the scene of Mozart's death includes the act (by his widow) of locking up the sheet music of the "Requiem" while a disappointed Salieri watches helplessly. As he bitterly relates the experience to a priest, the aged and guilt-ridden Salieri says, "Your... merciful God. He destroyed His own beloved, rather than let a mediocrity share in the smallest part of His glory."
But it is also suggested in the film that Mozart may have been overworking himself before being hired to write the "Requiem" — that the "Requiem" hastened what Mozart had brought on himself.
The movie shows him collapsing while conducting, as well as playing music in, "The Magic Flute," Mozart's final opera, which premiered 217 years ago today in Vienna. Less than three months after the premiere, Mozart died at the age of 35.
"The Magic Flute" was the last of several hugely popular collaborations for Mozart with Emanuel Schikaneder's theatrical troupe.
More than two centuries later, "The Magic Flute" remains a popular opera, consistently one of the most frequently performed operas in North America.
That's the kind of lasting legacy that few artists ever achieve.
