Scene 14

MOZART'S LIVING ROOM

Mozart sits writing at a table. He appears now to be really quite sick. There is a gentle knock at the door. He rises, goes to the door and opens it.

Salieri in costume stands in the doorway.
SALIERI
Herr Mozart?

SALIERI
I have come to commission work from you.

MOZART
What work?
SALIERI
A Mass for the dead.

MOZART
What dead? Who is dead?

SALIERI
A man who deserved a Requiem Mass and never got one.

MOZART
Who are you?

SALIERI
I am only a messenger. Do you accept? You will be well paid.

MOZART
How much?

Salieri extends his hand. In it is a bag of money.

SALIERI
Fifty. Another fifty when I have the Mass. Do you accept?
Mozart takes the money.

MOZART
How long will you give me?

SALIERI
Work fast. And be sure to tell no one what you do. You will see me
again soon.

He turns away. Mozart closes the front door. Constanze opens the door
She sees him staring up.

CONSTANZE
Wolfi? Wolfi!

CONSTANZE
Who was that?

MOZART
No one.

CONSTANZE
I heard voices.

CONSTANZE
What's the matter?

She sees the bag of money.

CONSTANZE
What's that? Oh!
(Pouncing on it)
Who gave you this? How much is it?
Wolfi, who gave you this?

MOZART
I'm not telling you.

CONSTANZE
Why not?

MOZART
You'd think I was mad.

He stares at her. She stares at him.
.

OLD SALIERI (V.O)
My plan was so simple, it terrified me.
First I must get the Death Mass and then achieve the death.

His funeral - imagine it! The Cathedral, all Vienna sitting there.
His coffin, Mozart's little coffin in the middle. And suddenly in that
silence, music. A divine music bursts out over them all,
a great Mass of Death: Requiem Mass for Wolfgang Mozart,
composed by his devoted friend
Antonio Salieri. What sublimity!
What depth! What passion in the music!
Salieri has been touched by God at last. And God, forced to listen.
Powerless - powerless to stop it. I at the end, for once, laughing at
Him. Do you understand? Do you?

The only thing that worried me was the actual killing.
How does one do that? How does one kill a man? It's
one thing to dream about it.
It's very different when you have to do it, with your own hands.