Scene 19

SALIERI’S SALOON – NIGHT -

SALIERI
No ….. There is no justice on this earth or heavens…… I have worked and worked on music…. Music has been my God. I have built a temple for music……I have meditated in the horizon of sublime musical notes with deep submission…. I have followed the tempting path of artistic voyage of the masters…..

(Sound of symphony in the back ground)

Oh! You Sallieri, You have learned music by dissecting it like a dead body….. You have devoted your entire life for music…..

(Sound of symphony)

But…. but…… recognitions…..those flowers of admiration…. love…..everything went to Mozart…. Only to Mozart…..
(Symphony)

Blessings did not reach me…. For my hard work….. for my dedication…..for my endurance with music…. no rewards….. my prayers ..never fulfilled….….. I am not recognised…. God did not reveal his voice to me…... All the fame is for Mozart…….. God chose Mozart for his incarnation…..

(Symphony)

Catherine.. My dear Catherine… I have been living with your most sacred gift of love for the last eighteen years….. The poison you gave me….the poison to embrace death….. I have not used that yet….even at the times of great agony I did not…..

I have waited….I have been longing for the relentless flow of the rays of talent….the blessing of talent… I have waited….. now …. now ….the day has come….
Oh! Mozart…..Mozart….I shall feed you my Catherine’s gift of love….
(The ensemble reaches its climax)


SALIERI
Oh! Dear friend Mozart… now… at this charming moment….while we are here to enjoy a great feast….you are not cheerful… What makes you look so gloomy? Why….what is the reason?

MOZART
I am through a strange experience….how could I tell you that… very....strange….


SALIERI
We are about to have a celebration …an ever unforgettable celebration….. Still tell me first, that ‘strange experience’ let us begin our party with that…..

(Symphony in the back ground)

MOZART
Three days ego, some one clad in all black approached me. He commissioned me to compose a Requiem Mass. I have…. I have…. just completed the work today.

SALIERI
Nothing strange in that!

MOZART

He gives me no rest night or day,
My man in black. He’s everywhere behind
Me like a shadow. Even now he seems
To sit here with us as a third.

(Symphony in the back ground)
Now….. Even here ….with us, as a third person…..he is present…. I feel his presence…… frightening….
(Music)


SALIERI
(Bursting in to laughter)
Come, come!
What sort of childish fright is this? Dispel
These empty fancies. Beaumarchais would often
Say to me "Listen, Salieri, old friend,
When black thoughts come your way, uncork the champagne
Bottle, or re-read the Marriage of Figaro."

(Music)

MOZART
You said Beaumarchais!…..…Bumarche!....

Yes, you and Beaumarchais were pals, weren’t you?
It was for him you wrote Tarare, a lovely
Work. There is one tune in it, I always
Hum it to myself when I feel happy...
La la la la...Salieri, is it true
That Beaumarchais once poisoned somebody?


SALLIERI
No … not at all…… a big lie

MOZART
Cannot be….sure that cannot be…..you are right……
Besides, he was a genius,
Like you and me. And genius and villainy
Are two things incompatible, aren’t they?

SALLIERI
(Extending the wine glass)

Let us start….. Take it Herr Mozart…….
To your health,
My friend, and to the loyal bond that binds
Together Mozart and Salieri, sons of harmony

MOZART

To immortalize this very moment when the two devotees of music,
Mozart and Salieri got together to celebrate…….. Cheers…….

(Drinking from the wine glass)

Salieri … my friend…..listen…..here is my symphony of death…… The Requiem…..
(The ensemble reaches the climax)