Amadeus by Peter Shaffer, II.

iv

[MOZART. (desperate) Excuse the language, Baron, but really! How can
we go on forever
with these gods and heroes?

VAN SWIETEN. (passionately) Because they go on forever thats why!

They represent the
eternal in us. Opera is here to ennoble us, Mozart you and me just
as well as the Emperor. It is an aggrandizing art! It celebrates the
eternal in man and ignores the ephemeral. The goddess in woman
and not the laundress.

STRACK. Well said, sir. Exactly!

MOZART. (imitating his drawl) Oh, well said, yes, well said! Exactly!]

MOZART
(to all of them)
I dont understand you! Youre all up on perches, but it doesnt hide your
arseholes! You dont give a shit about gods and heroes! If you are honest
each one of you which of you isnt more at home with his hairdresser than
Hercules? Or Horatius?

(to Salieri)
Or your stupid Danaius, come to that! Or mine mine! Idomeneo, King of
Crete! All those anguished antiques! Theyre all bores! Bores, bores,
bores!

(Suddenly he springs up and jumps onto a chair, like an orator.

Declaring it)
All serious operas written in this century are boring!

(They turn and look at him in shocked amazement. A pause. He gives

his little giggle,
and then jumps down again.)
Look at us! Four gaping mouths. What a perfect quartet! Id love to write
it just this second of time, this now, as you are! Herr Chamberlain
thinking: Impertinent Mozart. I must speak to the Emperor at once! Herr
Prefect thinking: Ignorant Mozart. Debasing opera with his vulgarity!
Herr Court Composer thinking: German Mozart. What can he finally know
about music? And Mozart himself, in the middle, thinking: Im just a good
fellow. Why do they all disapprove of me?

(excitedly to VAN SWIETEN)

Thats why opera is important, Baron. Because its realer than any play!