Mozart and Salieri summary. Crime in the Golden Lion
Scene 1
Room.
Salieri talks about creativity and his calling:
Overcame
I am early adversity. Craft
I set it at the foot of art;
I became a craftsman: fingers
Gave obedient, dry fluency
And loyalty to the ear. Killing the sounds
I tore apart the music like a corpse. Believed
I algebra harmony. Then
Already dared, experienced in science,
Indulge in the bliss of a creative dream...
Strong, tense constancy
I'm finally in limitless art
Reached a high level. Glory
She smiled at me; I'm in people's hearts
I found harmonies with my creations...
Who can say that Salieri was proud?
Someday a despicable envier,
A snake, trampled by people, alive
Sand and dust gnawing helplessly?
Nobody! And now - I’ll say it myself - I’m now
Envious. I envy; deep,
I'm painfully jealous. Oh heaven!
Where is rightness, when a sacred gift,
When immortal genius is not a reward
Burning love, selflessness,
Works, zeal, prayers sent -
And it illuminates the head of a madman,
Idle revelers?
O Mozart, Mozart!
Mozart enters the room. He says that, while passing by a tavern, he heard a blind old violinist playing Mozart. He brought the old man with him and asked him to play something from Mozart. He plays, terribly distorting the melody. Mozart laughs. Salieri is perplexed and indignant:
I don't find it funny when the painter is worthless
Raphael's Madonna gets dirty for me!
The violinist leaves. Mozart says that he composed a “trifle” and plays it on the piano. Salieri is amazed:
You came to me with this
And he could stop at the inn
And listen to the blind violinist! - God!
You, Mozart, are unworthy of yourself.
Salieri invites Mozart to dine at the Golden Lion inn. Mozart agrees and leaves. Salieri decides to poison Mozart:
I was chosen to
Stop it, otherwise we will all die
We are all priests, ministers of music,
I'm not alone with my dull glory...
What good is it if Mozart lives?
Will it still reach new heights?
Will he elevate art? No;
It will fall again as he disappears:
He will not leave us an heir.
What's the use of it? Like some cherub,
He brought us several heavenly songs,
So that, outraged by wingless desire
In us, the children of the dust, will fly away!
So fly away! the sooner the better...
Scene 2
Tavern.
Mozart and Salieri are sitting at the table, Mozart is sad, he says that he is worried about the “Requiem” that he is writing. He tells the story of how “Requiem” was commissioned: a man in black came to him three times, and then, having ordered the work, he disappeared and does not appear, although the order was completed. Mozart says that he sees this black man everywhere, and it seems that he is sitting third at their table. Salieri tries to calm Mozart, recalls Beaumarchais, who advised him:
Listen, brother Salieri,
If dark thoughts come to you,
Open a bottle of champagne
Or re-read The Marriage of Figaro.
Mozart recalls a rumor that Beaumarchais poisoned someone and says that he doesn’t believe it, because he
He's a genius
Like you and me. And genius and villainy -
Two things are incompatible...
Salieri throws poison into Mozart's glass. Mozart drinks, goes to the piano, plays "Requiem". Salieri is crying.
These tears
I’m pouring for the first time: it’s both painful and pleasant,
As if I had committed a heavy duty,
It’s like a healing knife is cutting me off
Suffering member!...
Mozart feels bad and leaves. Salieri is left alone:
You'll fall asleep
Long live, Mozart! but is he right?
And I'm not a genius? Genius and villainy -
Are two things incompatible? Not true:
And Bonarotti? or is it a fairy tale
Dumb, senseless crowd - and was not
The creator of the Vatican was a murderer?
(according to legend, Michelangelo killed the sitters who posed for his sculptures so that there would be no resemblance to his work in the world).
“Mozart and Salieri” is the second of the four “Little Tragedies” by A. S. Pushkin. (The other three are “The Miserly Knight”, “The Stone Guest”, “A Feast during the Plague”.) On our website you can also read an analysis of this drama.
Pushkin “Mozart and Salieri”, scene 1 – summary
Composer Salieri reflects in his room about his life. (See Salieri's Monologue.) He recalls how in his youth he began to study music, putting in the first place not talent, but hard work. Art was akin to him craft. Dry, devoid of inspiration, Salieri learned harmony as a science, “verified it with algebra.” “Having killed the sounds,” he “disintegrated the music like a corpse.” Only after many years of persistent efforts, Salieri “reached a high degree in boundless art” and gained fans and fame. But he was soon eclipsed by the young Mozart, a carefree reveler who achieved more without any effort - thanks to his incomparable genius. A painful envy of Mozart’s talent arose in Salieri’s soul, although he became his friend.
A cheerful Mozart just enters Salieri's room, leading a blind violinist with him. He met this street musician at a tavern, where he, desperately out of tune, tried to play an aria from his opera. Mozart asks the blind man to repeat it in front of Salieri, and laughs heartily as he performs it. But the serious and prim Salieri is not amused by the violinist’s poor playing, but outraged. He “doesn’t find it funny when a worthless painter stains Raphael’s Madonna.”
The blind man leaves, having received money for drinks from Mozart. Mozart sits down at the piano and plays his new piece. Salieri admires her courage and harmony. Envy flares up in him even more relentlessly.
Salieri invites Mozart to dine together at a tavern. Consumed by bilious melancholy, he decides to poison Mozart, who has overshadowed all other musicians. Salieri has long carried poison with him, his wife’s dying gift. Today this cherished gift of love must go into the cup of friendship.
Mozart and Salieri. Illustration by M. Vrubel for the tragedy of A. S. Pushkin, 1884
Pushkin “Mozart and Salieri”, scene 2 – summary
Mozart and Salieri have lunch at a tavern. Mozart sadly talks about a recent strange incident. A certain man dressed in black came to his house and ordered him to compose a funeral hymn - a requiem. Mozart eagerly set to work. The Requiem turned out great. But the black man never returned to pick up the order. Mozart is now tormented by a premonition that it was fate that announced his imminent death and ordered him to compose a requiem for himself.
Salieri insincerely reassures his friend and advises him to re-read Beaumarchais' funny play about Figaro for fun. Mozart absentmindedly wonders: is it true that Beaumarchais poisoned someone? However, he himself does not believe this, believing: Beaumarchais is a genius, and “genius and villainy are two incompatible things.”
The action takes place in the house of the famous composer Salieri. The owner talks about how he fell in love with music as a child after hearing an organ in church. He rejected all science and childish games and devoted himself to art. Salieri perfectly mastered the technique of playing musical instruments and thoroughly studied the theory. Only after mastering all the secrets and techniques did Salieri begin to compose himself. He mercilessly burned his first works. Finally, after much work, the composer achieved recognition.
Salieri is sure that he never stooped to the point of envy. But now among composers there has appeared not just talent, but genius. It is unfair when such heights are given not for many years of work, not for love and self-denial, but at birth. So lucky was the empty and idle reveler - Mozart.
At this time Mozart himself enters. He considers Salieri a friend, so he brought him a new composition. On the road near the inn, Mozart saw a blind violinist who played his works. The street musician was very out of tune, which Mozart thought was funny. He brought the violinist with him and invites Salieri to listen to him.
A blind old man comes in and starts playing. Mozart laughs. Salieri is outraged that the violinist is “distorting” brilliant music. He drives the old man away. Mozart pays the violinist and then sits down at the piano. At night he was visited by several melodies. He presents one of them to Salieri's court. The owner of the house is shocked: how is it possible, having written such brilliant music, to listen to the false performance of a blind violinist. Salieri reproaches Mozart for not knowing his own worth and calls him God. The guest cheerfully reports that the “deity” is hungry. Salieri invites a friend to dine with him at a tavern. Mozart agrees, but leaves to warn his wife.
Salieri argues that he must stop Mozart so that other composers do not look so pitiful against his background. Great talent is useless, because no person can rise to it, no matter how hard he tries. Mozart is like an angel who accidentally flew to mortals from heavenly heights. It's time for him to return to his paradise.
Salieri talks about poison - the last gift of his beloved. Many times he was tempted to use it, dreaming of ending his life, but for eighteen years he continues to carry it with him. Salieri kept hoping that the time would come when this poison would be more needed. And it looks like that day has come. Today the last gift of love will go into the cup of friendship.
Scene II
Mozart and Salieri have lunch in a tavern where there is a piano. Mozart came gloomy and tells Salieri that the Requiem worries him. Three weeks ago a man in black came to see him, but did not find him at home. On the second day the strange visitor came again and again did not find the owner. And only on the third day he came into the house when the composer was playing with his son. The “black man” ordered Requiem and immediately disappeared. The work is ready, but the customer has not appeared since then.
“The Black Man” does not give Mozart a moment’s peace. He seems to be haunting the composer. It seems like he's watching him all the time. And now he sits third at their table in the tavern. Salieri tries to restore his friend's good mood. He talks about Beaumarchais, who advised during an attack of blues to drink champagne or re-read his “The Marriage of Figaro.”
Mozart wonders if it is true that Beaumarchais poisoned someone? Salieri believes that he was too frivolous a person for this. Mozart utters the key phrase of the tragedy: “Genius and villainy are two incompatible things.” At this moment, Salieri quietly drops the poison into the glass.
Mozart proposes a toast to fraternal union and drinks poisoned wine. He goes to the piano and plays Requiem. Shocked, Salieri cries. Mozart notices this and asks about the reason for this reaction. The criminal replies that he experienced real relief, as if he had committed a grave duty. Mozart feels unwell and hurries home to get some sleep. He says goodbye to Salieri.
The killer is left alone and in confusion repeats words about genius and villainy. Is he not a genius? The envious person does not want to believe that the poisoned friend is right. He remembers in horror the murder attributed to Michelangelo. Was it true?
- “Mozart and Salieri”, analysis of Pushkin’s tragedy
- “The Captain’s Daughter”, a summary of the chapters of Pushkin’s story
- "Boris Godunov", analysis of the tragedy of Alexander Pushkin
The tragedy “Mozart and Salieri” is one of the chamber cycle of dramatic works by A.S. Pushkin, which the author himself called “Little Tragedies”. Written in 1830, they raised philosophical and moral problems that were important for the poet and his close circle: challenging fate, contrasting feelings of love with the sanctimonious morality of society in “The Stone Guest”; the destructive power of money in The Miserly Knight; the human and divine nature of the genius, his responsibility for his deeds and works in “Mozart and Salieri”; reluctance to humble oneself in the face of circumstances, protest against fatalism in life in “A Feast in the Time of Plague.”
"Mozart and Salieri"
The tragedy "Mozart and Salieri", a brief summary of which can be reduced to a short retelling, is a philosophically deeply rich work. The author examines in it the most important questions for every truly talented artist, such as whether a genius can do evil and whether he will remain a genius after that. What should art bring to people? Can a genius in art allow himself to be an ordinary, imperfect person in everyday life, and many others. Therefore, no matter how many times “Mozart and Salieri” is reread in the original, the summary of this dramatic work will always find something for the thoughtful reader to think about.
The tragedy is based on rumors that the composer poisoned the brilliant Mozart out of envy. Of course, there is no direct evidence of this crime. But this is not important to Pushkin. Taking such a controversial detective story, the poet focuses his and our attention on something else: why does Salieri decide to interrupt the life of his brilliant friend? or something else? Is it possible to correlate a genius and a craftsman? From the first reading of Mozart and Salieri, the summary of the tragedy, of course, does not give an answer. You need to think about Pushkin!
So, Salieri. We meet him at the very beginning of the work. Already in years, caressed by fame, he recalls his first steps in music. In his youth, feeling talent in himself, he nevertheless does not dare to believe in himself, diligently studies the work of great musicians and imitates them, comprehends “harmony by algebra”, without creating music with inspiration, according to the flight of his soul and imagination, as he did would be a genius, but “taking it apart like a corpse” into its components, counting the notes and their variations in each chord and sound. And only after carefully studying the theory, the mechanisms of creating music, its rules, Salieri himself begins to compose, burning a lot, leaving something behind after picky criticism. Gradually he becomes known and recognized. But the composer “suffered” for his fame: writing for him is hard work. He himself understands that he is not a Master - an apprentice in the Great Art. But he has no envy of those who are more famous and talented, because the hero knows: his contemporaries achieved fame in the musical field also thanks to hard, painstaking work. In this they are equal.
Mozart, an “idle reveler,” is a different matter. He composes brilliant things easily, jokingly and as if laughing at the philosophy of creativity that Salieri nurtured and created for himself for so long. The young genius is alien to Salierian asceticism, the strictest self-discipline and the fear of deviating from the recognized canons in art. Mozart creates as he breathes: naturally, according to the nature of his talent. Perhaps this outrages Salieri most of all.
“Mozart and Salieri”, its brief content, boils down, in essence, to Salieri’s internal dispute with himself. The hero solves a dilemma: does art need Mozart? Is now the time to perceive and understand his music? Isn't he too brilliant for his era? No wonder Antonio compares Mozart with an angel, a bright cherub, who, having flown to earth, will serve as a reproach to people for their imperfections. Mozart, having set a certain aesthetic and ethical standard with his work, on the one hand, raises the art and souls of people to new heights, on the other hand, shows what current composers and their creations are worth. But are self-loving mediocrities or simply not very talented people ready to recognize someone as the palm? Unfortunately no! Pushkin himself found himself in a similar situation more than once, far ahead of his time. Therefore, even a brief summary of “Mozart and Salieri” helps to understand how the poet lived, what worried him during the period of creating the tragedy.
Mozart comes to Salieri. He wants to show his friend a new “little thing” that he recently composed, and at the same time “treat” him with a joke: passing by a tavern, Wolfgang heard a poor violinist playing his melody, mercilessly out of tune. This performance seemed funny to the genius, and he decided to amuse Salieri. However, he does not accept the joke and drives the performer away, scolding Mozart, reproaching that he does not value his talent and is generally unworthy of himself. Mozart performs a melody he recently composed. And Salieri is even more perplexed: how is it possible, having composed such a wonderful melody, to pay attention to the false passages of a home-grown violinist, to find them funny and not offensive. Does he really not value himself, his genius? And again the theme of the sublime nature of true art arises: Salieri compares his friend with God, who is not aware of his divinity. At the end of the scene, the friends agree to have lunch together, and Mozart leaves.
When reading the tragedy “Mozart and Salieri”, the analysis of the next scene comes down to how, with what arguments Salieri convinces himself of the need to end the life of his brilliant comrade. He believes that art will only benefit without Mozart, that composers will have the opportunity to write music based on their modest talents and without regard to their great contemporary. That is, by destroying Wolfgang, Salieri will provide an invaluable service to art. To do this, Antonio decides to use poison received as a gift from his former lover.
The last scene is in the tavern. Mozart tells a friend about some strange visitor, a black man who has been haunting him lately. Then we talk about Beaumarchais, the same as Mozart, a man of genius, a playwright with a bright, sparkling talent and complete freedom in creativity. There was a rumor that Beaumarchais poisoned someone, but Mozart does not believe it. According to him, villainy and genius cannot coexist in one person. A genius can only be the embodiment of Good and Light, Joy, and therefore cannot bring Evil into the world. He offers to drink to the three of them, brothers in the Light - Salieri, Beaumarchais and him, Mozart. Those. Wolfgang considers Antonio a like-minded person. And Salieri throws poison into his glass of wine, Mozart drinks, sincerely believing that next to him the heart is as sincere and big as his.
When Mozart plays the Requiem, not even knowing that, in fact, this is a funeral mass for himself, Salieri cries. But these are not tears of remorse and pain for a friend - these are joy from the fact that the duty has been fulfilled.
Mozart feels bad and leaves. And Salieri reflects: if Mozart is right, then he is not a genius, because he committed a crime. But the famous Michelangelo, as they say, also killed his sitter. However, the court of time recognized his genius. So he, Salieri, is still a genius? What if everything about Buanarotti is an invention of a stupid crowd, if the sculptor did not kill anyone? Then Salieri is not a genius?
The ending of the tragedy is open, behind it, as is often the case with Pushkin, is the “abyss of space,” and everyone must decide for themselves whose point of view, Salieri or Mozart, is accepted as the truth.
Prefaced by a brief summary of the play “Mozart and Salieri” (A.S. Pushkin), it should be said that it is quite small, and there are only two characters in it - the composers Mozart and Salieri.
The essence of the conflict
The basis of the play's conflict is Salieri's internal conflict, which can be reduced to understanding the essence of creativity in general. For him, music is work, craft and constant self-improvement. In other words, overcoming. For Mozart, composing music is inspiration and joy. He creates easily and freely.
Thus, in the summary of Pushkin’s “Mozart and Salieri,” we note that the main question of the play, which has no answer and over which Salieri is tormented: why are some unconditionally endowed with genius, while others are forced to prove their place among their fellow workers through tireless hard work?
He believes that the sky is unfair, illuminating the “madman’s head” and the “idle reveler.” After all, Mozart is unworthy of his great gift, he wastes his life without working, so he must die. Salieri sees his task as killing Mozart. This is a great task, he thinks.
And if a dramatic resolution of the conflict in Pushkin (Salieri kills Mozart in the finale of the play) does occur, it cannot lead to an answer to the main question - and essentially the ending remains open.
In presenting the summary of Pushkin’s “Mozart and Salieri,” we talked about the main conflict of the play.
About the characters of the play
The prototypes of the characters in the play are real individuals, but bringing them together, especially with such an ending, most likely occurs only thanks to the will of the author.
In the summary of Pushkin’s “Mozart and Salieri,” it is necessary to clarify that Antonio Salieri in his time (late 18th - early 19th centuries) was considered a famous and recognized musician. This is an Italian composer, a follower of Gluck, the author of many vocal and vocal-musical works, and a court conductor. He was a teacher, instilling the basics of mastery in such famous composers as Schubert, Liszt, Beethoven.
But, one might say, fate played a cruel joke on him - and with the light hand of Pushkin, he remained in history as the “killer of Mozart.” This “stigma” stuck to him so much that much later, in Milan, in 1997, there was even a trial that completely acquitted the musician and confirmed his innocence in the death of Mozart.
In addition to Mozart, there is a third character in the play, whose presence can be called symbolic, “offscreen”. This is a man dressed in black, or, as Mozart calls him, “my black man” - a stranger who came to order a requiem for him, and did not show up for the order. He became a kind of messenger of death, a messenger of otherworldly forces - as if Mozart wrote the Requiem for himself. This gloomy image is very common in world literature: Pushkin picked it up from Goethe (“Faust”), and later Leonid Andreev and Sergei Yesenin borrowed it for their works.
Scene one
In the summary of Pushkin’s play “Mozart and Salieri”, we note that at the beginning of the first scene, Salieri sits in his room and reflects on the hardships of his own life, filled with study, work and well-deserved fame, and how great his envy of Mozart is. Mozart himself comes to visit him and brings a street musician, a blind old man, a “violinist,” whom he had just met in a tavern. He played Cherubino’s aria from Mozart’s opera “The Marriage of Figaro” on the violin and played so badly that the author became amused.
When the old man begins to play again, Mozart laughs, and Salieri becomes indignant and drives the violinist away.
Then Mozart plays the “trifle” on the piano, which he composed during the previous sleepless night. His listener is already in admiration and says that Mozart is “god” and he is “unworthy of himself.” Mozart treats these manifestations of delight with obvious irony; he jokingly replies that “my god is hungry,” and Salieri immediately invites him to dine at the tavern.
Mozart leaves to warn his wife, and the one who remains explains his task to himself and the audience: “I have been chosen to stop him,” otherwise we will die. Killing the divine Mozart, according to Salieri, is also necessary so that people like him, “wingless children of dust,” can create. And he is preparing poison.
This concludes the brief summary of the first scene of Pushkin’s tragedy “Mozart and Salieri”.
Scene two
Mozart tells how the “black man” came to him, how he ordered the Requiem and never appeared again. The interlocutor tries to encourage him, saying that to have fun, on the advice of Beaumarchais, it is necessary to re-read “The Marriage of Figaro” and drink a glass of champagne. “Is it true,” Mozart asks, “that someone was poisoned by Beaumarchais?” Salieri denies this, and Mozart adds that, of course, “he was a genius, like you and me,” and it is known that “genius and villainy are two incompatible things.”
Salieri pours poison into the interlocutor's cup, and he drinks the wine. Then Mozart, sitting down at the piano, plays his new composition - Requiem. His listener is touched: he feels “both painful and pleased,” as if he had done hard but necessary work.
Mozart feels unwell and goes home. And Salieri is left to reflect on the question tormenting him. He recalls the legend “about Bonarotti” (in the summary of Pushkin’s tragedy “Mozart and Salieri” it should be noted that this refers to the well-known story in which the great Italian painter and sculptor Michelangelo Buonarroti poisoned the sitter in order to more accurately convey the torment of the dying Christ).
Can an artist who has committed a crime in the name of art be a genius? Or is this story a lie, a tale of the crowd?
With this question from the musician to himself (or the viewer), the play is over.
We have given a brief summary of Pushkin's play "Mozart and Salieri".