Amadeus Page #23

MOZART:

Look, I must have pupils. Without

pupils I can't manage.

SALIERI:

You don't mean to tell me you are

living in poverty?

MOZART:

No, but I'm broke. I'm always broke.

I don't know why.

SALIERI:

It has been said, my friend, that

you are inclined to live somewhat

above your means.

MOZART:

How can anyone say that? We have no

cook, no maid. We have no footman.

Nothing at all!

SALIERI:

How is that possible? You give

concerts, don't you? I hear they are

quite successful.

MOZART:

They're stupendously successful.

You can't get a seat. The only problem

is none will hire me. They all want

to hear me play, but they won't let

me teach their daughters. As if I

was some kind of fiend. I'm not a

fiend!

SALIERI:

Of course not.

MOZART:

Do you have a daughter?

SALIERI:

I'm afraid not.

MOZART:

Well, could you lend me some money

till you have one? Then I'll teach

her for free. That's a promise. Oh,

I'm sorry. I'm being silly. Papa's

right - I should put a padlock on my

mouth. Seriously, is there any chance

you could manage a loan? Only for

six months, eight at most. After

that I'll be the richest man in

Vienna. I'll pay you back double.

Anything. Name your terms. I'm not

joking. I'm working on something

that's going to explode like a bomb

all over Europe!

SALIERI:

Ah, how exciting! Tell me more.

MOZART:

I'd better not. It's a bit of a

secret.

SALIERI:

Come, come, Mozart; I'm interested.

Truly.

MOZART:

Actually, it's a big secret. Oh,

this is delicious! What is it?

SALIERI:

Cream cheese mixed with granulated

sugar and suffused with rum. Crema

al Mascarpone.

MOZART:

Ah. Italian?

SALIERI:

Forgive me. We all have patriotic

feelings of some kind.

MOZART:

Two thousand, two hundred florins is

all I need A hundred? Fifty?

SALIERI:

What exactly are you working on?

MOZART:

I can't say. Really

SALIERI:

I don't think you should become known

in Vienna as a debtor, Mozart.

However, I know a very distinguished

gentleman I could recommend to you.

And he has a daughter. Will that do?

INT. MICHAEL SCHLUMBERG'S HOUSE - MORNING - 1780'S

Hysterical barking and howling. The hall is full of dogs, at

least five, all jumping up and dashing about and making a

terrific racket. Mozart, dandified in a new coat and a plumed

hat for the occasion, has arrived to teach at the house of a

prosperous merchant, MICHAEL SCHLUMBERG. Bluff, friendly and

coarse-looking, he stands in his hall amidst the leaping and

barking animals, greeting Mozart.

SCHLUMBERG:

Quiet! Quiet! Quiet! Down there,

damn you.

(to Mozart)

Welcome to you. Pay no attention,

they're impossible. Stop it, you

willful things! Come this way. Just

ignore them. They're perfectly

harmless, just willful. I treat them

just like my own children.

MOZART:

And which one of them do you want me

to teach?

SCHLUMBERG:

What? Ha-ha! That's funny - I like

it. Which one, eh? You're a funny

fellow.

(shouting)

Hannah! Come this way.

He leads Mozart through the throng of dogs into a salon

furnished with comfortable middle-class taste.

SCHLUMBERG:

Hannah!

FRAU SCHLUMBERG appears: an anxious woman in middle life.

SCHLUMBERG:

(to Mozart)

You won't be teaching this one either.

She's my wife.

MOZART:

(bowing)

Madame.

SCHLUMBERG:

This is Herr Mozart, my dear. The

young man Herr Salieri recommended

to teach our Gertrude. Where is she?

FRAU SCHLUMBERG:

Upstairs.

SCHLUMBERG:

Gertrude!

FRAU SCHLUMBERG:

You can't be Herr Mozart!

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