Amadeus Page #46

Her tears flow. Mozart looks at her helplessly.

MOZART:

Go back to bed.

CONSTANZE:

Please! Let me sit here. Let me stay

here with you. I promise I won't say

all word. I'll just be here, so you

know no one's going to hurt you.

Please, please!

She sits down tearfully, staring at him.

We hear the Rex Tremendai Majestatis from the Requiem and

see on the wall the portrait of Leopold Mozart looking down.

The camera pans slowly downward from it back to the table.

Mozart is writing the music. He looks up and sees that

Constanze is fast asleep in her chair. Mozart gets up quietly.

He puts on his hat and cloak, takes a bottle of wine and

tiptoes from the house. Without stopping, the music changes

from the heavy Requiem to the light-hearted patter of the

Papa-Papa duet from The Magic Flute.

CUT TO:

INT. SCHIKANEDER'S SUMMER HOUSE - NIGHT - 1790'S

This little wooden structure stands in a courtyard in the

tenement by the Weiden. Inside, we see a table, chairs, a

forte-piano, bottles and a chaos of papers. Strewn about in

the chairs are the three actresses, giggling. Schikaneder

and Mozart, both drunk, are singing the duet of the two bird-

people. The actor sings Papageno and the composer, in a

soprano voice, sings Papagena at the keyboard. Absurdly,

they end up rubbing noses and fall on each other's necks.

EXT. VIENNA STREET - NIGHT - 1790'S

Mozart, drunk and happy, staggers back through the snow.

There are a few people about. He goes into his apartment

building.

INT. MOZART'S APARTMENT - DAY - 1790'S

He comes through he door and stares across the living room

at an open bedroom door. Puzzled, he crosses.

The bedroom is also empty. We see Constanze's empty bed;

Karl's empty bed; empty closets.

MOZART:

Stanzi? Stanzi-marini-bini?

He looks about him, puzzled.

INT. FRAU WEBER'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - DAY - 1790'S

Frau Weber sits grimly talking. Mozart sits also, completely

exhausted and passive under the rain of her constant speech.

FRAU WEBER:

She's not coming back, you know.

She's gone for good. I did it and

I'm proud of it. 'Leave,' I said.

'Right away! Take he child and go,

just go. Here's the money! Go to the

Spa and get your health back - that's

if you can.' I was shocked. Shocked

to my foundation. Is that my girl?

Can that be my Stanzi? The happy

little moppet I brought up, that

poor trembling thing? Oh, you monster!

No one exists but you, do they? You

and your music! Do you know how often

she's sat in that very chair, weeping

her eyes out of her head because of

you? I warned her. 'Choose a man,

not a baby,' I said. But would she

listen? Who listens? 'He's just a

silly boy,' she says. Silly, my arse.

Selfish - that's all you are. Selfish!

Selfish, selfish, selfish, selfish,

selfish.

And with a scream Madame Weber's voice turns into the shrill

packing coloratura of the second act aria of the Queen of

the Night, in The Magic Flute.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. SCHIKANEDER'S THEATRE - NIGHT - 1790'S

On stage we see the QUEEN OF THE NIGHT fantastically costumed,

furiously urging her daughter to kill Sarastro. As she sings,

we see the interior of the theatre, now re-arranged from

when we last visited it to watch the Cabaret. An audience of

ordinary German citizens stands in the pit area, or sits:

they are rapt and excited.

The theatre also possesses boxes; some of these show closed

curtains - their inhabitants presumably engaged in private

intimacies. In one of them sits Salieri.

QUEEN OF THE NIGHT

(singing furiously)

A hellish wrath within my heart is

seething! Death and destruction Flame

around my throne! If not by thee

Sarastro's light be extinguished.

Then be thou mine own daughter never

more! Rejected be forever! So sundered

be forever All the bonds of kin and

blood! Hear! Hear! Hear God of

Vengeance! Hear thy Mother's vow!

Thunder and lightning. She disappears amidst tremendous

applause from the audience.

CUT TO:

EXT. OUTSIDE THE THEATRE - NIGHT - 1790'S

On the poster for The Magic Flute, the name Emmanuel

Schikaneder should appear very, very large and the name of

Mozart quite small:

I. & R. priv. Weiden Theatre

The Actors of the Imperial and Royal

Privileged Theatre of the Weiden

Have the honour to perform

THE MAGIC FLUTE:

A Grand Opera in Two Acts

By

Emmanuel Schikaneder

(The Cast List)

The music is by Herr Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Herr Mozart

out of respect for a gracious and honourable Public, and

from friendship for the author of this piece, will today

direct the orchestra in person.

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