SOURCE: A review of Amadeus, in Financial Times, 5 November 1979, p. 15.

Amadeus was first staged on 2 November 1979 at London 's Olivier Theatre in a National Theatre production directed by Peter Hall. In the following evaluation of that production, Young finds the play "unimaginative " and contends that "there is no life in Mr. Shaffer's story. Salieri recounts it in the manner of an illustrated lecture. "

Peter Shaffer has retold the story of how Antonio Salieri poisoned Mozart, with some romantic decorations of his own. This is how it goes in his version:—

Salieri is Court Composer to the Emperor Joseph II. In 1781 Mozart arrives in the capital, having sacked his Archbishop (or vice versa) and Salieri, overwhelmed by the sounds of the wind serenade K364, begins to see him as a rival. More than that, however: he had dedicated his talent to God, and when he realises that Mozart's talent...