Original subtitles

The following programme contains strong language.

Sexual references and scenes which some viewers may find distressing

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Antonio Salieri.

The whole reason why I came to Vienna

was to write for the Imperial Opera!

Oh, yuck, who wrote this? Can I change it?

Oh, my goodness!

Bravo! Fantastic!

Thank you!

Court composer...

It's an honour to serve the crown.

I want you to succeed here.

Herr Mozart!

Hello!

♪ EINE KLEINE NACHTMUSIK ♪

It used to be that I could find his voice

As easily as I found my own.

His? God's!

Oh, yes... Him!

♪ DIE ENTFUHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL ♪

There were just too many notes!

Just because you're stuck rehashing boring old operas doesn't mean I have to be!

Maybe God doesn't speak to you because you fucking bore him!

Perhaps it was in that moment

I knew I was gonna kill Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart!

You're shocked...

I don't blame you.

It's a shocking thing to hear.

Why... Why share this with me?

Why not tell this to a priest or a constable?

You and I have no great bond.

Or had you forgotten what you did?

But we have the GREATEST bond, Frau Mozart.

We have him!

Herr Mozart?

They're ready for you.

♪ SYMPHONY NO. 41 IN C MAJOR ♪

Congratulations!

I expected better of you, you know!

Ah, right...!

Ah, Antonio!

Herr Salieri!

Oh, and Frau Salieri! It's the Salieris!

You came! Well, of course we came!

Congratulations! Thank you so much, thank you!

Your bride is on a table...?

Yes, I... I don't know why!

You know, I've been thinking about it

and I forgive you

for what happened when you didn't defend me, I really do!

I understand it now, you're in a very difficult position!

We all know how beholden you are to this emperor,

all the constraints and the rules!

It's no wonder that some of your things don't fly!

You're like a big, beautiful bird in a cage!

I could NEVER do what you do!

It'd drive me absolutely fucking mad!

I heard there's a new one coming, though!

Is that true? Yes. La scuola de' gelosi.

La scuola de' gelato!

Ice Cream School!

Gelosi. Ah, gelosi...

The School of Jealousy!

Uh, well, Stanze's sister is going up for a part.

Very good singer.

Completely fucking mental, but, uh...

Lovely singing voice! Ah...!

Please make yourselves at home!

Enjoy these sausages and gherkins!

Pow!

Mmm...

Mmm!

He didn't come to the wedding.

Who?

My father.

Neither did mine.

I suppose he is dead, so I have to forgive him.

You should write to him. Tell him off.

Maybe I will.

Argh!

Come now, you're getting better, Your Majesty!

What's the punishment for lying to an emperor, do you think?

Is it flogging or beheading?

There are people in this palace who'd drag you out into the garden

And beat you to death with rocks if I asked them to!

All of them, actually!

You still have some way to go but you ARE improving, Majesty!

My niece Elizabeth is coming to Vienna.

She needs a music tutor, lest she ends up like her uncle!

The princess?

Your Majesty, I would be honoured to...

Ha, I'm sure you would, court composer, but, uh...

No, I think the princess would like somebody a little bit more...

A bit more...? Oh, I don't know...

Vibrant!

Well, she's young!

You understand what I'm trying to say!

Yes, I think I do, sir...

She had a rather fun idea, how about Mozart?

Mozart? I think she might rather like that!

He tutors, surely?

I've heard the boy play.

I mean, God, if he can rub some of that off on my niece then so much the better!

How is he, anyway?

I was worried that he was a bit wounded by my critique on his opening night.

Well, he's written about 200 concertos and gotten married since then

so I think he's doing fine, sir!

Yes, I was hoping that he might be given a chance to write something new for us.

Another brothel-set fantasy with too many notes, perhaps?

Perhaps a little more judiciousness in your handling of him next time

But it's funny, I went away from that opera and couldn't stop thinking about it.

It got under my skin somehow.

We need to be BOLDER, Antonio!

You were right,

getting you to rest age Tarare, it was...

A success. Safe.

'A copy of a Parisian hit', that's what my sister called it.

No, courage is what's needed now.

Courage in court and in government.

We need to be BRAVE, Antonio, hmm?

Brave men win the day, do they not?

Of course, Your Majesty.

I'll let you give Mozart the good news about Elizabeth. Wonderful.

My goodness, Rupert...

Have you been practising?

Um, yes...

Yes, no, I can tell!

You've really improved, haven't you?

I kid, of course.

I jest, I jape, I make merry.

I can tell that you're lying, Rupert.

I can tell you have NOT been practising.

In fact, what you just produced

leads me to question whether you haven't actually discovered

something that is sort of the reverse of practising,

a kind of NOT practising

so powerful as to completely undo all of the accumulated knowledge of our previous session.

A sort of anti-practice!

Have you cultivated an irrational fear of competency,

perhaps?

Did somebody perform rudimentary surgery

And replace your ten fingers with flaccid baby cocks, Rupert?

Do you have flaccid baby cocks for fingers, Rupert?

Have you even touched this fucking harpsichord a single time

Since I walked out of that door a week ago?

No, I didn't think so...

And THAT'S why you're not playing it very well!

Now, I'm gonna go and use your privy

in the hope that the noise of my intestinal fluctuations are more pleasing

Than whatever the fuck you just tried to fart out of these keys!

Baby cocks for fingers? Yes...

You're gonna run out of students!

Don't worry, everybody in this town wants to learn the violin

Or forte piano or the fucking triangle!

You got a letter... From your father.

It came while you were asleep.

Like an assassin. Mm-hm.

Mm-hm...

Let me see.

Don't worry, it's just his way!

He doesn't deserve you! He DEFINITELY deserves me!

Poor old bastard...

Right, I might be a little bit late this evening.

Mm-hm?

Bring some people back with me, do you mind? No.

Your sister is a great talent! Yes!

I'm sorry, you did want to see me, didn't you?

Yes!

Aloysia said that you... Yes!

I hear your husband lost another pupil.

Yes, he did... Yes.

Well, as luck would have it, a new job has become available.

A ROYAL appointment, actually.

Princess Elizabeth.

A princess? THE princess!

Uh...

Now, tutoring her is a position that will hold significant standing

in the court and beyond.

I mean, he...

He'd be perfect for it! He's a brilliant tutor!

My playing has come on so much and that's just...

I was wondering if you might bring me his manuscripts

so I can properly consider his work, make his case to the emperor.

Yes, of course.

Bring the works to my residence,

newer ones if possible,

and, uh...

I ask that we keep this strictly between us.

Absolutely.

Well, I'll... I'll go and get them right away!

Thank you!

All right!

Sit down!

A young lady is here to see you, sir.

Yes...

Send her in.

Constanze! Herr Salieri!

Come on, please, Antonio!

Help yourself to a treat!

They're from Werner's. My footman gets them.

Do you know Werner's in town? Mm-hm!

Very good bakery!

So, these are his newest works?

All from the last month or so.

All this from the last month?

Or so...!

Do you think I could keep these?

You know, to... To look over.

I don't think that, um...

Well, he doesn't know I've come here and he'll miss them.

He doesn't make copies.

These are originals?

Mm-hm!

Dear God...

Do you mind if I...

No, please!

So, what do you think?

Could you speak to the emperor on his behalf?

Yes, I could speak to the emperor...

Put his name forward.

But know that to do so would be a cost on my part.

It would be a cost.

There are many powerful men

Who could give me something in return for my help.

We don't have anything we could give you.

No...

I thought you wanted to help us. Well, I do.

I do. Of course I do.

But you are a woman...

I am a man.

This is the way of things now.

Is it really so awful, the thought of it?

The idea of it?

Is it so high a price to pay for what I am offering?

You do understand what I am offering?

He must never know.

I am a woman... Like you said.

So, where shall we do it?

Shall we do it here... Or in the bedroom?

You'll have to be delicate, do you understand?

Get dressed!

Why? Have you changed your mind? Get yourself dressed!

The princess...

Yes, I'll speak to the emperor.

Forgive my sinful mind, my temptation.

I walked to the edge but I didn't go over...

I didn't!

You pulled me back and I commend myself to you.

I know your testing me is right.

Perhaps, in your divine wisdom,

you felt you'd given me too much already.

Tarare was a success.

I feel the next one will be too.

And I am grateful... I'm so grateful!

And I commend myself to you...

To purity.

This ends now.

I swear it... I swear it!

"Dear Wolfgang..."

I write to you now as a father,

a position which I understand you are soon to occupy yourself.

I have great concerns about you and much that we need to talk about.

"I wonder if you will now understand this better once..."

He looks like a tomato...!

Has he said anything yet? Um, no...

No!

A very rude chap, very rude!

How was it?

I shit myself!

What are you trying to write? Pardon?

What are you trying to write?

A Mass!

A Mass? Mmm!

Yes, you know... A celebration!

For what?

For becoming a father!

Oh...

And how is that going?

I'm trying to get the baby to sleep! Just leave him alone!

About as well as this fucking Mass!

Why can't you just sit and be still with him?!

"Dear Wolfgang..."

I've concerns about you and much that we need to talk about.

I hear you've been making a spectacle of yourself.

I hear hardly anything of your talent

and I hear even less of your success.

You embarrass our good nature...

A child masquerading as a composer!

Outstanding arrogance to think YOU know better than your own father!

The years your mother and I spent on you...

Trained for so long, so hard! You must listen to me!

Insolent fool... Abject failure... Salvage your reputation!

"Come back to Salzburg! Return home!"

It's marcato!

Hello...

Are you having a nightmare?

Oh...

Let's have a look at you.

I do love you...

I think I do!

I THINK that's what this is...

Do you feel loved?

Hey?

Can I ask you a question?

Would you like me to love you, Raimund?

No, I'm just asking... I'm just asking!

All you do is piss and shit and suck on my wife's tits!

You stole my act!

Why can't I finish your fucking Mass, Raimund?

Yes, well, there we go, a noble attempt, Your Highness!

Um...

Might I suggest... I don't care for it!

I'm sorry?

Music!

Ah...

Yes, I wondered if that might be the problem.

Would you like to, um, sit next to me?

On the stool?

Of course!

OK, so...

The last teacher I had was even younger than you.

He used to, uh...

Rub himself under the clavichord as I played.

Did he? Yes!

He put a finger inside me once.

Then father found out and had his hand cut off.

That was just before I was sent to live here!

Uh...

Shall we, uh...

Start again from the top?

Oh, we can 'start' from whichever end you like,

Herr Mozart.

Very good...

Fucking hell...

OK, Your Highness, whenever you're ready.

I'm just going to, uh...

Watch from over here.

"The years I've spent on the road with you..."

The opportunities I lost, the time I spent...

Come back to Salzburg!

You cannot continue to ignore me, Wolfgang!

"Come back to Salzburg! You must listen to me!"

Fine, if it'll shut you up!

Stanze!

Pack your trunk, we're going away!

Where? Salzburg!

He needs a feed every two hours or so but it's been going down lately.

At night, he usually sleeps quite badly.

He needs his bedclothes cleaned.

Child, I've raised four girls! I think we can look after a baby!

Well, this one has a cock so don't get startled and chop it off by mistake!

We'll write when we get there, don't plan to stay beyond the month! Off we go! Enough faffing!

Bye, Raimund!

Mwah...

Some time, just you and me...

Without the small goat lying between us,

kicking us with its tiny hooves!

It will do us good, I think. Don't talk about him like that.

It was a joke!

'Mozart had taken you, his beautiful wife,

on a sojourn away from the city

and in his absence Vienna was MINE once again!

I released my newest opera,

La scuola de' gelosi,

to great acclaim!'

Constanze...

'It was such a hit, in fact,

That my librettist, Da Ponte, and I even considered a sequel.

The idea was abandoned

but offered to another composer who reworked it into a new piece.

You'll know it by the name Cosi fan tutte.

But then, I try to dwell on such details...

For a while, I revelled in my success and position

as if nothing had ever changed.

Little did I know what was coming...'

This is where you grew up? Mm-hm.

Uh, would, uh, Master Wolfgang care for some supper, perhaps,

or would sir prefer to go straight to his bedchambers?

Straight to the bedchamber, please, Florian.

Very good, sir.

Morning, Florian.

Good morning, Master Wolfgang.

Where is my father? Uh, left early this morning, sir.

Expects to return in a day or two.

You told him that we arrived last night, yes?

Oh, indeed, yes, sir!

Very good...

♪ MINUET IN G MAJOR, KV 1 ♪

First piece I ever wrote.

The piano I wrote it on.

Mmm...

Where's your father?

Gone somewhere for a few days. I don't know.

But he knows we've arrived?

Yes, he does!

Hello! Mmm!

Good to see you. You too.

We're having chicken.

We've been here for three days...

Well, I had business out of town.

Well, you knew we were coming...!

Where's your wife? Getting changed.

Into what?

Is there wine?

You know, I wrote to you for months.

You didn't reply.

I've been busy.

Oh, yes, I hear that... I hear you've been VERY busy!