The real star of ‘Amadeus’: the music of Mozart

“Amadeus” centers on the rivalry between Vienna court composer Antonio Salieri and the young upstart Wolfgang Mozart. Though the film, based on Peter Shaffer’s play, won eight Oscars, the real star is Mozart’s music. F. Murray Abraham, who plays Salieri and won the best actor Oscar, says, “I knew that the central character was neither Mozart nor Salieri. It was the music. And that really sustains the film.” 

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Constantine Kitsopoulos, will present four performances of Amadeus Live on Oct. 13-16. (Two concerts are part of the CSO at the Movies series.)

The soundtrack, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner, leading the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, features some of the most famous opera stars of the ’80s, including June Anderson, Karita Mattila, Samuel Ramey and Kiri Te Kanawa. It also was a popular success, rising to No. 56 on Billboard’s Top 200 albums chart — an amazing feat for a classical-music disc (it went to No. 1 on Billboard’s classical-albums tally). 

When composer Maurice Jarre accepted the Oscar for best original score for “A Passage to India” (1984), he gave thanks that “Amadeus” was not nominated in the same category.