How not to handle jealousy

Rating: Null/10 (3 March 2000)

To me, the main theme is how someone with limited talent deals with someone else who is more talented. Salieri is a popular mainstream composer, with a good income and power in the Viennese musical establishment.
The difference between Mozart and Salieri becomes apparent at their first actual meeting. Salieri worked very hard at a small piece with which to welcome Mozart. Mozart hears it played once, very badly, and is able to reproduce it accurately and to improvise a continuation, discard it, and improvise a better continuation. (The actual piece is a march from Mozart's opera "Idomeneo" -- and is used in Stanley Kubrick's "Barry Lyndon")
Salieri is immediately struck with jealousy -- how dare God give such talent to "that dirty-minded creature". He works to put down Mozart, with considerable success. His jealousy rules his life, and leads to his madness.