Amadeus Recap Episode 1: Will Sharpe and Paul Bettany star as Mozart and Salieri in a tale of rivalry and consuming envy

Spoiler Warning: This is a detailed recap of the first episode of Amadeus. Please watch it before reading on.  

‘Music is the closest man gets to conversing with God.’ Antonio Salieri declared to young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as he tried to articulate his difficulties with composing. Salieri believed that composing was divine. He would often pray before facing his piano and beginning his work, begging God to speak through him. Mozart, in contrast, viewed music as mathematical instructions. So, when Mozart preceded the playing of his new composition with a speech claiming that he wrote it at night, as though a voice spoke to him, and only to him, that was a dig at Salieri who was facing the twilight of his talents. It was on that night, Salieri confessed to Mozart’s widow Constanze, years later, as an old man who had just survived a suicide attempt, that he knew he was going to kill Mozart. 

Amadeus is a miniseries adapted by Joe Barton from the 1979 stage play by Peter Shaffer. It is a fictionalised account of the lives of these two famous composers, but even a quick glimpse of their respective biographies would show that Amadeus tantalisingly touched history. Mozart died at the young age of 35. Decades after his death came rumours that he was poisoned by Salieri. Alexander Pushkin wrote the play Mozart and Salieri a few years after Salieri’s death as a study of envy; this became the inspiration for Peter Shaffer’s work, upon which this miniseries was based (also, the Oscar-winning 1984 film by Miloš Forman).

The episode was mostly set in 1781 Vienna, 10 years before Mozart’s death. Defying his father’s clear and frequently expressed wishes, he left his post with the Archbishop of Salzburg and moved to Vienna, intent on writing for the Imperial Opera. At a party thrown by a Baroness where Mozart was the surprise guest, he met Court Composer Salieri, whom he begged to get him one meeting with the emperor Joseph II (Rory Kinnear). Salieri mentioned a duel with Clementi that the emperor himself would judge, but it would happen in less than a week. There was no time to prepare. Mozart, confident in his skills, did not even consider the possibility that he would play badly.

Salieri, of course, had heard of Mozart, the genius who as a child had gone on grand tours to showcase his talent. He first saw Mozart at the treat room, where he and opera singer Katerina Cavalieri went in for a quick sexual encounter. When Mozart played, he was impressed. ‘This repulsive creature played so exquisitely.’

At the duel with Clementi, Mozart was clearly the better musician. He also unknowingly insulted Salieri when he turned his nose up at a sheet music Salieri composed and asked the emperor if he could change it. He was furious that the emperor declared a tie, but Salieri consoled him – the prize was not the money, it was the emperor’s favour. The emperor liked him and he commissioned an opera from him. 

Mozart waltzed into the meeting with the emperor and his men with his ideas already set. The opera was to be in German rather than Italian, and that it would take place in a harem. He assured the emperor there would be no inappropriateness. Despite the misgivings of his advisors, the emperor agreed to give the opera a short run. This, after he had refused Salieri’s new opera and forced him to re-do his French opera Tarare into Italian. 

Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio was a triumph. The emperor was pleased, but he just had to give criticism. He said it had too many notes. When he turned to Salieri, the Court Composer had no choice but to agree. Mozart did not take the criticism well; he asked the emperor which notes were to be removed. The emperor ignored the question and got the crowd to give Mozart another round of applause.

Mozart was furious at Salieri, who tried to explain that that was politics, he could not disagree with the emperor in public. Mozart refused to accept that and spoke harshly, hitting Salieri where he knew it would hurt – on the opera he was forced to re-do, on feeling that God was not speaking to him. Mozart followed that up a month later with what Salieri called the final insult, the one that pushed him to kill the young man.

Outside of the music and Paul Bettany’s committed performance, the first episode of Amadeus was just… okay. I didn’t dislike it (much), but it was also not something I would bring up in the inevitable TV discussion amongst friends. But, I’ve only seen the first episode as of this writing. The last Joe Barton work I watched was Black Doves; I thought the first episode was only okay, too, but I ended up loving the show once I finished it. Perhaps a series featuring Mozart's wondrous music would soar eventually. I say, let’s give this a chance.

Rating: B  

Strays

🎵Mozart connected with one of his landlady’s daughters, Constanze. There was a fun little detail of the two of them both not liking Salieri’s Armida. Later, Salieri alluded to Armida as one of his finer works. 

🎵Constanze scolded Mozart for self-sabotaging when he came home drunk about an hour before his duel with Clementi. During the duel itself, Clementi could be seen sweating whilst Mozart was just having fun, even playing blindfolded at one point.

🎵Constanze’s mother warned Mozart that she would not have her girls’ reputation damaged, and threatened to throw him out and chop up his instruments.

🎵Mozart named the main female character in his opera Constanze.

🎵The first episode ended with A Little Night Music. 

Episode Writer: Joe Barton

Episode Director: Julian Farino

Initial Air Date: December 21, 2025

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