Richard Frank Quotes

Old Salieri Can you recall no melody of mine? I was the most famous composer in Europe. I wrote forty operas alone. Here, what about this one?

Father Vogler Yes, I know that! Oh, that's charming! I'm sorry, I didn't know you wrote that.

Old Salieri I didn't. That was Mozart. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Father Vogel The man you accuse yourself of killing.

Old Salieri Leave me alone.

Father Vogler I cannot leave alone a soul in pain.

Old Salieri Do you know who I am?

Father Vogler That makes no difference. All men are equal in God's eyes.

Old Salieri Are they?

Old Salieri My plan was so simple. It terrified me. First I must get the death mass and then, I must achieve his death.

Father Vogler What?

Old Salieri His funeral! Imagine it, the cathedral, all Vienna sitting there, his coffin, Mozart's little coffin in the middle, and then, in that silence, music! A divine music bursts out over them all. A great mass of death! Requiem mass for Wolfgang Mozart, composed by his devoted friend, Antonio Salieri! Oh what sublimity, what depth, what passion in the music! Salieri has been touched by God at last. And God is forced to listen! Powerless, powerless to stop it! I, for once in the end, laughing at Him! The only thing that worried me was the actual killing. How does one do that? Hmmm? How does one kill a man? It's one thing to dream about it; very different when, when you, when you have to do it...with your own hands.