In our music appreciation class, we saw the move Amadeus; which apparently tells the story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. While this movie had some factual background, there were also many parts which were thought to be pure fiction, to add excitement and drama to the movie. The first point we can make is the relationship between Mozart and Salieri. In the movie, it depicts the two men being rivals, both being composers of their time. It shows them confronting eachother often, and depicts Salieri even helping Mozart write his final piece of music, titled Requiem Mass in D minor. As facts show, Salieri and Mozart may have never even spoken. But this is one point that cannot be proven. The other facts and fictions will be written in a neat chart.
FACT:
1. Mozart actually did not get along with the Archbishop of Salzburg. The Archbishop heavily disliked Mozart, and eventually dismissed him.
2. Mozart loved billiards. In the movie there are many instances where he is playing or writing music at his billiards table.
3. Mozart was buried in a common grave.
4. Salieri and his co-workers did work secretly to make Le Nozze di Figaro a failure. But the emperor ended up finding out, and had the piece restored to it's original form. Which turned out to be a huge success.
5. Mozart was broke at the end of his life.
6. Mozart's father never actually approved of Mozart's marriage.
7. Mozart was said to have had tourettes syndrome, which would lead to his compulsive swearing.
FICTION:
1. Amadeus showed Mozart to be a heavy drinker, especially towards the end of his life. In reality, while Mozart did enjoy drinking, he rarely consumed alcohol. Mozart's favorite drink was punch, which he drank in large quantities.
2. In the movie, it showed Mozart die with his eyes open. But in actuality, it is said that he slipped into unconsciousness and never awoke, which would lead to him dying with his eyes closed.
3. Salieri was not with Mozart when he died. The people present were Constanze, her sister, and a doctor.
4. Mozart didn't just have one child; he had six.
5. Constanze, Mozart's wife, did not attend Mozart's funeral. It was held two days after his death, and she was too distraught.
6. Salieri was not the man behind the mask who asked Mozart to write the Requiem. It was actually the servant of a rich man who planned to claim to have written the Requiem.
7. Salieri is confessing to murdering Mozart by poisoning him. It was a rumor during the 1820s, but was never proven. Mozart was said to have died from a fever.
http://www.moviemistakes.com/film1755/corrections
http://mozartsmusic.blogspot.com/2011/05/amadeus-fact-and-fiction.html
www.jimloy.com/movie/amadeus.htmhttp://
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
This!... Is!.. KOLKATA!
The Black Hole of Kolkata was a pretty shady place. It's where they placed prisoners that did not deserve to live. It's where they left mortal souls to suffer. It was feared by the masses.
The name "Kolkatā" (and the anglicised name "Calcutta") has its roots in Kalikatā, one of the three villages (Kalikatā, Sutanuti, Govindapur) that existed in the area before the city was established by the British. "Kalikata", in turn, is believed to be a version of Kalikshetra (Bengali: কালীক্ষেত্র, Kalikkhetro) literally meaning "Land of [the goddess] Kāli". And as we all know, goddesses are always evil. Because they are women. But anyway, the Black Hole of Calcutta was a dark place where many dark and evil activites took place. For example people that got stuck in it had to wash dirty clothes and drink lava from the same cup. As the group of people who survived described, there were camels with eights bumps on the back and with every bump they could carry three and a half people by the left leg. If they refused to be carried the camel would bite their left leg and carry them by left hand. Camels would stop every five minutes and asked them if they could move their body, just to check if they are still in the bumps. In the famous square-town the prisoners had to stab stone monuments. Were they given a chisel and hammer? No. They received plastic butter knives. If one was to break their butter knife, the camels would once again return. Darn those camels, with their eight humps large enough to fit three people into. After stabbing the stone monuments, the prisoners of Calcutta would have to eat TACKS. But just not any tacks.. Rusty tacks dipped in demon blood. We suspect the demon to look a little something like this:
The demon goes by the name of Ktulu. He was a product of the BP Oil Spill of ancient times. The spill had opened up another dimension, allowing Ktulu to roam freely right to Calcutta. The great demon terrorized the prisoners. He'd put them into laundry detergent and give them a lovely flower scent. No prisoner enjoys smelling like flowers. But as was said in the above paragraphs; some prisoners survived these torturous activities, and lived to tell the tale.
Just kidding! The above entry was entirely fictional. We're sorry to disappoint. As dark and evil as it may sound, the Black Hole of Calcutta was actually just a small room where troops of the Nawab of Bengal held British prisoners of war. It was not just a room, though. It was a tiny room, where they crammed roughly 150 people. Most of them died from exhaustion and dehydration, although some of them did live and are not still alive today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hole_of_Calcutta
The name "Kolkatā" (and the anglicised name "Calcutta") has its roots in Kalikatā, one of the three villages (Kalikatā, Sutanuti, Govindapur) that existed in the area before the city was established by the British. "Kalikata", in turn, is believed to be a version of Kalikshetra (Bengali: কালীক্ষেত্র, Kalikkhetro) literally meaning "Land of [the goddess] Kāli". And as we all know, goddesses are always evil. Because they are women. But anyway, the Black Hole of Calcutta was a dark place where many dark and evil activites took place. For example people that got stuck in it had to wash dirty clothes and drink lava from the same cup. As the group of people who survived described, there were camels with eights bumps on the back and with every bump they could carry three and a half people by the left leg. If they refused to be carried the camel would bite their left leg and carry them by left hand. Camels would stop every five minutes and asked them if they could move their body, just to check if they are still in the bumps. In the famous square-town the prisoners had to stab stone monuments. Were they given a chisel and hammer? No. They received plastic butter knives. If one was to break their butter knife, the camels would once again return. Darn those camels, with their eight humps large enough to fit three people into. After stabbing the stone monuments, the prisoners of Calcutta would have to eat TACKS. But just not any tacks.. Rusty tacks dipped in demon blood. We suspect the demon to look a little something like this:
The demon goes by the name of Ktulu. He was a product of the BP Oil Spill of ancient times. The spill had opened up another dimension, allowing Ktulu to roam freely right to Calcutta. The great demon terrorized the prisoners. He'd put them into laundry detergent and give them a lovely flower scent. No prisoner enjoys smelling like flowers. But as was said in the above paragraphs; some prisoners survived these torturous activities, and lived to tell the tale.
Just kidding! The above entry was entirely fictional. We're sorry to disappoint. As dark and evil as it may sound, the Black Hole of Calcutta was actually just a small room where troops of the Nawab of Bengal held British prisoners of war. It was not just a room, though. It was a tiny room, where they crammed roughly 150 people. Most of them died from exhaustion and dehydration, although some of them did live and are not still alive today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hole_of_Calcutta
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