Mozart and Salieri

Before you is a “small tragedy,” as the author himself described it. The play is short, consists of two acts, and features only three characters. Originally, the work was titled “Envy.” That feeling lies at the heart of the tragedy described in the play. Ever since school it has been considered that the talented Salieri envies the genius Mozart. How fair is this premise? One could argue. To many who encounter this work not in school years, the conflict seems far more complex. For example, there is an opinion that A. Pushkin portrayed a worldview problem of Salieri—someone used to working and seeing creativity as the result of labor. When he sees a genius who achieves everything without particular effort, Salieri’s entire picture of the world collapses. And he tries to defend himself from it in his own way…

Are genius and villainy compatible? For A. Pushkin, that was not a question. His conclusion is unequivocal: a person who relies only on himself, seized by ambitions, afraid of competition, and taking upon himself the right to judge, cannot be a genius. For A. Pushkin, genius is associated with ease, light, simplicity—and it is not something humans have power over.