On a November night in 1823 a distracted old man offers from his window an appalling confession to the city of Vienna: “Forgive me, Mozart. Forgive your assassin.” Moments later he attempts suicide, and is rushed through the snowy streets to the General Infirmary, a grim building containing all manner of sick and desperate patients. Some weeks afterwards, confined in a private room, the Hospital Chaplain, Father Vogler, visits him. While obviously contemptuous of the priest, the old man is drawn to confess to him. His story, told throughout one night, forms the substance of the film.
The old man is Antonio Salieri, once the most famous musician in Vienna. A small town Italian lad from Legnago, he worked his way up to becoming Court Composer to Emperor Joseph II, brother of Marie Antoinette and lover, in a limited way, of music. All his early life Salieri had been possessed by one driving desire: to serve God through music. As a boy he made a solemn vow to Him in Church, offering his chastity, his unremitting industry, and his deepest humility if God in His turn will grant him musical excellence as a composer, and immortal fame for its exercise.
At first it seems to Salieri that his offer has been accepted. He goes to Vienna and rapidly becomes the most successful musician in that city of musicians and is accepted as Court Composer. Then in 1781 a young man arrives and changes everything forever - WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART. Already famous as a prodigy at the age of six, Mozart was toured throughout Europe by his dominating father Leopold, showing off musical tricks for the amusement of the aristocracy. Now at age 26, the young man is far more than a performing monkey. He has become a composer, eager to show off his abilities. Salieri hears that Mozart is to give a concert of his music at the residence of his employer the Archbishop of Salzburg, and hurries there to hear it. That night changes his life.
Before the concert starts the Court Composer strolls through the throng of fashionable guests, striving to guess which one can be Mozart. Trays of pastries being carried by servants to the buffet suddenly distract his eye. He follows them, eager to steal a little private refreshment—he is possessed of an Italian sweet tooth—but instead encounters a giggling couple playing together on the floor like children, and rather dirty-minded children at that.