Classics of Russian Literature | A Poet Contrasts Talent versus Mediocrity (Lecture 6)

Lecture 6: Pushkin was well aware, perhaps even immodestly so, of his extraordinary gifts; he often contrasted and compared them with the talents of other artists. In his earlier writings, he turned to Mozart: a genius, like Pushkin, who was often able spontaneously, without extensive labors or revisions, to pour out his talent in written notes, producing marvelous melodies and rhythms. Antonio Salieri, by contrast, labored within all the rules of harmony. The result was a clash of temperaments, which led, as legend had it, to Salieri’s murder of Mozart, “for the good of music” no less! Pushkin’s short drama Mozart and Salieri echoes that legend, as does Peter Shaffer’s play and film Amadeus. Later in his career, Pushkin looked with admiration at the great Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz. The result was a brilliant novella, Egyptian Nights, in which a character, in many ways like Pushkin himself, was the lesser talent, looking on as the gifted foreign improviser worked his magic on the glitterati of St. Petersburg.

Suggested Reading:
Aleksandr Pushkin, Egyptian Nights.
Aleksandr Pushkin, Mozart and Salieri.
Aleksandr Pushkin, The Complete Prose Fiction, translation and commentary by Paul Debreczeny.
Aleksandr Pushkin, The Poems, Prose, and Plays of Alexander Pushkin, edited by Avrahm Yarmolinsky.
Peter Shaffer, Amadeus, a play and a film.