Salieri has developed a habit of stealing Mozart’s scores. He looks at them in private, then puts them back the next day. One night Salieri attends an underground party and watches as Mozart ties up a woman. He feels a deep charge of erotic energy; he can’t sleep. Mozart confronts Salieri about the score-stealing, teasing. One night, Salieri returns to the club, now looking for Mozart. Mozart blindfolds him and ties him up. They have sex. Mozart praises Salieri’s music. Salieri finally comes to peace with his feelings of musical inferiority. Mozart smells spicy, Salieri’s perfume is mint.


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… has been an editor at VAN since 2015. He’s the author of The Life and Music of Gérard Grisey: Delirium and Form (Boydell & Brewer), and his journalism has appeared in The Baffler, the New York...