Act 2, Part 4 Summary

Salieri (accompanied by the Venticelli) meets Mozart and Constanze on the street. The couple wear shabbier clothes, and Constanze is obviously pregnant. Mozart congratulates Salieri on his new position; Salieri congratulates Mozart on the new baby. When Salieri asks about Mozart's health, Mozart tells him the stomach pains are continuing and that he can't sleep at night because he has bad dreams of a figure "cloaked in gray" beckoning to him. Constanze tells Salieri that she never dreams, "things are unpleasant enough … awake," and suggests that if Mozart had "proper work he might dream less." Mozart is embarrassed, and quickly hurries off with her. The Venticelli comment that Mozart is growing "freakish," tell Salieri that Mozart and Constanze have moved into an even more slummy section of Vienna, and reveal that not only is Mozart making no money at all apart...