Salieri is in his study contemplating the muse who compels him to create music but denies him the title “genius” and dismisses his struggle to achieve fame. He envies the great musicians and laments that fate passes over hard work, passion, and sacrifice to vest genius in a crass and vulgar wastrel such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. His musings are interrupted by singers who arrive to audition for his opera, The School of Jealousy” but the distraction further depresses him when they all want to sing Mozart’s arias. At the conclusion of the auditions, Mozart himself visits and Salieri invites him to dine. As Mozart leaves to send word to his wife, Salieri resolves to murder him and rid the world of genius that distracts from mediocrity. The table is set. Mozart is troubled by a mysterious stranger in black who has commissioned a requiem. The image haunts him. Salieri quotes his friend, Beaumarchais, to the effect that champagne can clear away a black mood. Mozart asks if it is true that Beaumarchais once poisoned a man, suggesting that genius and villainy cannot coexist in the same person. Salieri pours poison into Mozart’s glass and proposes a toast. Mozart begins to describe the requiem he is writing. It is so vivid that Salieri can hear it and begins to weep for the beauty of it. Salieri begs him to continue but Mozart is feeling ill and decides to go home to sleep. Salieri bids him sleep long and is left alone to contemplate whether he is a genius or just a villain.