Even if theism is a failure, it's still superior to atheism

[Jehanne]

And even that doesn't guarantee anything.



After all is said and done, Salieri put his trust in the Justice of a supreme being to help create beautiful music, and his name survives only as a mediocrity with a non-existent rivalry against a much more gifted composer. And whether or not God is real, or whether or not Mozart was all that devout, his immortality project has succeeded wildly.

In all fairness to Saleri, his music is still performed and he has had a viable (yet small, as compared to Mozart) following long before Amadeus.  Most composers' music dies with them, and so, Saleri's compositions are, by any standard, still a "hit".  Even though they were only a one-hit wonder, Katrina & The Waves will be remembered long after their bodies have decomposed.