It might seem to be about two 18th century Vienna composers, but Peter Shaffer’s masterful 1979 play “Amadeus,” which opened Sunday night at the Steppenwolf Theatre, is really a play about the late-in-life problem of how to deal with the pesky emergence of those younger and more talented than you.

You might be writing music at the court of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, or you might play for the Chicago Bears or work in private equity. It doesn’t matter. As you age, you’ll see youthful geniuses arrive to threaten your position.

You’ll see their inevitable early crudeness and lack of sophistication. But — here is the paradox on which Shaffer homed in, nearly 50 years ago now — if you are good at what you do, especially if you are very good at what you do, you also will immediately recogn

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