In a play about this profession, which is held by Adrian Leverkuhn, Salieri slits his own throat after claiming that he poisoned the title character.
Zakrevsky arrests and interrogates a man with this profession about "the plot against Comrade Stalin" before himself being taken away by the secret police in Julian Barnes' The Noise of Time. A character with this profession tries to renounce love while working on "The Apocalypse with Figures" and believes he has made a demonic deal when he contracts syphilis from Esmeralda. This profession is held by a narrator who renounces (*) God due to the creative genius of his obnoxious nemesis. In a play about this profession, which is held by Adrian Leverkuhn, Salieri slits his own throat after claiming that he poisoned the title character. For 10 points, give this profession central to Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus and Peter Shaffer's Amadeus. 
Zakrevsky arrests and interrogates a man with this profession about "the plot against Comrade Stalin" before himself being taken away by the secret police in Julian Barnes' The Noise of Time.
composer [prompt on musician] 