Antonio Salieri (August 18, 1750 - May 7, 1825),
born in Legnano, Italy, near the Austrian dukedom of Mantua, was a composer and
conductor who received considerable public acclaim in his day. He studied violin
and harpsichord with his brother Francesco, who was a student of Giuseppe
Tartini. After the death of his parents, he moved to Padua, then to Venice,
where he studied thoroughbass with Giovanni Pescetti. In 1766 Salieri met
Florian Leopold Gassmann, who invited him to attend the court of Vienna and
there trained him in composition based on Fux's Gradus ad Parnassus. He remained
in Vienna for the remainder of his life, and in 1774, when Gassmann died,
Salieri was appointed the court composer by Emperor Joseph II, and Imperial
Royal Kapellmeister in 1788.
During his time in Vienna he acquired great
prestige as a composer and conductor, particularly of opera, and also of chamber
and sacred music. The most successful of his 43 operas were Les Danaпdes (1784),
which was first presented as work of Gluck's, and Tarare (1787). He wrote
comparatively little instrumental music, including just two piano concerti
written in 1773.
He attained an elevated social standing, and frequently
associated with other celebrated composers such as Joseph Haydn. As children,
Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt all benefitted from his tutelage. He also taught
Czerny, Hummel and a son of Mozart's.
Antonio Salieri is buried in the
Zentralfriedhof in Vienna, Austria.
Allegations by Mozart In Vienna in
the 1790s, Mozart accused Salieri of plagiarism and of attempting to murder him
with poison. As Mozart's music became more popular over the decades and
Salieri's music was forgotten, Mozart's unsubstantiated allegations gained
credence and tarnished Salieri's reputation.
The biographer Alexander
Wheelock Thayer believes that Mozart's suspicions of Salieri could have
originated with an incident in 1781 when Mozart applied to be the music teacher
of the Princess of Wьrttemberg, and Salieri was selected instead, and the
following year Mozart was not selected to be the Princess's piano teacher
either.
Later on, when Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro was not liked by
either the Emperor Joseph II nor by the public, Mozart blamed Salieri for the
failure. "Salieri and his tribe will move heaven and earth to put it [Figaro]
down," wrote Leopold Mozart. But at the time of the premiere of Figaro, Salieri
was busy in France with his own operas. Thayer believes that the intrigues
surrounding the failure of Figaro were instigated by the poet Abbate Casti
against the Court Poet, Da Ponte, who wrote the Figaro libretto.
Later
on, when Da Ponte was in Prague preparing the production of Mozart's setting of
his Don Giovanni, the poet was ordered back to Vienna for a royal wedding for
which Salieri's Axur would be performed. Obviously, Mozart was not pleased by
this.
And yet Salieri did not intend to hinder Mozart's career. When
Salieri was appointed Kapellmeister in 1788, instead of bringing out an opera of
his own, he revived Figaro.
When in his later years, Salieri's health
declined and he was hospitalized, there were rumors that Salieri confessed to
Mozart's murder. Salieri's two nurses attested that Salieri said no such thing
and that at least one of the two of them was with Salieri during his hospital
stay.
After Salieri's death, the opera by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Mozart
et Salieri (1898) started a tradition of dramatic license crossing into slander
based on Mozart's allegations, continued by the play by Peter Shaffer, Amadeus
(1979; and the Oscar winning original film based on the play, released in 1984,
and "Director's Cut" was released on 2001 with an additional 20 minutes of
footage).
In addition to the false allegations of murder, the movie also
hurts Salieri's reputation by falsely portraying him as a mediocre composer and
as a blasphemer burning a crucifix. His talent is patent throughout his works,
and his religious devotion is undisputed by his biographers.Antonio Salieri (August 18, 1750 - May 7, 1825),
born in Legnano, Italy, near the Austrian dukedom of Mantua, was a composer and
conductor who received considerable public acclaim in his day. He studied violin
and harpsichord with his brother Francesco, who was a student of Giuseppe
Tartini. After the death of his parents, he moved to Padua, then to Venice,
where he studied thoroughbass with Giovanni Pescetti. In 1766 Salieri met
Florian Leopold Gassmann, who invited him to attend the court of Vienna and
there trained him in composition based on Fux's Gradus ad Parnassus. He remained
in Vienna for the remainder of his life, and in 1774, when Gassmann died,
Salieri was appointed the court composer by Emperor Joseph II, and Imperial
Royal Kapellmeister in 1788.
During his time in Vienna he acquired great
prestige as a composer and conductor, particularly of opera, and also of chamber
and sacred music. The most successful of his 43 operas were Les Danaпdes (1784),
which was first presented as work of Gluck's, and Tarare (1787). He wrote
comparatively little instrumental music, including just two piano concerti
written in 1773.
He attained an elevated social standing, and frequently
associated with other celebrated composers such as Joseph Haydn. As children,
Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt all benefitted from his tutelage. He also taught
Czerny, Hummel and a son of Mozart's.
Antonio Salieri is buried in the
Zentralfriedhof in Vienna, Austria.
Allegations by Mozart In Vienna in
the 1790s, Mozart accused Salieri of plagiarism and of attempting to murder him
with poison. As Mozart's music became more popular over the decades and
Salieri's music was forgotten, Mozart's unsubstantiated allegations gained
credence and tarnished Salieri's reputation.
The biographer Alexander
Wheelock Thayer believes that Mozart's suspicions of Salieri could have
originated with an incident in 1781 when Mozart applied to be the music teacher
of the Princess of Wьrttemberg, and Salieri was selected instead, and the
following year Mozart was not selected to be the Princess's piano teacher
either.
Later on, when Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro was not liked by
either the Emperor Joseph II nor by the public, Mozart blamed Salieri for the
failure. "Salieri and his tribe will move heaven and earth to put it [Figaro]
down," wrote Leopold Mozart. But at the time of the premiere of Figaro, Salieri
was busy in France with his own operas. Thayer believes that the intrigues
surrounding the failure of Figaro were instigated by the poet Abbate Casti
against the Court Poet, Da Ponte, who wrote the Figaro libretto.
Later
on, when Da Ponte was in Prague preparing the production of Mozart's setting of
his Don Giovanni, the poet was ordered back to Vienna for a royal wedding for
which Salieri's Axur would be performed. Obviously, Mozart was not pleased by
this.
And yet Salieri did not intend to hinder Mozart's career. When
Salieri was appointed Kapellmeister in 1788, instead of bringing out an opera of
his own, he revived Figaro.
When in his later years, Salieri's health
declined and he was hospitalized, there were rumors that Salieri confessed to
Mozart's murder. Salieri's two nurses attested that Salieri said no such thing
and that at least one of the two of them was with Salieri during his hospital
stay.
After Salieri's death, the opera by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Mozart
et Salieri (1898) started a tradition of dramatic license crossing into slander
based on Mozart's allegations, continued by the play by Peter Shaffer, Amadeus
(1979; and the Oscar winning original film based on the play, released in 1984,
and "Director's Cut" was released on 2001 with an additional 20 minutes of
footage).
In addition to the false allegations of murder, the movie also
hurts Salieri's reputation by falsely portraying him as a mediocre composer and
as a blasphemer burning a crucifix. His talent is patent throughout his works,
and his religious devotion is undisputed by his biographers.