Antonio Salieri

Vienna's musical scene felt the profound influence of Salieri across many decades. He worked in the city for fifty years as composer and conductor, among them thirty-six spent as court Kapellmeister. Trained by Gassmann, the mentor whose post he later assumed, Salieri counted Gluck among his close friends and supporters while also knowing Metastasio and the youthful Mozart. His formidable skill in the classroom drew students that included Schubert, Liszt, and Beethoven. Operas secured his reputation, works that held sway over Vienna for a stretch and likewise dominated Paris across four years, a period that yielded three pivotal scores highlighted by “Tarare,” his most significant opera. Staged in 1787, that piece confirmed Salieri as Gluck’s successor. Italian opera activity ended for him by 1790, after which he concentrated on teaching and on pieces such as oratorios, cantatas, arias, vocal ensembles, and orchestral and chamber music. Demonstrative melodies supported by forceful choral writing characterize his forty Italian operas. He entered the field already working in a dated manner, one that only grew more antiquated with time.