Biography
Antonio Salieri, born in August 18, 1750 and died on May 7, 1825, was a
Classical-era composer, teacher, and conductor who was probably most famous for
his operas. He began his musical education with his older brother Francesco
Salieri, and later he became a pupil under Giuseppe Simoni, an organist at the
Legnago Cathedral.
After a series of events, including the death of both his
parents, Salieri moved to Venice under the wardenship of the Venetian nobleman
Giovanni Mocenigo. At this point, Salieri's musical career began to take off.
Florian Leopold Gassmann, a well-known composer, took note of Salieri's musical
abilities. Taking pity on the poor Salieri, he decided to emotionally and financially
support Salieri for the remainder of
Salieri's musical education.
Salieri, who would later write operas in three languages: Latin, Italian, and German, took up his studies at the Italian Church in 1766. This left a deep impression, and many of his later works would have religious meanings. His musical education consisted of training in counterpoint and harmony, and theory in vocal composition. Salieri was lucky because he was introduced to the emperor at such an early stage in his musical career. Gassman often brought Salieri to Emperor Joseph II of Austria's evening meals and listened to the daily chamber music performances. Joseph was impressed by Salieri's abilities and a lasting relationship began between the two until 1790.
Operatic Career
After years of education, Salieri was finally ready to make his debut. In the
winter of 1770, Le donne letterate, his first opera, was performed. The
opera was met with moderate success and was followed by L'amore innocente
and Don Chisciotte alle nozze di Gamace. Both of these were experiments
in opera buffa and ballet with a little opera seria.
However, his first success occurred when he created a complete serious opera:
Armida, which premiered in 1771. Soon after many operas followed, and Salieri's 34-year
career in opera took off. He toured with an Italian opera company until it collapsed after the
popularity of Italian opera decreased and Emperor Joseph II decided that German singspiels were
better for national identity.
In 1788, Salieri decided to return to Vienna and became the Kapellmeister of the Imperial Chapel. He continued writing operas, but began declining in popularity after the death of Emperor Joseph II. Unfortunately, at this point Salieri was writing operas with political overtones and satire, and the new leadership at Vienna was not wholly approving of these operas. In 1792, no longer funded by the court and unsure of where he stood in the Holy Roman Emperor's rankings, Salieri retired as the director of Italian opera. After moving away from opera, Salieri realized that musical tastes changed and it was getting hard for him to keep up. Instead of continuing operas, he decided to return to his religious childhood and created a large amount of sacred pieces and choral works.
This was a period of hardship; he lost his only son in 1805 and his wife in 1807. Finally, near the end of his life, Salieri decided to take in students. Most of the time they were not charged, save for the wealthy students, in memory of Gassmann who had taken Salieri in without any charge. Many of his students went on to become famous musicians and singers. He was not in good health, and suffered from dementia before he died in 1825. His own Requiem in C minor (which was composed in 1804), was performed for the first time at his funeral.