SALIERI, ANTONIO

born Aug. 18, 1750, Legnago, Republic of Venice died May 7, 1825, Vienna, Austria Italian composer whose operas were acclaimed throughout Europe in the late 18th century. At the age of 16, Salieri was taken to Vienna by F.L. Gassmann, the imperial court composer and music director (Hofkapellmeister), and was introduced to Emperor Joseph II. Salieri's first opera, Le donne letterate, was produced at the Burgtheater in Vienna in 1770. Four years later the emperor made him the court composer, and in 1788 he became Hofkapellmeister, a position Salieri held for 36 years. During his official career he composed operas not only for theatres in Austria but also for companies in France and Italy. His best-known work was the French opera Tarare (1787), translated into Italian as Axur, re d'Ormus, which the Viennese public preferred to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni. Salieri's last opera was performed in 1804, and he then devoted himself to composing sacred music. Throughout his life Salieri remained friendly with Joseph Haydn and with Ludwig van Beethoven, whom he had given lessons in counterpoint and who dedicated the Three Violin Sonatas, Op. 12 (1797), to him. Salieri's relationship with Mozart has been the subject of much speculation. There is, however, little evidence for Salieri's supposed intrigues and damaging remarks against Mozart; indeed, Mozart himself commented in a letter on Salieri's favourable reception of The Magic Flute. There is also no foundation for the belief that Salieri tried to poison Mozarta legend that was the basis of Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov's opera Mozart et Salieri (1898). The relationship between the two composers received further speculative treatment in Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus (1979; filmed 1984).