ANTONIO

See also:

• ANTONIO SALIERI (1750-1825)

SALIERI (1750-1825)  , Italian composer, was born at Legnano, on the 19th of August 1750 . His father was a merchant who died a bankrupt . Through the family of Mocenigo he obtained free admission to the choir school of St Mark's, Venice . In 1766 he was taken to Vienna by F . L . Gassmann, who introduced him to the emperor Joseph . His first opera, Le Donne letterate, was produced at the Burg-Theater in 177o . Others followed in rapid succession, and his Amides (1771) was a triumphant success . On Gassmann's death in 1774, he became Kapellmeister and, on the death of Benno in 1788, Hofkapellmeister . He held his offices for fifty years, though he made frequent visits to Italy and Paris, and composed music for many European theatres . His chef d'oeuvre was literate (afterwards called Axur, re d'Ormus), a work which was preferred by the public of Vienna to Mozart's Don Giovanni . It was first produced at Vienna on the 8th of June 1787, and was revived at Leipzig in 1846, though only for a single representation .

His last opera was

Die Neger, produced in 1804 . After this he devoted himself to the composition of church music, for which he had a very decided talent . Salieri lived on friendly terms with Haydn, but was a bitter enemy to Mozart, whose death he was suspected of having produced by poison; but no evidence was ever forthcoming to give colour to the accusation . He retired from office on his full salary in 1824, and died at Vienna on the 7th of May 1825 . Salieri gave lessons in composition to Cherubini and to Beethoven, who dedicated to him his " Three Sonatas for Pianoforte and Violin," Op . I2 . See also Albert von Hermann, Antonio Salieri, eine Studie (1897) ; J . F . Edler von Mosel, Uber das Leben and die Werke des Antonio Salieri (Vienna, 1827) .