Biography

Antonio Salieri was born in 1750 into a prosperous Italian family of merchants. He studied harpsichord and violin from an early age, and after the death of his parents, continued his music studies in Venice. His talent was noticed by Viennise composer Florian Grassman, who invited him to Vienna, where Salieri remained for the rest of his life. Salieri was only 24 when Emperor Joseph II appointed him the court composer in 1774. The same year he met his wife, Therese von Helfersdorfer, and they went on having eight children.

Salieri held the post of Imperial Royal Kapellmeister from 1788-1824 and also was elected the president of the society of musical artists in Vienna. He wrote 43 Italian-style operas, ballet music, orchestral music including a Birthday Symphony, 2 piano concertos, cantatas, arias, and sacred music. His operas were successful in Paris and Vienna and earned him European recognition as a composer and conductor. Salieri's elevated social standing in Vienna was equal to his celebrity status as a musical artist. He was a teacher of many composers, including Ludwig van Beethoven, Carl Czerny, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Franz Schubert, and Franz Liszt. Salieri also taught Mozart's son, Franz Xaver. Salieri promoted and conducted Mozart's symphony in G minor in 1791.

There is too little factual evidence of any treacherous activity against Mozart. There are also no facts in support of the charges of poisoning. In 1771 Mozart lost a job to Salieri, who was preferred by the Princess of Wurtemberg for having a good reputation as a teacher. A year later Mozart once again failed to be hired as the Princess's music teacher. Also Mozart blamed Salieri for the failure of his opera premiere. Mozart's father, Leopold, wrote,-"Salieri and his tribe will move heaven and earth to put it down". Poet Aleksandr Pushkin dramatized the subject in his play "Mozart and Salieri" (1830). There was also the eponymous opera by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov that initiated a trend of exaggerating a rivalry that was actually provoked by Mozart's whining. Respectfully, Miloš Forman expressed the fictional nature of his Amadeus (1984), based on the play by Peter Shaffer. Stigmatization of Salieri's image in the public's perception rests upon the inevitable realization that artists are not created equal.