The name Antonio Salieri is strongly associated with Mozart and his death. But this man was a great musician who wrote more than 40 operas and produced a large number of students. How was the life of the composer?
Childhood
About the early years of his life, Salieri wrote himself, leaving a diary manuscript to the court librarian. It is known that on August 18, 1750, in the small town of Legnago, not far from Verona, a boy was born - Antonio Salieri. His biography did not initially imply a musical path. His family was engaged in trade, but the children were educated, and the older brother Antonio, who studied music, taught the first lessons to the future composer. However, the family idyll did not last long. When the boy was 13 years old, his mother died. After that, the father went bankrupt and died, and the children were taken by relatives. For some time Salieri lived in a we althy family in Venice with friends of his father. They intended to give him a serious musical education, as they saw his unconditional ability.
Coincidentally, Florian Gassmann, the courtier, came to Venice on business at that timecomposer, bandmaster of Emperor Joseph II. He saw great musical inclinations in Salieri and took him with him to Vienna to give him a proper education.
Starting a new life in Austria
June 15, 1766, Antonio arrived in Vienna, which became his real home. After all, here he achieved fame, became what he dreamed of being. Gassman zealously took up teaching the pupil, he invited teachers for him, and gave counterpoint lessons himself. Salieri learned four languages, he studied musical notation, playing several musical instruments. Gassman tried to make Antonio not only an educated, but also a secular person. He taught him manners, etiquette, the ability to conduct a conversation. At the end of Salieri's life, a contemporary will say that he was the most educated musician in Vienna.
Gassman introduced his protégé into the circle of the most talented people of that time. It was he who introduced Salieri to Gluck, who had a significant influence on the formation of a musician. The patron also introduced the student to Emperor Joseph, who was imbued with great sympathy for the gifted young man. The representative of the famous Habsburg dynasty was very fond of music and was well versed in it, a musical circle was formed at the court, into which Salieri also became a member. This became the platform for his future brilliant career at court.
Music career
Salieri Antonio, while still living in Italy, began to compose music, but one can speak of professional creativity only in the Vienna period. Aspiring musician became assistant to his patronand received small orders for arrangements, inserts in operas, writing instrumental pieces. By the age of 20, the novice composer already had one opera, Educated Women, which he wrote in collaboration with Boccherini. It had some success, and it was staged not only in Vienna, but also in Prague. Also at that time, Antonio was the author of several instrumental works. Salieri later wrote another comic opera based on Boccherini's libretto. He was able to declare himself with a fairly successful debut, and in the future his career only went up.
The works "The Fair of Venice", "The Innkeeper", "Armida" provided Salieri with steady success and fame throughout Europe, his opera "Jerusalem Liberated" was even staged in St. Petersburg.
In 1774, Salieri's teacher and sponsor, Florian Gassmann, died, and Antonio "by inheritance" received the position of court bandmaster of the Italian opera troupe and the position of chamber music composer. For a young man of 24, this was a huge career leap. But the court service was not very reliable, and the musician earned his living by writing and staging operas for various theaters in Europe. So, in 1778, the famous theater "La Scala", restored after a fire in Milan, opened the season with Salieri's opera.
The composer worked hard to please the modern public, but he was also interested in the reform of the opera, conceived by Gluck. He even wrote several serious works that develop Gluck's theses.
In the 80s, Salieri had many and fruitfulcollaborated with the Parisian theater "Comedy Francaise" and the Opera. He created the opera "Tararre" based on the libretto of the famous Beaumarchais, which received wide popularity, was highly appreciated by critics and had a significant impact on all European music.
In 1788 Salieri Antonio received the post of Kapellmeister at the court of Joseph II. This was a sign of the highest appreciation of the merits and talent of the composer. He managed to hold on to the Habsburg court and the next two monarchs. Salieri ended his court career in 1824, when his he alth no longer allowed him to perform his duties.
During his life, the composer wrote 40 operas, a large number of concertos and instrumental works of sacred and chamber music.
Salieri gave a lot of effort and money to the preservation and promotion of the creative heritage of his benefactor - Florian Gassmann, he also raised his daughter, from whom he raised an outstanding soloist of the opera stage.
Highlights
If you look for a successful and productive composer in the history of music, then one of those will be Antonio Salieri, whose albums are available in all music libraries in Europe. His operas continue to be performed today, and many of the composer's creations were innovative for their time, which allows them to be called an evolutionary stage in world music. The most significant works of Salieri Antonio are the operas "Tarar", "Danaids", "Aksur, King Ormuz", "Falstaff", as well as "Requiem" and some chamber pieces.
Pedagogical activity
In addition to composing works, Antonio Salieri devoted a lot of effort to working with students. He created his own methodology for training musicians, his relationship with his students was sincere and emotional. Famous students of Antonio Salieri - Liszt, Beethoven, Czerny, Meyerbeer, Schubert. In total, he released about six dozen musicians - composers and vocalists.
Antonio Salieri and Mozart: friends or foes?
The myth of the murder of Mozart became a real curse for Salieri. Gossip appeared in the last years of the composer's life and pursued him until his death. The myth became widespread and popular, among other things, thanks to the talented literary processing by Pushkin and Schaeffer, and in the 20th century by M. Forman. However, the reality was extremely far from the fictional story. Salieri fruitfully collaborated with Mozart, conducted the performance of his works. They were not friendly, but they talked a lot, and Salieri had absolutely no reason to kill, since during his lifetime he was much more successful than Mozart.
The private life of a composer
In ordinary life, Antonio Salieri was as successful as in his creative life. In 1775 he married and lived happily all his life with a woman whom he called his main love. They had 8 children. His wife Teresia died 18 years before Salieri, and he missed her until the very end of his life.
