Saturday
17
May
2025
Salieri 200 - Riccardo Muti conducts the Chapel Imperial at Vienna's Musikverein
Antonio Salieri was a highly respected composer during his lifetime, and from 1788 to 1825 he was one of
the most influential musicians of his time as head of the Vienna Chapel Imperial (Wiener Hofmusikkapelle). Beethoven, Liszt,
and Goethe were among his admirers.
Salieri came to Vienna as a teenager with court composer Florian Leopold Gassmann; through his mentor, Salieri met the Emperor, among others. Joseph II was fond of the teenager; Salieri joined the emperor for private music sessions and recitals two or three times a week. Antonio was also involved in the city's opera productions; as a 19-year-old, he directed the rehearsals of the Italian opera in Vienna. His first own stage work premiered in 1770, when Salieri was not yet 20. The composer wrote a total of 40(!) operas, Italian, German, comic, tragic and highly dramatic works. His music is anything but staid. Among the thighlights of Salieri's operatic output are ‘Europa riconosciuta’, written for the opening of La Scala in Milan in August 1774, and ‘Tarare’, a "revolutionary" opera with a libretto by Beaumarchais about the dethronement of a tyrant, premiered in Paris two years before the French Revolution.
Salieri became court conductor in 1788. In addition to his administrative duties, Salieri wrote masses and other sacred works for the court choir and orchestra. The Mass No. 1 in D major (‘Hofkapellmeistermesse’) is still performed in the Hofburgkapelle - under Riccardo Muti it becomes a musical highlight.
Salieri came to Vienna as a teenager with court composer Florian Leopold Gassmann; through his mentor, Salieri met the Emperor, among others. Joseph II was fond of the teenager; Salieri joined the emperor for private music sessions and recitals two or three times a week. Antonio was also involved in the city's opera productions; as a 19-year-old, he directed the rehearsals of the Italian opera in Vienna. His first own stage work premiered in 1770, when Salieri was not yet 20. The composer wrote a total of 40(!) operas, Italian, German, comic, tragic and highly dramatic works. His music is anything but staid. Among the thighlights of Salieri's operatic output are ‘Europa riconosciuta’, written for the opening of La Scala in Milan in August 1774, and ‘Tarare’, a "revolutionary" opera with a libretto by Beaumarchais about the dethronement of a tyrant, premiered in Paris two years before the French Revolution.
Salieri became court conductor in 1788. In addition to his administrative duties, Salieri wrote masses and other sacred works for the court choir and orchestra. The Mass No. 1 in D major (‘Hofkapellmeistermesse’) is still performed in the Hofburgkapelle - under Riccardo Muti it becomes a musical highlight.