Composer Salieri Antonio: biography, creativity. Antonio Salieri and Mozart

The name Antonio Salieri is firmly associated with Mozart and his death. But this man was a great musician who wrote more than 40 operas and released a large number of students. How did the composer's life evolve?

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, near Verona, a boy was born - Antonio Salieri. His biography did not originally envision a musical path. His family was engaged in trade, but the children were educated, and Antonio's older brother, who studied music, taught the first lessons to a future composer. However, the family idyll did not last long. When the boy was 13 years old, his mother passed away. After that, the father was ruined and died, and the relatives took the children. For a while, Salieri lived in a well-to-do family in Venice with his father's friends. They intended to give him a serious musical education, since they saw his unconditional abilities.

Accidentally on business at this time in Venice came Florian Gassman, a court composer, conductor of the emperor Joseph II. He saw in Salieri great musical inclinations and took him to Vienna with him to give him a proper education.

The beginning of a new life in Austria

June 15, 1766 Antonio came to Vienna, which became for him a real home. After all, here he achieved fame, became what he dreamed of being. Gassman zealously took up the training of the pupil, he invited his teachers, and gave lessons on the counterpoint himself. Salieri learned four languages, he was trained in musical notation, playing several musical instruments. Gassman tried to make of Antonio not only an educated, but also a secular man. He taught him manners, rules of etiquette, the ability to conduct a conversation. At the end of his life about Salieri, a contemporary will say that he was the most educated musician in Vienna.

Gassman introduced his protege to the circle of talented people of that time. It was he who introduced Salieri to Gluck, who had a significant influence on the formation of the musician. Maecenas also introduced the disciple to Emperor Joseph, who was very sympathetic to the gifted youth. A representative of the famous dynasty of the Habsburgs was very fond of music and understood it well; at the court there was a musical circle, in which Salieri also became a member. This became the platform for his future brilliant career at court.

Musical career

Salieri Antonio, still living in Italy, began composing music, but one can speak about professional creativity only during the Viennese period. The beginning musician became an assistant to his patron and received small orders for arrangements, insertions into operas, writing instrumental pieces. By the age of 20, the beginning composer already had one opera, "Educated Women", which he wrote in collaboration with Boccherini. It had some success, and it was set not only in Vienna, but also in Prague. Also at that time, Antonio was the author of several instrumental works. Later, Salieri on the libretto of Boccherini wrote another comic opera. He was able to declare himself a fairly successful debut, and later his career was only up.

Works "Venetian Fair", "Innkeeper", "Armida" provided Salieri steady success and fame throughout Europe, his opera "Liberated Jerusalem" was even staged in St. Petersburg.

In 1774, the teacher and sponsor Salieri died Florian Gassman, and Antonio "inherited" became the seat of the Kapellmeister of the Italian opera troupe and the position of composer of chamber music. For a young man of 24 years it 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", rebuilt after a fire in Milan, opened the season with the opera Salieri.

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 developing glukovskie provisions.

In the 80s, Salieri collaborated a lot and fruitfully with the Parisian theater Comedie Française and the Opera Theater. He creates the opera "Tarar" on the libretto of the famous Beaumarchais, which gained wide popularity, was highly appreciated by critics and had a significant impact on all European music.

In 1788, Salieri Antonio received the post of conductor at the court of Joseph II. This was a sign of the highest evaluation of the merits and talent of the composer. He managed to hold out at the court of the Habsburgs and with the next two monarchs. His court career, Salieri completed in 1824, when health no longer allowed him to perform duties.

During his life, the composer wrote 40 operas, a large number of concerts and instrumental works of spiritual and chamber music.

Salieri devoted much effort and resources to preserving and propagandizing the creative heritage of his benefactor, Florian Gassman, who also educated his daughter, from whom a prominent soloist of the operatic stage grew up.

Major works

If you look for a successful and productive composer in the history of music, then one of those will be Antonio Salieri, albums with works of which are available in all music libraries in Europe. His operas continue to be performed today, and many of the composer's works were innovative for his time, which allows them to be called an evolutionary stage in world music. The most significant works of Salieri Antonio are operas Tarar, Danaids, Aksur, Tsar Ormuz, Falstaff, and Requiem and some chamber pieces.

Pedagogical activity

In addition to writing works, Salieri Antonio gave a lot of energy to work with students. He created his own method of training musicians, his relationship with the students was emotional and emotional. The famous disciples 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 enemies?

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. Myth became popular and popular, including thanks to talented literary processing by Pushkin and Scheffer, and in the 20th century by M. Forman. However, the reality was far from the fictional story. Salieri fruitfully collaborated with Mozart, conducted the execution of his works. They were not friendly, but they communicated a lot, and Salieri had absolutely no reason to kill, since during his lifetime he was much more successful than Mozart.

Private life of the composer

In ordinary life, Salieri Antonio was as successful as in the creative. In 1775 he married and lived happily all his life with a woman whom he called his main love. They had 8 children. Therese's wife died 18 years earlier than Salieri, and he missed her until the very end of his life.