Antonio Salieri Biography - A Very Quick Guide

Italian composer and conductor Antonio Salieri (1750–1825) was born in Legnago, near Verona. His early years were spent in Venice but he moved to Vienna as a teenager. There he became a protégé of Gluck and rose quickly within the imperial musical establishment. Salieri served for decades as Court Kapellmeister to the Habsburgs, making him one of the most influential musical figures in Vienna during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He taught many major composers of the next generation, including Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt.

Salieri wrote operas, sacred works and orchestral music, with operas such as Armida, Les Danaïdes and Tarare enjoying significant success in their time. His reputation was later clouded by myths - most famously the false story that he was involved in Mozart’s death - largely spread by later literature and drama. Modern scholarship has cleared Salieri of these accusations and restored attention to his role as a key contributor to Viennese operatic life. He died in Vienna in 1825, remembered as a prominent composer, respected teacher and long-serving court musician.