Antonio Salieri was an Italian composer and teacher of the classical period. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subject of the
Portrait by Joseph Willibrord Mähler, c. 1815
Salieri's teacher Florian Leopold Gassmann in an engraving (1775) by Johann Balzer
Beginning of the overture to Salieri's Armida in the autograph score
Adolphe Nourrit in the title role in Tarare, in Paris 1823
On 5 December 1791, the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died at his home in Vienna at the age of 35. The circumstances of his death have attracted much research and speculation.
Antonio Salieri
…century. This revival was partially due to the fictionalized depiction of Salieri in Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus (1979) and its 1984 film version. The death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1791 at the age of 35 was followed by rumors that he and Salieri had been bitter rivals, and that Salieri had poisoned the younger composer; however…
Portrait of Mozart by his brother-in-law Joseph Lange; date unknown
Constanze Mozart, as depicted by her brother-in-law Joseph Lange (1782)
Portrait of Eduard Guldener von Lobes, year unknown. The work is an engraving by J. Eissner, who followed an original portrait made by Joseph Lange, who made the portraits of Mozart and of Constanze that appear above.
A sentimentalizing portrayal by Joseph Heicke of the journey of Mozart's coffin though the cemetery in a storm. The last line of verse reads "Only his loyal dog follows – his only friend!" Engraving from about 1860, a few years after the Deiner story appeared.