Chopin Music Forum

[Fryderyk]

I became a litle interested in Salieri when I made a joke back at chopinfiles, that Salieri was better than Mozart because he wrote more operas.

He has got quite a reputation, not only from the movie Amadeus but also from the original play.

I have not much to say of interest, I will quote a Salieri CD I have, and attach the last movement of his piano concerto, from the very same CD!

The work which comes closest to the mature classical style as we
know it through Mozart and Haydn is the keyboard Concerto in B flat
(which is playable on either harpsichord or fortepiano). Salieri's
own catalogue of his works tells us that this concerto and its
companion in C major were "composed for two ladies" in 1778, though
contemporary manuscripts give the date as 1773. The two ladies would
of course have been amateurs, and the keyboard writing manages to
appear brilliant without being unduly difficult. The modest
orchestra of two oboes, two bassoons, Two horns and strings is very
much in the role of accompanist, although there is some elegant
string writing in the adagio.

^EDIT Upload Error: Could not upload Attachment to ./files/salieri_-__scimone_-_i_solisti_veneti__-_03__piano_concerto_.mp3.

[beethoven]

We had to listen to one of his theme and variations in music class, and the variations were soo predictable and stupid, not surprising at all, nothing close to even variations mozart and beethoven used to write when they were still young. I wonder how his operas will sound...

[Max]

His operas are supposed to be quite good but predictable (according to my music teacher).

[Chozart]

I saw an excerpt or two of works of his once last year in this theory book.. it wasn't bad or anything, simple and pleasant.. but nothing great, IMO. Hmm, quite unfortunate for him to have been around during Mozart and Haydn's time .. overshadowed by 2 (with Beethoven and others coming along) of history's greatest, heh.

As for his operas, I've also heard them to be pretty good.
Not surprising.. opera was art at the time, particularly in cities of such grandeur as Vienna.
However the only ones I've even been remotely familiar with are "Tarare" and "Axur."
I'd like to hear more of him though... there are still too many overshadowed composers who do deserve at least a bit more praise and recognition than they have received.

[Fryderyk]

[PianistSk8er]

[TheRach]

[An!ma`]

Get Cecilia Bartoli's Salieri album if you like vocal works.

[Fryderyk]

[Fryderyk]

I have uploaded some Salieri pieces, I don´t know if you can access my folder. Otherwise I´ll have to make direct links.


Antonio Salieri (1750-1825)
La Tempesta di Mare, Concerti

Paul Badura-Skoda, fortepiano (anonymous, 2nd half of 18th century)
Cementine Hoogendoorn, flute
Pietro Borgonovo, oboe

I Solisti Veneti
Claudio Scimone, conductor

Erato 2292-45245-2
Rec. 1985 [DDD]
Encoded with LAME 3.89 VBR [-V0 -b160 -mj -q0]


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Concerto for fortepiano and orchestra in B flat major [24:09]

I. Allegro moderato
II. Adagio
III. Tempo di Minuetto

Concerto for flute, oboe and orchestra in C major [18:42]

I. Allegro spiritoso
II. Largo
III. Allegretto

Francesco Salieri (18th century?)
La Tempesta di Mare: Sinfonia in B flat major [10:19]

I. Allegro
II. Andante
III. Allegro assai


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Salieri: the man who poisoned Mozart - or perhaps merely frightened
him to death? This same Salieri had a brilliant career of his own in
all the great musical centres of Europe: court composer in Vienna at
the age of 24, he also had notable triumphs at La Scala, Milan, and
the Opéra de Paris. He was above all a composer for the stage but
since his Italian, German and French operas (more than 40 in all)
will never now be revived, we can judge him only on his
comparatively small instrumental output. The works recorded here
have no pretensions beyond light entertainment, and should not be
compared with the masterly concertos Mozart was producing then years
later. But they can still charm and even touch us, which is all
Salieri would have expected.

The work which comes closest to the mature classical style as we
know it through Mozart and Haydn is the keyboard Concerto in B flat
(which is playable on either harpsichord or fortepiano). Salieri's
own catalogue of his works tells us that this concerto and its
companion in C major were "composed for two ladies" in 1778, though
contemporary manuscripts give the date as 1773. The two ladies would
of course have been amateurs, and the keyboard writing manages to
appear brilliant without being unduly difficult. The modest
orchestra of two oboes, two bassoons, Two horns and strings is very
much in the role of accompanist, although there is some elegant
string writing in the adagio.

The first movement is vigorous and strongly rhythmic, solidly in the
tradition of the gallant concertos written by such men as Johann
Schobert and J.C. Bach; the cadenza is Salieri's. The adagio in E
flat allows more scope to the composer's melodic gift, and the
omission of wind instruments permits adventurous modulations into B
flat minor and E flat minor; the keyboard cantilena supported by
muted strings is occasionally reminiscent of the andante of Mozart's
concerto in C, K.467. If the finale seems more conventional, with
its simple variations on the orchestra's minuet, the movement
nonetheless brightens up with a coda in faster time which ends
almost as a race between orchestra and soloist.

Concertos for more than one soloist were very popular in the 18th
century - Salieri also wrote one for violin, oboe and cello. His
concerto for flute and oboe of 1774 has a rather "military" opening
tutti (the scoring includes trumpets and horns, but woodwind
instruments are omitted); however, the solo passages are less grand
than charming, and the first movement is less tightly organised than
that of the keyboard concerto. The F major largo is gracious and
tender, and again remarkable for its expressive writing for strings.
The cadenzas in both movements are the composer's. The finale is a
rondo in minuet time, with the retfrain recurring between episodes
for the soloists: the final one includes parts for two solo violas,
a favourite combination of Mozart's.

The third work on this record is something of a mysteria. Is is a
sinfonia of the type used to introduce Italian operas, each of its
three movements (a sparkling opening allegro, an andante for strings
alone and a lively jig-like finale) in binary form. The Verona
manuscript in which it is to be found attributes it to Francesco
Salieri, the pupil of Tartini who provided the earliest musical
education of his younger brother Antonio, and none of whose works is
known. Its style seems somewhat old-fashioned for the Viennese
Salieri of the 1770's, and it does not figure in any catalogue of
his works. At any rate, whether it is by Francesco or an early
effort by Antonio, it is an enjoyable piece in its own right, and
worthy of at place alongside the two concertos by music's most
famous "murderer".

- Charles Johnson


----------------------------------------------------------------------

I SOLISTI VENETI

Violins:
Marco FORNACIARI, Glauco Bertagnin, Diego Conti, Bettina Mussumeli,
Kazuki Sasaki, Fabrizio Scalabrin, Vasco Tonello, Stefano Zanchetta

Violas: Jodi Levitz, Demetrio Comuzzi, Donna Lorenzo

Violoncellos: Susan Moses, Gianantonio Viero

Double bass: Andrea Capanni

Oboes: Pietro Borgonovo, Edoardo Rossi

Horns: Alessio Benedettelli, Giorgio Lavagnini

Trombones: Luca Pieraccini, Giordano Fermi

Direction: Claudio SCIMONE


Digital recording
Recording supervision: Michel Garcin
Artistic assistant: Françoise Garcin
Sound engineer: Yolanta Skura
Editing: Yolanta Skura
Recording: June & July 1985, Villa Contarini, Piazzola sul Brenta (Italy)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

[Max]

I think Schubert was taught theory by Salieri.

[Philip Daniel]

[PianistSk8er]

[Fryderyk]

[An!ma`]