"Composer of the Month"

Hi all! Here's my new 'composer of the month' idea. I know, the composers are randomly selected (birthdays, death dates, etc. aren't reasons for why I picked the composer)--I just pick according to what I listen to A LOT these days...so...here I go...

COMPOSER OF THE MONTH:

ANTONIO SALIERI

No, he didn't kill Mozart.*

Salieri was an Italian classical composer, conductor and teacher born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, but who spent his adult life and career as a faithful subject of the Habsburg monarchy.

Appointed the director of the Italian opera by the Habsburg court, a post he held from 1774 to 1792, Salieri dominated Italian language opera in Vienna. During his career he also spent time writing works for opera houses in Venice, Rome, and Paris. His dramatic works were widely performed throughout Europe during his lifetime. As the Austrian imperial Kapellmeister from 1788 to 1824, he was responsible for music at the court chapel and attached school. Even as his works dropped from performance, and he wrote no new operas after 1804, he still remained one of the most important and sought-after teachers of his generation, and his influence was felt in every aspect of Vienna's musical life. Franz Schubert, Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Liszt were among the most famous of his pupils.

The reason I picked Salieri was because of his opera Axur, re d'Ormus. It's a great opera that's REALLY hard to find...

Aspasia has a great aria in Act IV: Son queste le speranze    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvsX8NG-VRY

The Finale to the opera is great as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws1yRIiFfi0

*Salieri is known as being the composer who killed Mozart. THIS ISNT TRUE.