Great Music - La Folia 6

Today we make the leap from the Baroque era to the Classical in our review of the Spanish dance tune, La Folia through the past 400 years.  Today’s Folia contribution is by none other than Antonio Salieri.  Yes – that Salieri. And no, he didn’t try to kill Mozart, take dictation for the Requiem on Mozart’s deathbed, or any of the other silly things ascribed to him in the play and movie, Amadeus.  Aside from professional competition, Mozart and Salieri actually got along quite well.

Salieri was born in 1750 in Legnago, Italy.  His first music teach was his older brother, Francesco, who had been a pupil of Giuseppe Tartini.  In his early teen-age years, both his parents died; and he became the ward of nobleman, who, impressed with young Salieri’s talent, took him to Vienna in 1766 and paid for his musical education.  He also was invited to court, where his playing impressed the Emperor Joseph.  Salieri’s compositions in this early period were few, but he quickly turned his hand to opera, where he met with better success.

Beginning in 1770, Salieri spent the next thirty years writing some 34 operas, most of which were very successful.  He directed the Italian Opera in Vienna, and held several court positions.  Salieri was an exponent of the early Classical style (on which he made significant innovations, especially in opera); however by the early 1800s, the music scene was passing him by, and he retired from opera.  He continued his court work, and was a respected conductor, leading the premieres of works by Haydn and Beethoven.  He remained active until a year and a half before his death, when dementia overtook him.  He died in 1825.

Salieri’s Folia is the form of variations for full orchestra, and was composed late in his career in 1815.  It was intended as a summation of late classical orchestration, and was the most important set of orchestral variations until Brahms.  Enjoy!