Composer of the Week - Antonio Salieri (1750-1825) - Episode 2

In the second programme Donald Macleod surveys Salieri's beginnings as a composer in Vienna. Whilst employed as Composer for the Imperial Chamber, Salieri would have been responsible for writing suitable chamber music, and we hear the Cassazione that was likely to have been performed during royal banquets. Salieri, working with his mentor Gassmann at Vienna's opera house, was also offered the opportunity to compose an opera. Opera was to be the arena in which he made his biggest mark, and we hear two extracts from his early works Armida, and La fiera di Venezia.