Tasso’s “Armida” was a popular story of the eighteenth century and was reinterpreted by composers such as Monteverdi, Handel, Vivaldi, Gluck, and Haydn. Rinaldo is rescued by his fellow Christian fighters, but is barely able to resist Armida’s longing for him to stay with her. In the midst of the Crusades, Armida plans to kill Rinaldo on the orders of the Saracen army, but instead falls in love with him.Īrmida holds Rinaldo prisoner in an enchanted garden she creates. “Armida,” which was written by librettist Marco Coltellini, is the love story of a Saracen (a medieval term for Arab Muslim) sorceress who falls in love with Rinaldo, a Christian warrior. Salieri’s opera is his take on the famous story by the Renaissace poet Torquato Tasso. The opera catapulted Salieri’s international career and ushered him into the music circles of Vienna where the interactions between supposed rivals Mozart and Salieri may have taken place. Just a few years later, Salieri was promoted to director of Italian opera in Vienna and later became the Imperial Kappelmeister of the Hapsburg Court. “Armida,” however, was an instant success and propelled the composer to fame. Reactions to this debut opera were lackluster. Salieri’s first opera, “Le Donne Letterate,” premiered to the Viennese public a year earlier. One opera that best represents the composer’s ability is “Armida,” which was first performed at the Vienna Burgtheater June 2, 1771. Though his legacy is strongly tied to the negative and wildly fabricated portrayal in the play and film “Amadeus,” Antonio Salieri was a respected and notable composer in his own right.
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