Bringing Salieri, his operas, and eighteenth-century Viennese theater vividly to life, Rice places Salieri where he belongs: no longer lurking in Mozart's shadow, but standing proudly among the leading opera composers of his age. Rice's research in the archives of Vienna and Budapest and close study of the scores reveal Salieri to have been a prolific, versatile, and adventurous composer for the stage.

Countering the old view of Salieri as Mozart's mortal enemy with musical evidence suggesting that Mozart and Salieri learned from and respected one another, Rice argues that Salieri's operatic innovations paved the way for some of Mozart's most remarkable achievements. A generous selection of excerpts from Salieri's works, most previously unpublished, will give readers a fuller appreciation for his musical style than was previously possible.