154-620: Sir Peter Levin Shaffer CBE (15 May 1926 – 6 June 2016) was an English playwright , screenwriter, and novelist. He is best known for the plays Equus and Amadeus , the latter of which was adapted for the screen by Miloš Forman , with a screenplay by Shaffer, for which he won an Academy Award . Shaffer was born to a Jewish family in Liverpool , the son of Reka (née Fredman) and estate agent Jack Shaffer. He grew up in London and
308-456: A Mass in C major written without a "Gloria" and in the antique a cappella style (presumably for one of the church's penitential seasons) and dated 2 August 1767. A complete opera composed in 1769 (presumably as a culminating study) La vestal ( The Vestal Virgin ) has also been lost. Beginning in 1766 Gassmann introduced Salieri to the daily chamber music performances held during Emperor Joseph II 's evening meal. Salieri quickly impressed
462-403: A Day ) in 1784, which was not a success. Salieri next turned to Giambattista Casti as a librettist; a more successful set of collaborations flowed from this pairing. In the meantime, Da Ponte began working with Mozart on Le Nozze di Figaro ( The Marriage of Figaro ). In 1785 Salieri produced one of his greatest works with the text by Casti, La grotta di Trofonio ( The Cave of Trophonius ),
616-543: A GBE (in recognition of his role as chairman of the Scottish War Savings Committee) and the award of medal of the order to Lizzie Robinson, a munitions worker. The order had been established primarily as a civilian award; in August 1918, however, not long after its foundation, a number of awards were made to serving naval and military personnel. Four months later, a 'Military Division' was added to
770-404: A broad riband or sash, passing from the right shoulder to the left hip. Knights Commander and male Commanders wear the badge from a ribbon around the neck; male Officers and Members wear the badge from a ribbon on the left chest; female recipients other than Dames Grand Cross (unless in military uniform) normally wear it from a bow on the left shoulder. An oval eight-pointed star is worn, pinned to
924-553: A burning building containing explosives. In December 1922 the statutes of the order were amended; there having been a large number of awards for war work prior to this date, these amended statutes placed the order on more of a peacetime footing. For the first time numbers of appointments were limited, with the stipulation that senior awards in the Civil Division were to outnumber those in the Military Division by
1078-468: A carriage some years earlier, Salieri succeeded him as assistant director of the Italian opera in early 1774. On 10 October 1775 Salieri married Therese Helferstorfer, the daughter of a recently deceased financier and official of the court treasury. Sacred music was not a high priority for the composer during this stage of his career, but he did compose an Alleluia for chorus and orchestra in 1774. During
1232-453: A circlet bearing the motto of the Order; the reverse bears George V's Royal and Imperial Cypher. (Prior to 1937 Britannia was shown within the circlet.) The size of the badges varies according to rank: the higher classes have slightly larger badges. The badges of Knights and Dames Grand Cross, Knights and Dames Commander, and Commanders are enamelled, with pale blue crosses, crimson circlets and
1386-466: A citizen of a Commonwealth realm can convert their appointment from honorary to substantive, and they then enjoy all privileges of membership of the order, including use of the title of Sir and Dame for the senior two ranks of the Order. (An example of the latter is Irish broadcaster Terry Wogan , who was appointed an honorary Knight Commander of the Order in 2005, and on successful application for British citizenship, held alongside his Irish citizenship,
1540-604: A comic mock-epic by Tassoni , in which a war between Modena and Bologna follows the theft of a bucket. This uneven work was followed by a popular comedic success La locandiera [ it ] ( The Mistress of the Inn ), an adaptation of the classic and popular spoken stage comedy La locandiera by Carlo Goldoni, with the libretto prepared by Domenico Poggi. The majority of Salieri's modest number of instrumental works also date from this time. Salieri's instrumental works have been judged by various critics and scholars to lack
1694-457: A completely original opera buffa . Salieri's first full opera was composed during the winter and carnival season of 1770; Le donne letterate and was based on Molière 's Les Femmes Savantes ( The Learned Ladies ) with a libretto by Giovanni Gastone Boccherini [ it ] , a dancer in the court ballet and a brother of the composer Luigi Boccherini . The modest success of this opera launched Salieri's 34-year operatic career as
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#17327798123991848-536: A composer of over 35 original dramas. Following the modest success of Le donne letterate Salieri received new commissions for writing two additional operas in 1770, both with libretti by Giovanni Boccherini. The first, a pastoral opera, L'amore innocente ( Innocent Love ), was a light-hearted comedy set in the Austrian mountains. The second was based on an episode from Miguel de Cervantes ' Don Quixote – Don Chisciotte alle nozze di Gamace ( Don Quixote at
2002-470: A concerto for organ in C Major in two movements (the middle movement is missing from the autograph score, or perhaps, it was an improvised organ solo) (also 1773); and two concertante works: a concerto for oboe, violin and cello in D major (1770), and a flute and oboe concerto in C major (1774). These works are among the most frequently recorded of Salieri's compositions. Upon Gassmann's death on 21 January, most likely due to complications from an accident with
2156-563: A considerable amount of money in the process. Beginning in 1778 the Emperor wished to have new works, in German, composed by his own subjects and brought on the stage with clear Imperial support. This in effect left Salieri's role as assistant court composer in a much-reduced position. Salieri also had never truly mastered the German language, and he now felt no longer competent to continue as an assistant opera director. A further blow to his career
2310-564: A deep impression on Salieri for the rest of his life. Salieri's education included instruction in Latin and Italian poetry by Fr. Don Pietro Tommasi, instruction in the German language, and European literature. His music studies revolved around vocal composition and thoroughbass . His musical theory training in harmony and counterpoint was rooted in Johann Fux 's Gradus ad Parnassum , which Salieri translated during each Latin lesson. As
2464-493: A glimpse of hellish torture, kept the opera on the stage in Paris for over forty years. A young Hector Berlioz recorded the deep impression this work made on him in his Mémoires . Upon returning to Vienna following his success in Paris, Salieri met and befriended Lorenzo Da Ponte and had his first professional encounters with Mozart . Da Ponte wrote his first opera libretto for Salieri, Il ricco d'un giorno ( A Rich Man for
2618-443: A gold central medallion. Officers' badges are plain silver-gilt, while those of Members are plain silver. From 1917 until 1937, the badge of the order was suspended on a purple ribbon, with a red central stripe being added for the military division in 1918. Since 1937, the ribbon has been rose-pink with pearl-grey edges (with the addition of a pearl-grey central stripe for the military division). Knights and Dames Grand Cross wear it on
2772-493: A local priest with proper respect. Salieri responded to the reprimand by saying the priest's organ playing displeased him because it was in an inappropriately theatrical style. Sometime between 1763 and 1764, both of Salieri's parents died, and he was briefly taken in by an anonymous brother, a monk in Padua , and then for unknown reasons in 1765 or 1766, he became the ward of a Venetian nobleman named Giovanni Mocenigo (which Giovanni
2926-521: A number of his arias on the CD Divas of Mozart's Day . In 2008, another female opera star, Diana Damrau , released a CD with seven Salieri coloratura arias. Since 2000, there have also been complete recordings issued or re-issued of the operas Axur Re d'Ormus , Falstaff , Les Danaïdes , La Locandiera , La grotta di Trofonio , Prima la musica e poi le parole and Il mondo alla rovescia [ de ] . Salieri has yet to fully re-enter
3080-503: A pitch-black room – although the stage is actually flooded with light. Equus (1973) won Shaffer the 1975 Tony Award for Best Play as well as the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award . A journey into the mind of a seventeen-year-old stableboy who had plunged a spike into the eyes of six horses, Equus ran for more than 1,000 performances on Broadway. It was revived by Massachusetts ' Berkshire Theatre Festival in
3234-492: A proportion of six to one. Furthermore appointments in the civil division were to be divided equally between UK and overseas awards. With regard to the Medal of the Order (but not the order itself), a distinction was made in 1922 between awards 'for gallantry' and awards 'for meritorious service' (each being appropriately inscribed, and the former having laurel leaves decorating the clasp, the latter oak leaves). In 1933 holders of
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#17327798123993388-457: A requiem, and many offertories, graduals, vesper settings, and sacred cantatas and oratorios. Much of his sacred music dates from after his appointment as Hofkapellmeister in 1788. His small instrumental output includes two piano concerti , a concerto for organ written in 1773, a concerto for flute , oboe and orchestra (1774), a triple concerto for oboe, violin and cello, and a set of twenty-six variations on " La folia di Spagna " (1815). In
3542-436: A result, Salieri continued to live with Gassmann even after Gassmann's marriage, an arrangement that lasted until the year of Gassmann's death and Salieri's own marriage in 1774. Few of Salieri's compositions have survived from this early period. In his old age Salieri hinted that these works were either purposely destroyed or had been lost, with the exception of a few works for the church. Among these sacred works there survives
3696-539: A rivalry between the German and the Italian schools of music. Carl Maria von Weber , a relative of Mozart by marriage whom Wagner has characterized as the most German of German composers, is said to have refused to join the Ludlamshöhle (Ludlam's cave), a social club of which Salieri was a member, and avoided having anything to do with him. These rumors then made their way into popular culture. Albert Lortzing 's Singspiel Szenen aus Mozarts Leben LoWV28 (1832) and
3850-481: A royal wedding at which Salieri's Axur, re d'Ormus would be performed. Mozart was not pleased by this. The rivalry between Salieri and Mozart became publicly visible as well as audible during the opera composition competition held by Emperor Joseph II in 1786 in the Orangery at Schönbrunn. Mozart was considered the loser of this competition. Mozart's 1791 opera The Magic Flute echoes that competition because
4004-477: A series of on-stage dances with singing from both solo protagonists and the chorus. This was a pattern imitated by later composers, most famously and successfully by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Don Giovanni . Salieri also wrote several bravura arias for a soprano playing the part of a middle-class character that combined coloratura and concertante woodwind solos, another innovation for comic opera that
4158-459: A thousand performances. After the success of Amadeus , Shaffer wrote the play Lettice and Lovage specifically for Dame Maggie Smith in 1986, for which he was nominated for another Tony Award and for which Smith eventually won the Tony Award for best actress after three nominations in 1990. Lettice and Lovage also enabled Margaret Tyzack to win the award for best featured actress, and
4312-468: A witty study of amorous intrigue and emotion, proved a popular and lasting international success. Upon his return at imperial behest to Vienna in 1780, Salieri wrote one German Singspiel, Der Rauchfangkehrer ( The Chimney Sweep ), which premiered in 1781. Salieri's Chimney Sweep and Mozart's work for the same company in 1782, Die Entführung aus dem Serail ( The Abduction from the Seraglio ), were
4466-516: Is an image of Britannia surrounded by the motto, with the words "For Meritorious Service" at the bottom; on the reverse is George V's Imperial and Royal Cypher, with the words "Instituted by King George V" at the bottom. The name of the recipient is engraved on the rim. This medal is nicknamed "the Gong", and comes in both full-sized and miniature versions – the latter for formal white-tie and semi-formal black-tie occasions. A lapel pin for everyday wear
4620-486: Is at this time unknown), a member of the powerful and well connected Mocenigo family . It is possible that Salieri's father and Mocenigo were friends or business associates, but this is obscure. While living in Venice , Salieri continued his musical studies with the organist and opera composer Giovanni Battista Pescetti , then following Pescetti's sudden death he studied with the opera singer Ferdinando Pacini (or Pasini). It
4774-415: Is in league with Salieri, I'll never get a text from him, and I would love to show him what I can really do with an Italian opera." In July 1783, he again wrote to his father of "a trick of Salieri's", one of several letters in which Mozart accused Salieri of trickery. Decades after Mozart's death, a rumor began to circulate that Mozart had been poisoned by Salieri. This rumor has been attributed by some to
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4928-419: Is likely folk-derived and is known as La Folía . This simple melodic and harmonic progression had served as an inspiration for many baroque composers and would be used by later romantic and post-romantic composers. Salieri's setting is a brooding work in the minor key, which rarely moves far from the original melodic material, its main interest lies in the deft and varied handling of orchestral colors. La Folia
5082-973: Is not a member of the College of Arms , as are many other heraldic officers; and the Lady Usher of the Purple Rod does not – unlike the Order of the Garter equivalent, the Lady Usher of the Black Rod – perform any duties related to the House of Lords . Since the Second World War, several Commonwealth realms have established their own national system of honours and awards and have created their own unique orders, decorations and medals. A number, though, continue to make recommendations for appointments to
5236-558: Is now a Salieri Opera Festival sponsored by the Fondazione Culturale Antonio Salieri and dedicated to rediscovering his work and those of his contemporaries. It is developing as an annual autumn event in his native town of Legnago, where a theatre has been renamed in his honor. In 2003, mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli released The Salieri Album , a CD with 13 arias from Salieri's operas, most of which had never been recorded before. Patrice Michaels sang
5390-530: Is set free. He expressed himself in enchanting notes, Now he is floating to everlasting beauty. During his time in Vienna, Salieri acquired great prestige as a composer and conductor, particularly of opera, but also of chamber and sacred music . Among the most successful of his 37 operas staged during his lifetime were Armida (1771), La fiera di Venezia (1772), La scuola de' gelosi (1778), Der Rauchfangkehrer (1781), Les Danaïdes (1784), which
5544-530: Is used as the warden's theme music, seemingly to invoke the image of jealousy of the inferior for his superior. In 2006, the movie Copying Beethoven referred to Salieri in a more positive light. In this movie, a young female music student hired by Beethoven to copy out his Ninth Symphony is staying at a monastery. The abbess tries to discourage her from working with the irreverent Beethoven. She notes that she too once had dreams, having come to Vienna to study opera singing with Salieri. The 2008 film Iron Man used
5698-546: The Clarinet Quintet (1789) and the 40th Symphony (1788) had been premiered on the suggestion of Salieri, who supposedly conducted a performance of it in 1791. In his last surviving letter from 14 October 1791, Mozart told his wife that he had picked up Salieri and Caterina Cavalieri in his carriage and driven them both to the opera; about Salieri's attendance at his opera The Magic Flute , speaking enthusiastically: "He heard and saw with all his attention, and from
5852-624: The New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Foreign Play. Shaffer's next piece was a double bill, The Private Ear and The Public Eye , two plays each containing three characters and concerning aspects of love. They were presented in May 1962 at the Globe Theatre , and both starred Maggie Smith and Kenneth Williams . Smith won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Leading Actress. The National Theatre
6006-559: The Order of Canada . On the other hand, the Australian Honours System unilaterally created in 1975 did not achieve bi-partisan support until 1992, which was when Australian federal and state governments agreed to cease Australian recommendations for British honours; the last Australian recommended Order of the British Empire appointments were in the 1989 Queen's Birthday Honours . New Zealand continued to use
6160-657: The Varietas Delectat , a contemporary dance show inspired by the music of Antonio Salieri. On 14 November 2011 in Graz, Austria, the hometown of the librettist Leopold Auenbrugger , Salieri's Der Rauchfangkehrer was given its first modern production. In July 2014 there was another modern production of this Salieri opera. This time it was the Pinchgut Opera of Sydney, Australia, performing it as The Chimneysweep . The Sydney Morning Herald referred to it as
6314-546: The civil service . It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a knight if male or a dame if female. There is also the related British Empire Medal , whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order. The order was established on 4 June 1917 by King George V , who created the order to recognise 'such persons, male or female, as may have rendered or shall hereafter render important services to Our Empire'. Equal recognition
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6468-518: The 1780s, while Mozart lived and worked in Vienna, he and his father Leopold wrote in their letters that several "cabals" of Italians led by Salieri were actively putting obstacles in the way of Mozart's obtaining certain posts or staging his operas. For example, Mozart wrote in December 1781 to his father that "the only one who counts in the Emperor's eyes is Salieri". Their letters suggest that both Mozart and his father, being Austrians who resented
6622-473: The 21st century quotas were introduced to ensure consistent representation among recipients across nine categories of eligibility: with the largest proportion of awards being reserved for community, voluntary and local service. Non-military awards of the British Empire Medal resumed in 2012, starting with 293 BEMs awarded for Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee . In 2017 the centenary of
6776-508: 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 Liszt , Franz Schubert , Ludwig van Beethoven , Anton Eberl , Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart were among
6930-792: The British Empire . Rather than using this chapel, the Order now holds its great services upstairs in the nave of the cathedral. In addition to the Chapel of the Order of the British Empire, St Paul's Cathedral also houses the Chapel of the Order of St Michael and St George . Religious services for the whole Order are held every four years; new Knights and Dames Grand Cross are installed at these services. Knights Grand Cross and Knights Commander prefix Sir , and Dames Grand Cross and Dames Commander prefix Dame , to their forenames. Wives of Knights may prefix Lady to their surnames, but no equivalent privilege exists for husbands of Knights or spouses of Dames. Such forms are not used by peers and princes, except when
7084-494: The British Empire for Gallantry. Any individual made a member of the order for gallantry after 14 January 1958 wears an emblem of two crossed silver oak leaves on the same ribbon as the badge, with a miniature version on the ribbon bar when worn alone. When the ribbon only is worn the emblem is worn in miniature. It could not be awarded posthumously , and was replaced in 1974 with the Queen's Gallantry Medal (QGM). If recipients of
7238-556: The Emperor, and Gassmann was instructed to bring his pupil as often as he wished. This was the beginning of a relationship between monarch and musician that lasted until Joseph's death in 1790. Salieri met Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi, better known as Metastasio , and Christoph Willibald Gluck during this period at the Sunday morning salons held at the home of the Martinez family. Metastasio had an apartment there and participated in
7392-558: The Evening Standard Drama Award and the Theatre Critics' Award for the London production. This tells the story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and court composer Antonio Salieri who, overcome with jealousy at hearing the "voice of God" coming from an "obscene child", sets out to destroy his rival. When the show moved to Broadway it won the 1981 Tony Award for Best Play and, like Equus , ran for more than
7546-577: The Imperial Court, as a new National Theater. The re-launched theaters would promote German-language plays and musical productions that reflected Austrian (or as Joseph II would have said) German values, traditions, and outlook. The Italian opera buffa company was therefore replaced by a German-language Singspiel troupe. Joseph and his supporters of Imperial reform wanted to encourage pan-national pride that would unite his multi-lingual and ethnic subjects under one common language and hoped to save
7700-590: The Larghetto movement from Salieri's Piano Concerto in C major. The scene where Obadiah Stane, the archrival of Tony Stark, the wealthy industrialist turned Iron Man, tells Tony that he is being ousted from his company by the board, Obadiah plays the opening few bars of the Salieri concerto on a piano in Stark's suite. Salieri's life, and especially his relationship with Mozart, has been the subject of many stories, in
7854-558: The Marriage of Camacho ). In these first works, drawn mostly from the traditions of mid-century opera buffa , Salieri showed a penchant for experimentation and for mixing the established characteristics of specific operatic genres. Don Chisciotte was a mix of ballet and opera buffa , and the lead female roles in L'amore innocente were designed to contrast and highlight the different traditions of operatic writing for soprano, even borrowing stylistic flourishes from opera seria in
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#17327798123998008-824: The Military Division of the order from the UK and across the Empire. Recommendations for all appointments to the Order of the British Empire were originally made on the nomination of the King's United Kingdom ministers (recommendations for overseas awards were made by the Foreign Office , the Colonial Office , the India Office and the Dominions Office ); but in the early 1940s the system was changed to enable
8162-436: The Order of the British Empire for Gallantry received promotion within the order, whether for gallantry or otherwise, they continued to wear also the insignia of the lower grade with the oak leaves; however, they used only the post-nominal letters of the higher grade. When the order was founded in 1917, badges, ribands and stars were appointed for wear by recipients. In 1929 mantles, hats and collars were added for recipients of
8316-520: The Order of the British Empire. In 2024 appointments to the order were made by the governments of: Most members of the order are citizens of the United Kingdom or Commonwealth realms that use the UK system of honours and awards. In addition, honorary awards may be made to citizens of nations where the monarch is not head of state ; these permit use of post-nominal letters, but not the title of Sir or Dame . Honorary appointees who later become
8470-404: The Order, however, are not assigned any special precedence. As a general rule, only wives and children of male recipients are afforded privileges. Knights and Dames Grand Cross are also entitled to be granted heraldic supporters . They may, furthermore, encircle their arms with a depiction of the circlet (a circle bearing the motto) and the collar; the former is shown either outside or on top of
8624-583: The Papageno–Papagena duet is similar to the Cucuzza cavatina in Salieri's Prima la musica e poi le parole . The Magic Flute also echoes Salieri's music in that Papageno's whistle is based on a motif borrowed from Salieri's Concerto for Clavicembalo in B-flat major. However, there is also evidence attesting to Mozart and Salieri sometimes appearing to support each other's work. For example, when Salieri
8778-508: The Roman republic during the consulship of Cicero . These operas were composed in 1787 and 1792 respectively. Two other operas of little success and long-term importance were composed in 1789, and one great popular success La cifra ( The Cipher ). As Salieri's political position became insecure he retired as director of the Italian opera in 1792. He continued to write new operas per imperial contract until 1804 when he voluntarily withdrew from
8932-463: The United Kingdom; those who would formerly have met the criteria for the medal were instead made eligible for the MBE. In 2004, a report entitled A Matter of Honour: Reforming Our Honours System by a Commons select committee recommended phasing out the Order of the British Empire, as its title was "now considered to be unacceptable, being thought to embody values that are no longer shared by many of
9086-450: The addition of a vertical pearl grey stripe in the centre for awards in the military division). From time to time the order was expanded: there was an increase in the maximum permitted number of recipients in 1933, and a further increase in 1937. During the Second World War, as had been the case during and after World War I, the number of military awards was greatly increased; between 1939 and 1946 there were more than 33,000 appointments to
9240-610: The age of 49. Shaffer lived in Manhattan from the 1970s onward. While on a trip to Ireland shortly after his 90th birthday, Shaffer died on 6 June 2016 at a hospice facility in Curraheen, County Cork . Leonard and Shaffer are buried together in the east side of Highgate Cemetery . In 1989 the Hamburg -based Alfred Toepfer Foundation awarded Shaffer its annual Shakespeare Prize in recognition of his life's work. In 1993, he
9394-835: The approval of Gluck, Salieri was offered the commission, which he gratefully accepted. Joseph II granted Salieri permission to take a year-long leave of absence (later extended), enabling him to write for La Scala and to undertake a tour of Italy. Salieri's Italian tour of 1778–80 began with the production of Europa riconosciuta ( Europa Recognized ) for La Scala (revived in 2004 for the same opera house's re-opening following extensive renovations). From Milan, Salieri included stops in Venice and Rome before returning to Milan. During this tour, he wrote three new comic operas and he collaborated with Giacomo Rust on one opera, Il talismano [ it ] ( The Talisman ). Of his Italian works one, La Scuola de' gelosi ( The School for Jealousy ),
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#17327798123999548-474: The cathedral. That year, Commonwealth awards made up 40% of all OBEs and MBEs awarded (and 35% of all living recipients of the higher awards). Gradually that proportion reduced as independent states within the Commonwealth established their own systems of honours . The last Canadian recommendation for the Order of the British Empire was an MBE for gallantry gazetted in 1966, a year before the creation of
9702-418: The circlet. In 1929, to bring the order into line with the other orders of chivalry, members of the first class of the order (GBE) were provided with mantles, hats and collars. Only Knights/Dames Grand Cross wear these elaborate vestments; the hat is now rarely, if ever, worn. Use of the mantle is limited to important occasions (such as quadrennial services and coronations ). The mantle is always worn with
9856-444: The collar. Although the mantle was introduced in 1929, very few mantles would have been produced prior to the 1937 design changes, as there were few occasions for wearing them in the intervening years. On certain days designated by the sovereign, known as " collar days ", members attending formal events may wear the order's collar over their military uniform, formal day dress, evening wear or robes of office. Collars are returned upon
10010-479: The country's population". The committee further suggested changing the name of the award to the Order of British Excellence, and changing the rank of Commander to Companion (as the former was said to have a "militaristic ring"), as well as advocating for the abolition of knighthoods and damehoods; the government, however, was not of the opinion that a case for change had been made, and the aforementioned suggestions and recommendations were not, therefore, pursued. In
10164-403: The death of their owners, but other insignia may be retained. The six office-holders of the order wear pearl-grey mantles lined with rose-pink, having on the right side a purple shield charged with the roundel from the badge. Each of these office-holders wears a unique badge of office, suspended from a gold chain worn around the neck. The British Empire Medal is made of silver. On the obverse
10318-473: The discovery of "a long-forgotten treasure". Salieri has even begun to attract some attention from Hollywood. In 2001, his triple concerto was used in the soundtrack of The Last Castle , featuring Robert Redford and James Gandolfini. It is a story that builds on the rivalry between a meticulous but untested officer (Gandolfini) serving as the warden of a military prison and an imprisoned but much admired and highly decorated general (Redford). The Salieri piece
10472-626: The distinction between ranks in military operational gallantry awards will cease'. The reforms affected the order at various levels: for example the automatic award each year of a GBE to the Lord Mayor of London ceased; the OBE replaced the Imperial Service Order as an award for civil servants and the number of MBEs awarded each year was significantly increased. As part of these reforms the British Empire Medal stopped being awarded by
10626-736: The exiled royal house of Portugal in 1824. Axur and his other new compositions completed by 1792 marked the height of Salieri's popularity and his influence. Just as his apogee of fame was being reached abroad, his influence in Vienna began to diminish with the death of Joseph II in 1790. Joseph's death deprived Salieri of his greatest patron and protector. During this period of imperial change in Vienna and revolutionary ferment in France, Salieri composed two additional extremely innovative musical dramas to libretti by Giovanni Casti. Due, however, to their satiric and overtly liberal political inclinations, both operas were seen as unsuitable for public performance in
10780-514: The features of operatic compositional vocabulary, and his music was a powerful influence on contemporary composers. Appointed the director of the Italian opera by the Habsburg court, a post he held from 1774 until 1792, Salieri dominated Italian-language opera in Vienna. During his career, he also spent time writing works for opera houses in Paris, Rome, and Venice, and his dramatic works were widely performed throughout Europe during his lifetime. As
10934-469: The first opera buffa published in full score by Artaria . Shortly after this success, Joseph II had Mozart and Salieri each contribute a one-act opera and/or Singspiel for production at a banquet in 1786. Salieri collaborated with Casti to produce a parody of the relationship between poet and composer in Prima la musica e poi le parole (First the music and then the words). This short work also highlighted
11088-529: The former was to be responsible for recording all proceedings connected with the order, issuing warrants under the seal of the order and making arrangements for investitures, while the latter (at that time the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury ) was responsible for collecting and tabulating the names of those who were to receive an award. The office of Dean was added in 1957. The King of Arms
11242-598: The general repertory, but performances of his works are progressively becoming more regular. His operas Falstaff (1995 production from the Schwetzingen Festival ) and Tarare (1987 production, also from the Schwetzingen Festival) have been released on DVD. In 2004, the opera Europa riconosciuta was staged in Milan for the reopening of La Scala in Milan, with soprano Diana Damrau in
11396-401: The governments of overseas dominions to make their own nominations; Canada and South Africa began doing so in 1942, followed by Australia, New Zealand and other Commonwealth realms. In May 1957, forty years after the foundation of the order, it was announced that St Paul's Cathedral was to serve as the church of the order, and in 1960 a chapel was dedicated for its use within the crypt of
11550-450: The highest class of the order (GBE). The designs of all these items underwent major changes in 1937. The badge is worn by all members of the order; the size, colour and design depends on the class of award. The badge for all classes is in the form of a cross patonce (having the arms growing broader and floriated toward the end) with a medallion in the centre, the obverse of which bears a crowned image of George V and Queen Mary within
11704-635: The honours system, calling it "a preposterous charade". The order has attracted some criticism for its naming having connection with the idea of the now-extinct British Empire . Benjamin Zephaniah , a British poet of Jamaican and Barbadian descent, publicly rejected appointment as an Officer in 2003 because, he asserted, it reminded him of "thousands of years of brutality". He also said that "it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised". Antonio Salieri Antonio Salieri (18 August 1750 – 7 May 1825)
11858-471: The imperial chapel continued, his duties required the composition of a large number of sacred works, and in his last years, it was almost exclusively in religious works and teaching that Salieri occupied himself. Among his compositions written for the chapel were two complete sets of vespers, many graduals, offertories, and four orchestral masses. During this period he lost his only son in 1805 and his wife in 1807. Salieri continued to conduct publicly, including
12012-446: The insignia to Buckingham Palace and by ceasing to make reference to their honour, but they still hold the honour unless and until annulled by the monarch. In 2003, The Sunday Times published a list of the people who had rejected the Order of the British Empire, including David Bowie , John Cleese , Nigella Lawson , Elgar Howarth , L. S. Lowry , George Melly , and J. G. Ballard . In addition, Ballard voiced his opposition to
12166-502: The inspiration and innovation found in his writing for the stage. These orchestral works are mainly in the Galant style, and although they show some development toward the late classical, they reflect a general weakness in comparison to his operatic works of the same and later periods. These works were written for mostly unknown occasions and artists. They include two concertos for pianoforte, one in C major and one in B flat major (both 1773);
12320-471: The international political situation, pedagogical works written to aid his students in voice, and finally simple songs, rounds or canons written for home entertainment; many with original poetry by the composer. He also composed one large-scale instrumental work in 1815 intended as a study in late classical orchestration: Twenty-Six Variations for the Orchestra on a Theme called La Folia di Spagna . The theme
12474-640: The junior post-nominal letters. The British sovereign is the sovereign of the order and appoints all other officers of the order (by convention, on the advice of the governments of the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth realms ). The second-most senior officer is the Grand Master (a 'Prince of the Blood Royal, or other exalted personage' appointed by the sovereign, who, by virtue of their appointment, becomes 'the First or Principal Knight Grand Cross of
12628-528: The latter. Knights and Dames Commander and Commanders may display the circlet, but not the collar, surrounding their arms. The badge is depicted suspended from the collar or circlet. See List of current honorary knights and dames of the Order of the British Empire Only the monarch can annul an honour. The Honours Forfeiture Committee considers cases and makes recommendations for forfeiture. An individual can renounce their honour by returning
12782-463: The left breast, by Knights and Dames Grand Cross; Knights and Dames Commander wear a smaller star composed of 'four equal points and four lesser'. The star is not worn by the more junior classes. Prior to 1937 each star had in the centre a gold medallion with a figure of Britannia, surrounded by a crimson circlet inscribed with the motto of the order ('For God and the Empire'); since 1937 the effigies of King George V and Queen Mary have been shown within
12936-588: The medal 'for gallantry', which had come to be known as the Empire Gallantry Medal , were given permission to use the postnominal letters EGM (and at the same time to add a laurel branch emblem to the ribbon of the medal); however, in 1940, awards of the EGM ceased and all holders of the medal were instructed to exchange it for a new and more prestigious gallantry award: the George Cross . In 1941,
13090-559: The medal of the order 'for meritorious service' was renamed the British Empire Medal , and the following year its recipients were granted the right to use the postnominal letters BEM. During the war, the BEM came to be used to recognise acts of bravery which did not merit the award of a George Cross or George Medal , a use which continued until the introduction of the Queen's Gallantry Medal in 1974. The designs of insignia of
13244-449: The medal. The colour of the riband was also changed: twenty years earlier, prior to the order's establishment, Queen Mary had made it known that pink would be her preferred colour for the riband of the proposed new order, but, in the event, purple was chosen. Following her appointment as Grand Master of the order in 1936 a change was duly made and since 9 March 1937 the riband of the order has been 'rose pink edged with pearl grey’ (with
13398-469: The most famous of his pupils. Salieri's music slowly disappeared from the repertoire between 1800 and 1868 and was rarely heard after that period until the revival of his fame in the late 20th century. This revival was due to the fictionalized depiction of Salieri in Peter Shaffer 's play Amadeus (1979) and its 1984 film version . The death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1791 at the age of 35
13552-473: The names of the former are written out in their fullest forms. Male clergy of the Church of England or the Church of Scotland do not use the title Sir (unless they were knighted before being ordained) as they do not receive the accolade (they are not dubbed "knight" with a sword), although they do append the post-nominal letters ; dames do not receive the accolade, and therefore female clergy are free to use
13706-400: The next three years, Salieri was primarily concerned with rehearsing and conducting the Italian opera company in Vienna and with teaching. His three complete operas written during this time show the development of his compositional skills, but included no great success, either commercially or artistically. His most important compositions during this period were a symphony in D major, performed in
13860-465: The northern German states, where it helped to establish Salieri's reputation as an important and innovative modern composer. It was also the first opera to receive a serious preparation in a piano and vocal reduction by Carl Friedrich Cramer [ de ] in 1783. Armida was soon followed by Salieri's first truly popular success, a commedia per musica in the style of Carlo Goldoni La Fiera di Venezia ( The Fair of Venice ). La Fiera
14014-454: The numbers restricted to the order as full members do. Although the Order of the British Empire has by far the highest number of members of the British orders of chivalry, with more than 100,000 living members worldwide, there are fewer appointments to knighthoods than in other orders. From time to time, individuals may be promoted to a higher grade within the Order, thereby ceasing usage of
14168-653: The only two major successes to emerge from the German Singspiel experiment, and only Mozart's opera survived on the stage beyond the close of the 18th century. In 1783 the Italian opera company was revived with singers partly chosen and vetted by Salieri during his Italian tour; the new season opened with a slightly re-worked version of Salieri's recent success La Scuola de' gelosi . Salieri then returned to his rounds of rehearsing, composition, and teaching. However, his time at home in Vienna quickly ended when an opportunity to write an opera for Paris arose, again through
14322-620: The order alongside its own honours until the establishment of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 1996. Other Commonwealth realms have continued to use the Order of the British Empire alongside their own honours. In 1993 the Prime Minister, John Major , instituted a reform of the honours system with the aim 'that exceptional service or achievement will be more widely recognised; that greater importance will be given to voluntary service; that automatic honours will end; that
14476-408: The order and medal were altered in 1937, prior to the coronation of King George VI , 'in commemoration of the reign of King George V and Queen Mary, during which the Order was founded'. The figure of Britannia at the centre of the badge of the order was replaced with an image of the crowned heads of the late King and Queen Mary, and the words 'Instituted by King George V' were added to the reverse of
14630-409: The order was celebrated with a service at St Paul's Cathedral. The order is limited to 300 Knights and Dames Grand Cross, 845 Knights and Dames Commander, and 8,960 Commanders. There are no limits applied to the total number of members of the fourth and fifth classes, but no more than 858 officers and 1,464 members may be appointed per year. Foreign appointees, as honorary members, do not contribute to
14784-426: The order, to which serving personnel would in future be appointed. The classes were the same as for the Civil Division (as it was now termed), but military awards were distinguished by the addition of a central vertical red stripe to the purple riband of the civil awards. In 1920 appointment as an MBE 'for an act of gallantry' was granted for the first time, to Sydney Frank Blanck Esq, who had rescued an injured man from
14938-400: The overture, to the last choir there was not a piece that didn't elicit a 'Bravo!' or 'Bello!' out of him [...]." Salieri, along with Mozart's protégé Johann Nepomuk Hummel educated Mozart's younger son Franz Xaver Mozart , who was born about four months before his father's death. Salieri and his music were largely forgotten from the 19th century until the late 20th century. This revival
15092-494: The patronage of Gluck. Salieri traveled abroad to fulfill an important commission. The opera Les Danaïdes ( The Danaids ) is a five-act tragédie lyrique . The plot was based on an ancient Greek legend that had been the basis for the first play in a trilogy by Aeschylus , entitled The Suppliants . The original commission that reached Salieri in 1783–84 was to assist Gluck in finishing a work for Paris that had been all but completed; in reality, Gluck had failed to notate any of
15246-469: The performance on 18 March 1808 of Haydn 's The Creation during which Haydn collapsed, and several premieres by Beethoven including the 1st and 2nd Piano Concertos and Wellington's Victory . He also continued to help administer several charities and organize their musical events. His remaining secular works in this late period fall into three categories: first, large-scale cantatas and one oratorio Habsburg written on patriotic themes or in response to
15400-496: The personal losses that struck Salieri in the same period, led to his withdrawal from operatic work. Related to this Mosel quotes the aged composer concerning the radical changes in musical taste that were underway in the age of Beethoven, "From that period [circa 1800] I realized that musical taste was gradually changing in a manner completely contrary to that of my own times. Eccentricity and confusion of genres replaced reasoned and masterful simplicity." As his teaching and work with
15554-691: The play was nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar in 1978. Shaffer's play Amadeus won the Evening Standard Drama Award and the Theatre Critics' Award for its initial London production. Upon moving to Broadway, Amadeus won the 1981 Tony Award for Best Play. His screenplay adaptation of the play won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar as well as the Golden Globe Best Screenplay in 1984. Shaffer's play Lettice and Lovage
15708-427: The political situation threatened and eventually overwhelmed Austria, which was repeatedly crushed by French political forces, Salieri's first and most important biographer Ignaz von Mosel described the emotional effect that this political, social, and cultural upheaval had on the composer. Mosel noted that these radical changes, especially the invasion and defeat of Austria, and the occupation of Vienna intertwined with
15862-615: The politically reactive cultures of Leopold II and later Francis II . This resulted in two of his most original operas being consigned to his desk drawer, namely Cublai, gran kan de' Tartari ( Kublai Grand Kahn of Tartary ) a satire on the autocracy and court intrigues at the court of the Russian Tsarina , Catherine the Great , and Catilina , a semi-comic/semi-tragic account of the Catiline conspiracy that attempted to overthrow
16016-513: The popular 1984 film Amadeus uses the cliché of the jealous Salieri trying to hinder Mozart's career. Ironically, Salieri's music was much more in the tradition of Gluck and Gassmann than of the Italians like Paisiello or Cimarosa . In 1772, Empress Maria Theresa commented on her preference for Italian composers over Germans like Gassmann, Salieri, or Gluck. While Italian by birth, Salieri had lived in imperial Vienna for almost 60 years and
16170-468: The princess's piano teacher. "Salieri and his tribe will move heaven and earth to put it down", Leopold Mozart wrote to his daughter Nannerl . But at the time of the premiere of Figaro , Salieri was busy with his new French opera Les Horaces . In addition, when Lorenzo Da Ponte was in Prague preparing the production of Mozart's setting of his Don Giovanni , the poet was ordered back to Vienna for
16324-471: The production was nominated for best direction of a play, at the 1990 Tony Awards . Several of Shaffer's plays have been adapted to film, including Five Finger Exercise (1962); The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1969); The Public Eye (1962), from which he adapted the 1972 film Follow Me! (1972); Equus (1977); and Amadeus (1984), which won eight Academy Awards , including Best Picture . For writing
16478-525: The rest of his life. In that year he became Kapellmeister of the Imperial Chapel upon the death of Giuseppe Bonno ; as Kapellmeister he conducted the music and musical school connected with the chapel until shortly before his death, being officially retired from the post in 1824. His Italian adaptation of Tarare , Axur proved to be his greatest international success. Axur was widely produced throughout Europe and it even reached South America with
16632-603: The same Order'). The position of Grand Master has been held by the following people: In addition to the sovereign and the grand master , the order has six further officers: At its foundation the order was served by three officers: the King of Arms, the Registrar & Secretary and the Gentleman Usher of the Purple Rod. In 1922 the Prelate was added, and the office of Registrar was separated from that of Secretary:
16786-456: The scores for the new opera and gave the entire project over to his young friend. Gluck feared that the Parisian critics would denounce the opera by a young composer known mostly for comic pieces and so the opera was originally billed in the press as being a new work by Gluck with some assistance from Salieri, then shortly before the premiere of the opera the Parisian press reported that the work
16940-550: The screenplay for Equus , Schaffer was nominated for an Academy Award for his adapted screenplay, but the award went to Alvin Sargent , who wrote the screenplay for Julia . For writing the screenplay for Amadeus , Shaffer was awarded a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award. Shaffer was gay . In the 1970s, Shaffer was in a relationship with Paul Giovanni , musician and composer of The Wicker Man . His later partner, New York-based voice teacher Robert Leonard, died in 1990 at
17094-568: The singer Nancy Storace . This work, although it had been printed by Artaria in 1785, was considered lost until 10 January 2016, when the Schwäbische Zeitung reported on the discovery by musicologist and composer Timo Jouko Herrmann of a copy of its text and music while doing research on Antonio Salieri in the collections of the Czech Museum of Music. Mozart's Davide penitente (1785), his Piano Concerto KV 482 (1785),
17248-418: The special place that Italian composers had in the courts of the Austrian nobility, blamed the Italians in general and Salieri in particular for all of Mozart's difficulties in establishing himself in Vienna. Mozart wrote to his father in May 1783 about Salieri and Lorenzo Da Ponte , the court poet: "You know those Italian gentlemen; they are very nice to your face! Enough, we all know about them. And if Da Ponte
17402-453: The stage, he recognized that artistic styles had changed and he felt that he no longer had the creative capacity to adapt or the emotional desire to continue. Also as Salieri aged, he moved slowly away from his more liberal political stances as he saw the enlightened reform of Joseph II's reign, and the hoped-for reforms of the French revolution, replaced with more radical revolutionary ideas. As
17556-497: The stage. Of his late works for the stage only two works gained wide popular esteem during his life, Palmira, regina di Persia ( Palmira, Queen of Persia ) (1795) and Cesare in Farmacusa [ de ] (Caesar on Pharmacusa ), both drawing on the heroic and exotic success established with Axur . His late opera based on William Shakespeare 's The Merry Wives of Windsor , Falstaff ossia Le tre burle (Falstaff, or
17710-461: The standard of the George Medal (even though, as appointments to an order of chivalry, they were listed before it on the Order of Wear . In contrast to awards for meritorious service, which usually appear without a citation, there were often citations for gallantry awards, some detailed and graphic. From 14 January 1958, these awards were designated Commander, Officer or Member of the Order of
17864-422: The summer of 1776, and the oratorio La Passione di Gesù Cristo with a text by Metastasio , performed during Advent of 1776. After the financial collapse of the Italian opera company in 1777 due to financial mismanagement, Joseph II decided to end the performance of Italian opera, French-spoken drama, and ballet. Instead, the two court-owned theaters would be reopened under new management, and partly subsidized by
18018-789: The summers of 2005 and 2007, by director Thea Sharrock at London's Gielgud Theatre in February 2007, and on Broadway (in the Sharrock staging) in September 2008. The latter production, which ran in New York City until February 2009, required the stableboy to appear naked; its star, Daniel Radcliffe , was still associated with the Harry Potter film series intended for general audiences, and this led to mild controversy. Shaffer followed this success with Amadeus (1979) which won
18172-429: The three tricks) (1799) has found a wider audience in modern times than its original reception promised. His last opera was a German-language Singspiel Die Neger [ de ] ( The Negroes ), a melodrama set in colonial Virginia with a text by Georg Friedrich Treitschke (the author of the libretto for Beethoven's Fidelio ); it was performed in 1804 and was a complete failure. When Salieri retired from
18326-506: The title Dame . Knights and Dames Grand Cross use the post-nominal GBE; Knights Commander, KBE; Dames Commander, DBE; Commanders, CBE; Officers, OBE; and Members, MBE. The post-nominal for the British Empire Medal is BEM. Members of all classes of the order are assigned positions in the order of precedence . Wives of male members of all classes also feature on the order of precedence, as do sons, daughters and daughters-in-law of Knights Grand Cross and Knights Commander; relatives of Ladies of
18480-747: The title role. This production was also broadcast on television. In November 2009, Il mondo alla rovescia was given its first staging in modern times at the Teatro Salieri in Legnago in a co-production between the Fondazione Culturale Antonio Salieri and the Fondazione Arena di Verona for the Salieri Opera Festival. From 2009 to 2011 Antonio Giarola directed the Festival. From 2009 to 2012 Antonio Giarola also directed
18634-589: The titles Sir for men and Dame for women before their forenames, except with honorary awards. King George V founded the order to fill gaps in the British honours system : In particular, George V wished to create an order to honour the many thousands of individuals from across the Empire who had served in a variety of non-combat roles during the First World War . From its foundation the order consisted of five classes (GBE, KBE/DBE, CBE, OBE and MBE) and
18788-490: The tradition of reform that Gluck had begun in the 1760s and that Salieri had emulated in his earlier opera Armida . Salieri's first French opera contained scenes of great solemnity and festivity, but overshadowing it all was darkness and revenge. The opera depicted politically motivated murder, filial duty and love in conflict, tyrannicide, and finally eternal damnation. The opera, with its dark overture, lavish choral writing, many ballet scenes, and electrifying finale depicting
18942-414: The typical backstage antics of two high-flown sopranos. Salieri then returned to Paris for the premiere of his tragédie Lyrique Les Horaces ( The Horatii ), which proved a failure, which was more than made up for with his next Parisian opera Tarare , with a libretto by Beaumarchais . This was intended to be the nec plus ultra of reform opera, a completely new synthesis of poetry and music that
19096-424: The use of coloratura in what was a short pastoral comedy more in keeping with a Roman Intermezzo . The mixing and pushing against the boundaries of established operatic genres was a continuing hallmark of Salieri's own personal style, and in his choice of material for the plot (as in his first opera), he manifested a lifelong interest in subjects drawn from classic drama and literature. Salieri's first great success
19250-556: The wealthiest of his pupils received their lessons for free, a tribute to the kindness Gassmann had shown Salieri as a penniless orphan. In November 1823 Salieri attempted suicide. He was committed to medical care and suffered dementia for the last year and a half of his life. He died in Vienna on 7 May 1825, aged 74 and was buried in the Matzleinsdorfer Friedhof on 10 May. At his memorial service on 22 June 1825, his own Requiem in C minor – composed in 1804 –
19404-412: The weekly gatherings. Over the next several years Metastasio gave Salieri informal instruction in prosody and the declamation of Italian poetry, and Gluck became an informal advisor, friend, and confidante. It was toward the end of this extended period of study that Gassmann was called away on a new opera commission and a gap in the theater's program allowed for Salieri to make his debut as a composer of
19558-441: Was an 18th-century anticipation of the ideals of Richard Wagner . Salieri also created a sacred cantata Le Judgment dernier ( The Last Judgement ). The success of his opera Tarare was such that it was soon translated into Italian at Joseph II's behest by Lorenzo Da Ponte as Axur, re d'Ormus ( Axur, King of Hormuz ) and staged at the royal wedding of Franz II in 1788. In 1788 Salieri returned to Vienna, where he remained for
19712-665: Was an Italian composer and teacher of the classical period . He was born in Legnago , south of Verona , in the Republic of Venice , and spent his adult life and career as a subject of the Habsburg monarchy . Salieri was a pivotal figure in the development of late 18th-century opera. As a student of Florian Leopold Gassmann , and a protégé of Christoph Willibald Gluck , Salieri was a cosmopolitan composer who wrote operas in three languages. Salieri helped to develop and shape many of
19866-401: Was appointed Kapellmeister in 1788, he chose to revive Figaro instead of introducing a new opera of his own, and when he attended the coronation festivities for Leopold II in 1790, Salieri had no fewer than three Mozart masses in his luggage. Salieri and Mozart even jointly composed a cantata for voice and piano, Per la ricuperata salute di Ofelia , which celebrated the return to the stage of
20020-563: Was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Letters) by the University of Bath . Shaffer's play, Five Finger Exercise won the Evening Standard Drama Award when it premiered in London and then won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Foreign Play when it moved to New York City. Shaffer's play, Equus won the Tony Award for Best Play and the New York Drama Critics' Circle that year as well. His screenplay adaptation of
20174-803: Was born on August 18, 1750, to Antonio Salieri and his wife, Anna Maria. Salieri started his musical studies in his native town of Legnago ; he was first taught at home by his older brother Francesco Salieri (a former student of the violinist and composer Giuseppe Tartini ), and he received further lessons from the organist of the Legnago Cathedral, Giuseppe Simoni, a pupil of Padre Giovanni Battista Martini . Salieri remembered little from his childhood in later years except for passions for sugar, reading, and music. He twice ran away from home without permission to hear his elder brother play violin concertos in neighboring churches on festival days and he recounted being chastised by his father after failing to greet
20328-413: Was by Marco Coltellini , the house poet for the imperial theaters. While Salieri followed the precepts set forth by Gluck and his librettist Ranieri de' Calzabigi in the preface to Alceste , Salieri also drew on some musical ideas from the more traditional opera seria and even opera buffa , creating a new synthesis in the process. Armida was translated into German and widely performed, especially in
20482-410: Was due to the dramatic and highly fictionalized depiction of Salieri in Peter Shaffer 's play Amadeus (1979), which was given its greatest exposure in its 1984 film version , directed by Miloš Forman . His music today has regained some modest popularity via recordings. It is also the subject of increasing academic study, and a small number of his operas have returned to the stage. In addition, there
20636-541: Was established in 1963, and virtually all of Shaffer's subsequent work was done in its service. His canon contains a mix of philosophical dramas and satirical comedies. The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1964) presents the conquest and killing of the Inca ruler Atahuallpa by the conquistador Francisco Pizarro in Peru, while Black Comedy (1965) takes a humorous look at the antics of a group of characters feeling their way around
20790-402: Was first announced at the end of December 2006, and is available to recipients of all levels of the order, as well as to holders of the British Empire Medal . The pin design is not unique to any level. The pin features the badge of the order, enclosed in a circle of ribbon of its colours of pink and grey. Lapel pins must be purchased separately by a member of the order. The creation of such a pin
20944-447: Was first presented as a work of Gluck's , La grotta di Trofonio (1785), Tarare (1787) ( Tarare was reworked and revised several times as was Les Danaïdes ), Axur, re d'Ormus (1788), La cifra (1789), Palmira, regina di Persia (1795), Il mondo alla rovescia (1795), Falstaff (1799), and Cesare in Farmacusa (1800). Salieri's earliest surviving work is a Mass in C major. He would write four major orchestral masses,
21098-533: Was followed by rumors that he and Salieri had been bitter rivals, and that Salieri had poisoned the younger composer; however, this has been disproved because the symptoms displayed by Mozart's illness did not indicate poisoning and it is likely that they were, at least, mutually respectful peers. Despite denying the allegations, Salieri was greatly affected by the accusations and widespread public belief that he had contributed to Mozart's death, which contributed to his nervous breakdowns in later life. Antonio Salieri
21252-757: Was in the realm of serious opera. Commissioned for an unknown occasion, Salieri's Armida was based on Torquato Tasso 's epic poem La Gerusalemme liberata ( Jerusalem Delivered ); it premiered on 2 June 1771. Armida is a tale of love and duty in conflict and is saturated in magic. The opera is set during the First Crusade and features a dramatic mix of ballet, aria, ensemble, and choral writing, combining theatricality, scenic splendor, and high emotionalism. The work clearly followed in Gluck's footsteps and embraced his reform of serious opera beginning with Orfeo ed Euridice and Alceste . The libretto to Armida
21406-604: Was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame . Shaffer co-wrote three detective novels with his brother Anthony Shaffer under the pseudonym Peter Antony . Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry , rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside
21560-469: Was made a substantive member and subsequently styled as Sir Terry Wogan). Although initially intended to recognise meritorious service, the order began to also be awarded for gallantry. There were an increased number of cases in the Second World War for service personnel and civilians including the merchant navy, police, emergency services and civil defence, mostly MBEs but with a small number of OBEs and CBEs. Such awards were for gallantry that did not reach
21714-409: Was nominated for another Tony Award, and for her performance in it, Dame Maggie Smith won the Tony Award for best actress after three nominations in 1990. Lettice and Lovage also won best supporting actress for Margaret Tyzack and was nominated for best direction of a play in 1990 Tony Awards. Shaffer was appointed a CBE in 1987 and named Knight Bachelor in the 2001 New Year's Honours. In 2007, he
21868-513: Was open to both women and men; provision was also made for conferring honorary awards on foreign recipients. At the same time, alongside the order, the Medal of the Order of the British Empire was instituted, to serve as a lower award granting recipients affiliation but not membership. The first investiture took place at Ibrox Stadium , as part of a royal visit to the Glasgow shipyards, with the appointment of Alexander Ure, 1st Baron Strathclyde as
22022-636: Was performed for the first time. His remains were later transferred to the Zentralfriedhof . His monument is adorned by a poem written by Joseph Weigl , one of his pupils: Ruh sanft! Vom Staub entblößt, Wird Dir die Ewigkeit erblühen. Ruh sanft! In ew'gen Harmonien Ist nun Dein Geist gelöst. Er sprach sich aus in zaubervollen Tönen, Jetzt schwebt er hin zum unvergänglich Schönen. Rest in peace! Uncovered by dust Eternity shall bloom for you. Rest in peace! In eternal harmonies Your spirit now
22176-413: Was presented on ITV on 8 November 1955. Encouraged by this success, Shaffer continued to write and established his reputation as a playwright in 1958, with the production of Five Finger Exercise , which opened in London under the direction of John Gielgud and won the Evening Standard Drama Award. When Five Finger Exercise moved to New York City in 1959, it was equally well received and landed Shaffer
22330-585: Was recommended in Sir Hayden Phillips ' review of the honours system in 2004. The Chapel of the Order of the British Empire is in St Paul's Cathedral . It occupies the far eastern end of the cathedral crypt and was dedicated in 1960. The only heraldic banners normally on display in the chapel are those of the Sovereign of the Order of the British Empire and of the Grand Master of the Order of
22484-455: Was regarded by such people as the music critic Friedrich Rochlitz as a German composer. The biographer Alexander Wheelock Thayer believes that Mozart's rivalry with Salieri could have originated with an incident in 1781, when Mozart applied to be the music teacher of Princess Elisabeth of Württemberg , and Salieri was selected instead because of his reputation as a singing teacher. The following year Mozart once again failed to be selected as
22638-678: Was the identical twin brother of fellow playwright Anthony Shaffer . He was educated at the Hall School , Hampstead , and St Paul's School, London , and subsequently he gained a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge , to study history. Shaffer was a Bevin Boy coal miner during World War II, and took a number of jobs including bookstore clerk, and assistant at the New York Public Library , before discovering his dramatic talents. Shaffer's first play, The Salt Land (1955),
22792-473: Was the most monumental set of orchestral variations before Brahms ' Variations on a Theme by Haydn . His teaching of budding young musicians continued, and among his pupils in composition (usually vocal) were Ludwig van Beethoven , Antonio Casimir Cartellieri , Franz Liszt and Franz Schubert . See: List of music students by teacher: R to S#Antonio Salieri . He also instructed many prominent singers throughout his career, including Caterina Canzi . All but
22946-547: Was through Pacini that Salieri gained the attention of the composer Florian Leopold Gassmann , who, impressed with his protege's talents and concerned for the boy's future, took the young orphan to Vienna, where he personally directed and paid for the remainder of Salieri's musical education. Salieri and Gassmann arrived in Vienna on 15 June 1766. Gassmann's first act was to take Salieri to the Italian Church to consecrate his teaching and service to God, an event that left
23100-526: Was to be given for services rendered in the UK and overseas. Today the majority of recipients are UK citizens, though a number of Commonwealth realms outside the UK continue to make appointments to the order. Honorary awards may be made to citizens of other nations of which the order's sovereign is not the head of state. The five classes of appointment to the Order are, from highest grade to lowest grade: The senior two ranks of Knight or Dame Grand Cross and Knight or Dame Commander entitle their members to use
23254-412: Was to be partly by Gluck and partly by Salieri, and finally, after popular and critical success on stage, the opera was acknowledged in a letter to the public by Gluck as being wholly by the young Salieri. Les Danaïdes was received with great acclaim and its popularity with audiences and critics alike produced several further requests for new works for Paris audiences by Salieri. Les Danaïdes followed in
23408-419: Was when the spoken drama and musical Singspiel were placed on an equal footing. For the young composer, there would be few, if any, new compositional commissions to receive from the court. Salieri was left with few financial options and he began casting about for new opportunities. In 1778 Gluck turned down an offer to compose the inaugural opera for La Scala in Milan. Upon the suggestion of Joseph II and with
23562-477: Was widely imitated. Salieri's next two operas were not particular or lasting successes. La secchia rapita ( The Stolen Bucket ) is a parody of the high flown and emotive arias found in Metastasian opera seria . It also contains innovative orchestrations, including the first known use of three tympani. Again a classic of Renaissance literature was the basis of the libretto by Boccherini, in this case,
23716-471: Was written for Carnival in 1772 and premiered on 29 January. Here Salieri returned to his collaboration with the young Giovanni Boccherini, who crafted an original plot. La Fiera featured characters singing in three languages, a bustling portrayal of the Ascension-tide Fair and Carnival in Venice, and large and lengthy ensembles and choruses. It also included an innovative scene that combined
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