Mozart and Salieri

Mozart and Salieri is a one-act opera in two scenes by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, written in 1897 to a Russian libretto taken almost verbatim from Alexander Pushkin's 1830 verse drama of the same name. The story follows the apocryphal legend that Antonio Salieri poisoned Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart out of jealousy over the latter's music. Rimsky-Korsakov incorporated quotations from Mozart's Requiem and Don Giovanni into the score. Richard Taruskin has placed this opera in the historical context of the development of the realistic tradition in Russian opera. Performance history The first performance took place at the Solodovnikov Theater in Moscow, presented by the Moscow Private Russian Opera, Moscow on 7 December 1898 (O.S. 25 November). The conductor was Iosif Truffi and scenic designer was Mikhail Vrubel. Feodor Chaliapin, who originated the role of Salieri, claimed to have often sung the piece as a monodrama, as the role of Mozart goes no higher than g and was within his range.