Florence), Giulio Sabino (1781, Venice), Le nozze di Dorina (1782, Milan) and Armide (1785, St. Petersburg). He also wrote considerable sacred music, especially for Russian use. Though courteously treated by Mozart, he indulged in an extraordinary attack upon the latter's quartets.
Florian Leopold Gassmann (d. 1774), a Bohemian, for a time a pupil of Martini and then in the service of a Venetian noble, in 1762 became court-composer and conductor at Vienna, there producing the first of his 22 operas. Being a favorite of Maria Theresa, in 1771 he was made choirmaster, succeeding Reutter, and head of the Royal Library. He wrote also for the church and for instruments.
Joseph Misliweczek [Venatorini] (d. 1781), also a Bohemian, studied at Prague and in 1760 published his first symphonies. From 1763 he turned to dramatic music under Pescetti at Venice, and in 1764 wrote Il Bellerofonte, achieving instant popularity in the chief Italian cities. In all, he wrote about 30 operas, which were generally well received. He had a cordial friendship with Mozart.
Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf (d. 1799), born in 1739 and trained at Vienna under Trani and Bonno, made his first reputation as a violinist of the highest skill. In 1765 he followed Michael Haydn at Pressburg, where in 1767 his first opera was given, and about 1770 entered the service of the pleasure-loving Bishop of Breslau at Johannisberg. He became a court-favorite there and at Vienna, where he often appeared as an opera-writer, as also at Berlin. From 1795, his patron having died, he was befriended by a Bohemian noble. He was an abundant writer in all forms, specially famous for his comic operas and singspiele, mostly in German, which gave an important stimulus to the national drama. The more noted examples belong to 1786-8, such as Doktor und Apotheker (which is still given), Der Betrug durch Aberglauben, Die Liebe im Narrenhaus, Hieronymus Knicker, Das rote Käppchen. Of his oratorios, Ester (1773) and Giobbe (1786) are still extant. He also wrote over 110 symphonies, including 12 on Ovid's Metamorphoses (1785), many concertos, quartets and piano-pieces. His brilliant gifts as a composer might have been more telling if he had not come into immediate comparison with Haydn and Mozart, both of whom were his personal friends. In 1770 the Pope made him Knight of the Golden Spur, and in 1773 he received knighthood from the Emperor. Just before his death he dictated an interesting autobiography.
As opera-writers, Ditters, Mozart and Haydn were almost exactly contemporaneous. Mozart must be separately considered (see secs. 156-157). Haydn's efforts in this field were inconspicuous, though not without merit (see sec. 145). Two others of the same period follow:—
Joseph Schuster (d. 1812), the fluent composer of about 25 operas (from 1770) and much other music, from 1772 was in high favor at the court of Dresden. He was trained in Italy, partly under Martini, was honored at Naples, and made long sojourns in Italian cities, writing mostly in the current Italian style. But he was also an early experimenter with German opera.
Antonio Salieri (d. 1825) was more significant. Born near Verona in 1750, first trained at Venice and from 1766 under Gassmann at Vienna, his first opera was produced there in 1770, followed by several more in the usual Italian manner. In 1774 he took Gassmann's place as court-composer and in
