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Podcast: Classical Music Discoveries
Episode: 15102 Salieri: Prima la musica e poi le parole
Description: Prima la musica e poi le parole (First the music and then the words) is an opera in one act by Antonio Salieri to a libretto by Giovanni Battista Casti. The work was first performed on 7 February 1786 in Vienna, following a commission by the Emperor Joseph II. The opera (more specifically, a divertimento teatrale) was first performed at one end of the orangery of the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna by an Italian troupe; simultaneously, Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor was staged at the other end.
The title of the opera is the theme of Richard Strauss's opera Capriccio which debates the r...