txtDefinition=Italian composer (1750-1825) who spent most of his career in {\uldb Vienna}{\v 135870} and became one of its most influential musicians. So fond was the emperor, {\uldb Joseph II}{\v 138614}, of Salieri that he became known as the \'93musical pope.\'94 Salieri was first and foremost an {\uldb opera}{\v 133191} composer, though a considerably less innovative one than Mozart. Both Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert studied with Salieri.