This book is a long-overdue tribute to a much and unfairly maligned operatic genius of classical Italian music, who was one of Beethoven's teachers. The book contains not only a Salieri biography, but a detailed history of the opera in to Salieri's day and rightly regards him as the successor of Gluck's reform operas. The major fault of the book is that it will appeal mainly to musicians and musical historians rather than the general reader due to its over-technical nature with regard to some areas. Still, the best book about Salieri's life and art.