Happy birthday, Antonio Salieri! Patron saint of mediocrities everywhere. Or so “Amadeus” would have us believe.

I first encountered this article in The New Yorker back in 1985. The piece takes the form of a letter to Milos Forman, director of the Oscar-winning adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s stage play.

Is it the funniest thing ever? No, but, much like Salieri himself, it has its moments, and somehow I’ve never forgotten it. (For the record, Franz Schubert’s middle name is Peter.)

Salieri composed 37 operas, in addition to orchestral works, concertos, chamber music, and sacred pieces. And what do you know? A lot of his music is quite good! He was no Mozart, maybe – but who was?

Beethoven’s Variations on “La stessa, la stessissima,” cited in the article

The theme, from Salieri’s “Falstaff”

Overture to “Les Horaces”

Concerto for Flute, Oboe and Orchestra

“Das Lob der Musik” (“The Praise of Music”)

A Mozart and Salieri collaborative effort, the cantata “Per la ricuperata salute di Ofelia”

“De Profundis”

“I absolve you.”