Born in the Bohemian town of Most in 1729, Florian Leopold Gassmann worked for a time in Venice (writing opera buffa to texts by Goldoni) before being appointed ballet composer in Vienna in 1763. He taught the young Antonio Salieri when the latter arrived in Vienna in 1764 and, after Gassmann's death in 1774, Salieri assumed his position as chamber music composer. He also instructed Gassmann's two daughters in the art of singing.