Florian Leopold Gassmann

Florian Leopold Gassmann (3 May 1729 – 21 January 1774[1]) was a German-speaking Bohemian opera composer of the transitional period between the baroque and classical eras.

In 1763 he was called to Vienna as court ballet composer, and was held in great affection by Emperor Joseph II.

In 1766 Gassmann met up-and-coming young Antonio Salieri in Venice, invited him to return with him to Vienna and taught him composition using Johann Joseph Fux's textbook Gradus ad Parnassum.

In 1771, Gassmann founded the Tonkünstler-Societät (Society of Musical Artists), which was the first group in Vienna to give concerts for the general public, and for the benefit of its members' widows and orphans.

Charles Burney, in one of his published accounts of his many European tours surveying the musical scene, recalls, on a visit to Joseph II and his court, meeting Gassmann and finding him very forthcoming.