Welcome to the Ether Game Weekly Podcast! Our theme this week is "Musical Also-Rans" where the Ether Game Brain Trust looks at the art of second place. Expect to hear some music by people who were always slightly out of the spotlight. To get you started (or for those of you who just cannot wait for Tuesday nights), you can sharpen your skills with our podcast selection. Remember to keep your ears out for a portion of Tuesday night's Teaser selection. And don't forget to tune into the full show on Tuesday, September 27th at 8:00pm for a chance to win a prize!

Antonio Salieri (1750–1825): LA SECCHIA RAPITA, "Son qual lacera tartana" (aria)

Cecilia Bartoli, soprano; Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; Adam Fischer, conductor. The Salieri Album (Decca)

When talking about musical second place finishers, one must mention the also-ran composer Antonio Salieri, who famously stood in the shadows of his musical rival Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Or did he? Many of us know of this rivalry today due to the Academy Award winning film Amadeus, based on the Tony Award winning play by Peter Shaffer. The idea did not originate with Shaffer, however. Mozart and Salieri was originally an 1830 play by Russian author Alexander Pushkin, later adapted into an opera by composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Many of the rumors surrounding the rivalry, like the fact that Salieri poisoned Mozart out of jealously, were perpetuated by Pushkin's play. While the two did vie for many of the same jobs, in reality, Salieri was a well-respected figure in 18th-century opera in his own right.