Hidden within the holdings of the Austrian National Library is a manuscript document authored by Antonio Salieri in 1802. It embodies a letter of sorts, addressed to “that person who will one day mount the world première of this opera”. The voice heard here is that of a composer who, realising that he would not live to see his final work for the stage premièred, took pains to lay down instructions that might be read by an unknown recipient in the future. Now, 224 years later, Salieri’s letter has received a response of sorts: this past May witnessed the world première of La bella Selvaggia in Valladolid, Spain.