Haydn, a good friend of Weigl’s cellist father, was his godfather. Albrechtsberger and Salieri both taught him; he was said to be Salieri’s favourite pupil, and a poem by him is on Salieri’s grave. He worked closely with Mozart both publicly and privately, assisting with the premiering of three of his operas and taking over direction of ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ after two days. Weigl’s precise relationship with two other major figures in Viennese music-theatre remains unclear: Da Ponte wrote the libretto for an opera of his, while Gluck responded warmly to another, and had worked professionally with Weigl’s mother.