![Joseph Siffred Duplessis - Christoph Willibald Gluck - Google Art Project](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Joseph_Siffred_Duplessis_-_Christoph_Willibald_Gluck_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
Christoph Willibald (
Ritter
Ritter (German for "knight") is a designation used as a title of nobility in German-speaking areas. Traditionally it denotes the second-lowest rank within the nobility, standing above " Edler" and below "Freiherr" (Baron). As with most titles a ...
von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early
classical period. Born in the
Upper Palatinate
The Upper Palatinate (german: Oberpfalz, , ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany, and is located in the east of Bavaria.
Geography
The Upper Palatinate is a landscape with low mountains and numerous ponds and lakes ...
and raised in
Bohemia, both part of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...
, he gained prominence at the
Habsburg court at Vienna. There he brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices for which many intellectuals had been campaigning. With a series of radical new works in the 1760s, among them ''
Orfeo ed Euridice'' and ''
Alceste'', he broke the stranglehold that
Metastasian ''
opera seria'' had enjoyed for much of the century. Gluck introduced more drama by using orchestral
recitative
Recitative (, also known by its Italian name "''recitativo''" ()) is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repeat ...
and cutting the usually long
da capo aria
The da capo aria () is a musical form for arias that was prevalent in the Baroque era. It is sung by a soloist with the accompaniment of instruments, often a small orchestra. The da capo aria is very common in the musical genres of opera and orato ...
. His later operas have half the length of a typical
baroque opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a ...
. Future composers like
Mozart,
Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
,
Berlioz and
Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
revered Gluck very highly.
The strong influence of
French opera encouraged Gluck to move to Paris in November 1773. Fusing the traditions of
Italian opera and the French (with rich chorus) into a unique synthesis, Gluck wrote eight operas for the Parisian stage. ''
Iphigénie en Tauride'' (1779) was a great success and is generally acknowledged to be his finest work. Though he was extremely popular and widely credited with bringing about a revolution in French opera, Gluck's mastery of the Parisian operatic scene was never absolute, and after the poor reception of his ''
Echo et Narcisse
In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the list ...
'' (1779), he left Paris in disgust and returned to Vienna to live out the remainder of his life.
Life and career
Ancestry and early years
![Gluck-Denkmal Weidenwang 004](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Gluck-Denkmal_Weidenwang_004.JPG)
Gluck's earliest known ancestor is his great-grandfather, Simon Gluckh von Rockenzahn, whose name is recorded in the marriage contract (1672) of his son, the
forester
A forester is a person who practises forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including ecological restoration and management of protected areas. Foresters manage forests to ...
Johann (Hans) Adam Gluck (c. 1649–1722) and grandfather of Christoph.
[Brown & Rushton 2001]
"1. Ancestry, early life and training."
/ref>[Croll & Croll 2014, p. 13.] 'Rockenzahn' is believed to be Rokycany, located in the central part of western Bohemia (about 70 km southwest of Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
and 16 km east of Pilsen). The family name Gluck (also spelled Gluckh, Klugh, Kluch, etc.) likely comes from the Czech word for boy (''kluk''). In its various spellings, it is repeatedly found in the records of Rokycany.[ Around 1675 Hans Adam moved to ]Neustadt an der Waldnaab
Neustadt an der Waldnaab ( Bavarian: ''Neistodt an da Woidnaab'') is a municipality in Bavaria, Germany, and county seat of the district Neustadt an der Waldnaab.
Sister cities
Neustadt an der Waldnaab has one sister city:
* Hays, Kansas
...
in the service of Prince Ferdinand August von Lobkowitz
The House of Lobkowicz (''Lobkovicové'' in modern Czech, sg. ''z Lobkovic''; ''Lobkowitz'' in German) is a Czech noble family that dates back to the 14th century and is one of the oldest Bohemian noble families. The family also belong to the Ge ...
, who possessed extensive landholdings in Bohemia as well as the county of Störnstein- Neustadt in the Upper Palatinate.[
Gluck's father, Alexander, was born in Neustadt an der Waldnaab on 28 October 1683, one of four sons of Hans Adam Gluck who became foresters or gamekeepers. Alexander served in a contingent of about 50 soldiers under Philipp Hyazinth von Lobkowitz, the son of Ferdinand August von Lobkowitz, during the ]War of Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phili ...
, and, according to Gluck family tradition, rose to the level of gunbearer to the great general of the imperial forces, Eugene of Savoy
Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy–Carignano, (18 October 1663 – 21 April 1736) better known as Prince Eugene, was a field marshal in the army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty during the 17th and 18th centuries. He ...
. In 1711 Alexander settled outside Berching as a forester and hunter in the service of the monastery Seligenporten, Plankstetten Abbey, and the mayors of Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz.[Robl 2015.] He took the vacant position of hunter in Erasbach
Berching ( bar, Bacham) is a town in the district of Neumarkt in Bavaria, Germany.
Berching is a historical town with a fully preserved town wall and low streamlet. The first settlement was registered in 883, so it is more than 1100 years old. ...
in 1711 or 1712 (his predecessor had been found shot in the forest).
About Gluck's mother, Maria Walburga, almost nothing is known, including her surname, but she probably grew up in the same area as she was named after Saint Walburga, the sister of Saint Willibald
Willibald (; c. 700 – c.787) was an 8th-century bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria.
Information about his life is largely drawn from the Hodoeporicon (itinerary) of Willibald, a text written in the 8th century by Huneberc, an Anglo-Saxon nun fr ...
, the first bishop of nearby Eichstätt
Eichstätt () is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the district of Eichstätt. It is located on the Altmühl river and has a population of around 13,000. Eichstätt is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese ...
.[ The couple probably married around 1711.] In 1713 Alexander built a house in Erasbach and by 12 September had taken possession of it.
Although there is no documentary record with Gluck's birthdate at the time of his birth, he himself gave it as 2 July 1714 on an official document requested by Paris that he signed in 1785 in Vienna in the presence of the French ambassador Emmanuel Marie Louis de Noailles. This has long been the commonly accepted date. He was baptized Christophorus Willibaldus on 4 July 1714 in the village of Weidenwang, a parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...
that at that time also included Erasbach. Gluck himself never used the name Willibald. The church in Weidenwang was consecrated to Saint Willibald
Willibald (; c. 700 – c.787) was an 8th-century bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria.
Information about his life is largely drawn from the Hodoeporicon (itinerary) of Willibald, a text written in the 8th century by Huneberc, an Anglo-Saxon nun fr ...
(as was the entire Eichstätt diocese to which it belonged), and the name Willibald is frequently found in the baptismal register, often as a second name. No documents contemporary with Gluck's life use the name Willibald. Only in the 19th century did scholars begin using it to distinguish the composer from his father's brother Johann Christoph, born in 1700, whose baptism had earlier been confused with that of the composer.
In the year of Gluck's birth, the Treaty of Rastatt
The Treaty of Rastatt was a peace treaty between France and Austria that was concluded on 7 March 1714 in the Baden city of Rastatt to end the War of the Spanish Succession between both countries. The treaty followed the Treaty of Utrecht of 11 A ...
and the Treaty of Baden ended the War of Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phili ...
and brought Erasbach under Bavarian control. Gluck's father had to reapply to retain his position and received no salary until after 1715, when he began receiving 20 gulden. He obtained additional employment in the vicinity of Weidenwang in 1715 as a forester in the service of Seligenporten Monastery, and after 1715, also with Plankstetten Abbey. In 1716 Alexander Gluck was cited for poor performance and warned he might be terminated. He sold his house in August 1717 and voluntarily left Erasbach near the end of September to take up employment as head forester in Reichstadt, serving the Duchess of Tuscany, the wealthy Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg, since 1708 separated from her husband Gian Gastone de' Medici, the last duke of Tuscany.
On 1 April 1722 Alexander Gluck took a position as forest-master under Count Philipp Joseph von Kinsky in Böhmisch Kamnitz, where Kinsky had increased his domains. The family moved to the forester's house in nearby Oberkreibitz.
In 1727 Alexander moved with his family to Eisenberg (Jezeří in Horní Jiřetín) to take his final post, head forester to Prince Philipp Hyazinth von Lobkowitz. It is not sure if Christoph was sent to the Jesuit college in Chomutov, 20 km southwest.
The Alsatian painter Johann Christian von Mannlich relates in his memoirs, published in 1810, that Gluck told him about his early life in 1774. He quotes Gluck as saying:
In 1727 or 1728, when Gluck was 13 or 14, he went to Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
. A childhood flight from home to Vienna is included in several contemporary accounts of Gluck's life, including Mannlich's, but some scholars have cast doubt on Gluck's picturesque tales of earning food and shelter by his singing as he travelled. Most now feel it is more likely that the object of Gluck's travels was not Vienna but Prague. Gluck's German biographer Hans Joachim Moser claimed in 1940 to have found documents showing Gluck matriculated in logic and mathematics at the University of Prague in 1731. Gerhard and Renate Croll find this astonishing, and other biographers have been unable to find any documents supporting Moser's claim. At the time the University of Prague boasted a flourishing musical scene that included performances of both Italian opera and oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is ...
. Gluck sang and played violin and cello, and also the organ at Týn Church.
Gluck eventually left Prague without taking a degree, and vanishes from the historical record until 1737. Nevertheless, the memories of his family and indirect references to this period in later documents give good grounds for believing Gluck arrived in Vienna in 1734, where he likely was employed by the Lobkowitz family at their palace in the Minoritenplatz
The Minoritenplatz is one of the oldest public squares in Vienna. It is located in the first district Innere Stadt, and is dominated by the Minoritenkirche church, after which the square is named. The church itself was constructed by the Greyfriar ...
. Philipp Hyazinth Lobkowitz, Gluck's father's employer, died on 21 December 1734, and his successor, his brother Georg Christian Lobkowitz, is thought to have been Gluck's employer in Vienna from 1735 to 1736. Two operas with texts Gluck himself was later to set were performed during this period: Antonio Caldara
Antonio Caldara (ca 1670 – 28 December 1736) was an Italian Baroque composer.
Life
Caldara was born in Venice (exact date unknown), the son of a violinist. He became a chorister at St Mark's in Venice, where he learned several instruments, ...
's ''La clemenza di Tito
' (''The Clemency of Titus''), K. 621, is an ''opera seria'' in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, after Pietro Metastasio. It was started after most of ' (''The Magic Flute''), the last o ...
'' (1734) and ''Le cinesi'' (1735). It is likely that the Lobkowitz family introduced Gluck to the Milanese nobleman Prince Antonio Maria Melzi, who engaged Gluck to become a player in his orchestra in Milan. The 65-year-old prince married the 16-year-old Maria Renata, Countess of Harrach, on 3 January 1737, and not long after returned with Gluck to Milan.
Question of Gluck's native language
According to the music historian Daniel Heartz
Daniel Heartz (1928–2019) was an American musicologist and professor emeritus of music at the University of California, Berkeley.
Heartz studied at Harvard University. He lived in Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern ...
, there has been considerable controversy concerning Gluck's native language. Gluck's protégé in Vienna, the Italian-born Antonio Salieri
Antonio Salieri (18 August 17507 May 1825) was an Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subject of the Habsburg monarchy ...
, wrote in his memoirs (translated into German by Ignaz von Mosel), that "Gluck, whose native tongue was Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
* Czech, ...
, expressed himself in German only with effort, and still more so in French and Italian." Salieri also mentions that Gluck mixed several languages when speaking: German, Italian and French, like Salieri himself. Gluck's first biographer, , wrote that Gluck grew up in a German-speaking area, and that Gluck learned to speak Czech, but did not need it in Prague and in his later life. Heartz writes: "More devious manoeuvres have been attempted by Gluck's German biographers of this he 20thcentury, while the French ones have, without exception, taken Salieri at his word. His German biographer Max Arend objected that not a single letter written in Czech can be found, to which Jacques-Gabriel Prod'homme countered that "no letters written by Liszt
Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...
in Hungarian were known either, but does this make him a German?" Hans Joachim Moser wanted a lyric work in Czech as proof. In fact, the music theorist Laurent Garcin, writing in 1770 (published 1772) before Gluck arrived in Paris, included Gluck in a list of several composers of Czech '' opéras-comiques'' (although such a work by Gluck has yet to be documented). A presentation by Irene Brandenburg classifying Gluck as a Bohemian composer was considered controversial by her German colleagues.
Italy
In 1737 Gluck arrived in Milan, and was introduced to Giovanni Battista Sammartini, who, according to Giuseppe Carpani, taught Gluck "practical knowledge of all the instruments".[Brown & Rushton 2001.] Apparently, this relationship lasted for several years. Sammartini was not, primarily, a composer of opera, his main output being of sacred music and symphonies, but Milan boasted a vibrant opera scene, and Gluck soon formed an association with one of the city's up-and-coming opera houses, the Teatro Regio Ducale
The Teatro Regio Ducale (Italian, "Royal Ducal Theatre") was the opera house in Milan from 26 December 1717 until 25 February 1776, when it was burned down following a carnival gala. Many famous composers and their operas are associated with it, i ...
. There his first opera ''Artaserse'' was performed on 26 December 1741, dedicated to Otto Ferdinand von Abensberg und Traun. Set to a libretto by Metastasio
Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi (3 January 1698 – 12 April 1782), better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio (), was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of ''opera seria'' libretti.
Early life
Me ...
, the opera opened the Milanese Carnival of 1742. According to one anecdote, the public would not accept Gluck's style until he inserted an aria
In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...
in the lighter Milanese manner for contrast.
Nevertheless, Gluck composed an opera for each of the next four Carnivals at Milan, with renowned castrato Giovanni Carestini
Giovanni Carestini (13 December 1700 in Filottrano, near Ancona – 1760 in Filottrano) was an Italian castrato of the 18th century, who sang in the operas and oratorios of George Frideric Handel. He is also remembered as having sung for Johan ...
appearing in many of the performances, so the reaction to ''Artaserse'' was likely to have been reasonably favorable. He also wrote operas for other cities of Northern Italy in between Carnival seasons, including Turin and Venice, where his '' Ipermestra'' was given during November 1744 at the Teatro San Giovanni Crisostomo
The Teatro Malibran, known over its lifetime by a variety of names, beginning with the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo (or Crisostomo) after the nearby church,Lynn 2005, pp. 101—103 is an opera house in Venice which was inaugurated in 1678 with a ...
. Nearly all of his operas in this period were set to Metastasio's texts, despite the poet's dislike for his style of composition.
Travels: 1745–1752
In 1745 Gluck accepted an invitation from Lord Middlesex to become house composer at London's King's Theatre, probably travelling to England via Frankfurt and in the company of the violinist Ferdinand Philipp Joseph von Lobkowitz, the son of Phillip Hyacinth. The timing was poor, as the Jacobite Rebellion had caused much panic in London, and for most of the year, the King's Theatre was closed. Six trio sonatas were the immediate fruits of his time. Gluck's two London operas ('' La caduta de' giganti'' and ''Artamene''), eventually performed in 1746, borrowed much from his earlier works. Gluck performed works by Galuppi and Lampugnani, who both had worked in London. A more long-term benefit was exposure to the music of Handel – whom he later credited as a great influence on his style – and the naturalistic acting style of David Garrick, an English theatrical reformer. On 25 March, shortly after the production of ''Artamene'', Handel and Gluck together gave a concert in the Haymarket Theatre consisting of works by Gluck and an organ concerto by Handel, played by the composer. On 14 April Gluck played on a glassharmonica in Hickford's Rooms, a concert hall in Brewer Street
Brewer Street is a street in the Soho area of central London, running west to east from Glasshouse Street to Wardour Street
Wardour Street () is a street in Soho, City of Westminster, London. It is a one-way street that runs north fro ...
, Soho.[William Zeitler (2009)]
"The Glass Armonica, Benjamin Franklin's Magical Musical Invention: C.W. Gluck"
at glassarmonica.com. Retrieved 8 June 2019 . Handel's own experience of Gluck pleased that composer less: Charles Burney reports Handel as saying that "he luck
Luck is the phenomenon and belief that defines the experience of improbable events, especially improbably positive or negative ones. The naturalistic interpretation is that positive and negative events may happen at any time, both due to rand ...
knows no more of contrapunto, as my cook, Waltz
The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position.
History
There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the w ...
".[
The years 1747 and 1748 brought Gluck two highly prestigious engagements. First came a commission to produce an opera for Pillnitz, performed by Pietro Mingotti's troupe, to celebrate a royal double wedding that would unite the ruling families of Bavaria and Saxony. '' Le nozze d'Ercole e d'Ebe'', a '' festa teatrale'', borrowed heavily from earlier works, and even from Gluck's teacher Sammartini. The success of this work brought Gluck to the attention of the Viennese court, and, ahead of such a figure as Johann Adolph Hasse, he was selected to set Metastasio's '' La Semiramide riconosciuta'' to celebrate Maria Theresa's birthday. Vittoria Tesi took the title role. On this occasion Gluck's music was completely original, but the displeasure of the court poet, Metastasio, who called the opera "''archvandalian'' music", probably explains why Gluck did not remain long in Vienna despite the work's enormous popular success (it was performed 27 times to great acclaim). For the remainder of 1748 and 1749 Gluck travelled with Mingotti's troupe, contracting a venereal disease from the ''prima donna'' and composing the opera ''La contesa de' numi'' for the court at Copenhagen, where he repeated his concert on the glassharmonica.
]
In 1750 he abandoned Mingotti's group for another company established by a former member of the Mingotti troupe, Giovanni Battista Locatelli. The main effect of this was that Gluck returned to Prague on a more consistent basis. For the Prague Carnival of 1750 Gluck composed a new opera, '' Ezio'' (again set to one of Metastasio's works, with the manuscript located at the Lobkowicz Palace). His ''Ipermestra'' was also performed in the same year. The other major event of Gluck's stay in Prague was, on 15 September 1750, his marriage to Maria Anna Bergin, aged 18 years old, the daughter of a rich (but long-dead) Viennese merchant. Gluck seems to have spent most of 1751 commuting between Prague and Vienna.
The year 1752 brought another major commission to Gluck, when he was asked to set Metastasio's ''La clemenza di Tito
' (''The Clemency of Titus''), K. 621, is an ''opera seria'' in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, after Pietro Metastasio. It was started after most of ' (''The Magic Flute''), the last o ...
'' (the specific libretto was the composer's choice) for the name day celebrations of King Charles VII of Naples. The opera was performed on 4 November at the Teatro di San Carlo
The Real Teatro di San Carlo ("Royal Theatre of Saint Charles"), as originally named by the Bourbon monarchy but today known simply as the Teatro (di) San Carlo, is an opera house in Naples, Italy, connected to the Royal Palace and adjacent ...
, and the world-famous castrato Caffarelli took the role of Sextus. For Caffarelli Gluck composed the famous, but notoriously difficult, aria "Se mai senti spirarti sul volto", which provoked admiration and vituperation in equally large measures. Gluck later reworked this aria for his ''Iphigénie en Tauride.'' According to one account, the Neapolitan composer Francesco Durante
Francesco Durante (31 March 1684 – 30 September 1755) was a Neapolitan composer.
Biography
He was born at Frattamaggiore, in the Kingdom of Naples, and at an early age he entered the '' Conservatorio dei poveri di Gesù Cristo'', in Naples, ...
claimed that his fellow composers "should have been proud to have conceived and written he aria
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
. Durante simultaneously declined to comment whether or not it was within the boundaries of the accepted compositional rules of the time.
Vienna
Gluck finally settled in Vienna, where he became Kapellmeister invited by Prince Joseph of Saxe-Hildburghausen
Joseph Maria Frederick Wilhelm of Saxe-Hildburghausen, Duke in Saxony (german: Joseph Maria Friedrich Wilhelm Hollandinus, Prinz und Regent von Sachsen-Hildburghausen; 5 October 1702 – Hildburghausen, 4 January 1787), was a German officer, ...
. He wrote '' Le cinesi'' for a festival in 1754 and '' La danza'' for the eighth birthday of the future Emperor Leopold II the following year. After his opera ''Antigono'' was performed in Rome in February 1756, Gluck was made a Knight of the Golden Spur by Pope Benedict XIV
Pope Benedict XIV ( la, Benedictus XIV; it, Benedetto XIV; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758. Pope Be ...
. From that time on, Gluck used the title "Ritter von Gluck" or "Chevalier de Gluck".
Gluck turned his back on Italian opera seria and began to write opéra comiques. In 1761 Gluck produced the groundbreaking ballet-pantomime ''Don Juan
Don Juan (), also known as Don Giovanni ( Italian), is a legendary, fictional Spanish libertine who devotes his life to seducing women. Famous versions of the story include a 17th-century play, ''El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra'' ...
'' in collaboration with the choreographer Gasparo Angiolini; the more radical Jean-Georges Noverre
Jean-Georges Noverre (29 April 1727 19 October 1810) was a French dancer and balletmaster, and is generally considered the creator of ''ballet d'action'', a precursor of the narrative ballets of the 19th century. His birthday is now observed as ...
was involved for the first time? The climax of Gluck's opéra comique writing was '' La rencontre imprévue'' (1764). By that time, Gluck created musical drama, based on Greek tragedy
Greek tragedy is a form of theatre from Ancient Greece and Greek inhabited Anatolia. It reached its most significant form in Athens in the 5th century BC, the works of which are sometimes called Attic tragedy.
Greek tragedy is widely believed t ...
, with more compassion, influencing the latest style Sturm und Drang
''Sturm und Drang'' (, ; usually translated as "storm and stress") was a proto- Romantic movement in German literature and music that occurred between the late 1760s and early 1780s. Within the movement, individual subjectivity and, in particul ...
.
Under the teaching of Gluck, Marie Antoinette developed into a good musician. She learned to play the harp,[Cronin 1989, p. 45.] the harpsichord and the flute. She sang during the family's evening gatherings, as she had a beautiful voice. All her brothers and sisters were involved in playing Gluck's music; on 24 January 1765 her brother Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor directed one of Gluck's compositions, '' Il Parnaso confuso''.
In Spring 1774, she took under her patronage her former music teacher and introduced him to the Paris public. For that purpose, she asked him to compose a new opera, ''Iphigénie en Aulide
''Iphigénie en Aulide'' ('' Iphigeneia in Aulis'') is an opera in three acts by Christoph Willibald Gluck, the first work he wrote for the Paris stage. The libretto was written by François-Louis Gand Le Bland Du Roullet and was based on Jean ...
''. "Mindful of the Querelle des Bouffons
The ("Quarrel of the Comic Actors"), also known as the ("War of the Comic Actors"), was the name given to a battle of musical philosophies that took place in Paris between 1752 and 1754. The controversy concerned the relative merits of French an ...
between adherents of Italian and French opera, she asked the composer to set the libretto in French." To get to her goals she was assisted by the singers Rosalie Levasseur
Marie-Rose-(Claude-)Josephe Levasseur (or Le Vasseur), known in her day as Mademoiselle Rosalie, and later commonly referred to as Rosalie Levasseur (8 October 1749 – 6 May 1826) was a French soprano who is best remembered for her work with ...
and Sophie Arnould
Sophie Arnould (13 February 1740, in Paris – 18 October 1802, in Paris) was a French operatic soprano.
Born Magdeleine Sophie Arnould, she studied in Paris with Marie Fel and La Clairon, and made her stage debut at the Opéra de Paris on 15 ...
. Gluck had gruff ways, demanding strict adherence from the cast when rehearsing. Gluck told the bass-bariton Henri Larrivée to change his ways. The soprano Arnould was replaced. He insisted that the chorus, too, had to act and become a part of the drama – that they could no longer just stand there posing stiffly and without expression while singing their lines. Gluck was assisted by François-Joseph Gossec
François-Joseph Gossec (17 January 1734 – 16 February 1829) was a French composer of operas, string quartets, symphonies, and choral works.
Life and work
The son of a small farmer, Gossec was born at the village of Vergnies, then a French exc ...
, director of the Concert Spirituel
The Concert Spirituel ( en, Spiritual Concert) was one of the first public concert series in existence. The concerts began in Paris in 1725 and ended in 1790. Later, concerts or series of concerts of the same name occurred in Paris, Vienna, Londo ...
. The Chevalier de Saint-Georges
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (25 December 1745 – 10 June 1799), was a French Creole virtuoso violinist and composer, who was conductor of the leading symphony orchestra in Paris.
Saint-Georges was born in the then-French colo ...
attended the first performance on 19 April; Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...
was delighted with Gluck melodic style. Marie Antoinette received a large share of the credit.
Operatic reforms
Gluck had long pondered the fundamental problem of form and content in opera. He thought both of the main Italian operatic genres, ''opera buffa
''Opera buffa'' (; "comic opera", plural: ''opere buffe'') is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ''commedia in musica'', ''commedia per musica'', ''dramm ...
'' and '' opera seria'', had strayed too far from what opera should really be and seemed unnatural. ''Opera buffa'' had long lost its original freshness. Its jokes were threadbare and the repetition of the same characters made them seem no more than stereotypes. In ''opera seria'', the singing was devoted to superficial effects and the content was uninteresting and fossilised. As in ''opera buffa'', the singers were effectively absolute masters of the stage and the music, decorating the vocal lines so floridly that audiences could no longer recognise the original melody. Gluck wanted to return opera to its origins, focusing on human drama and passions and making words and music of equal importance.
Francesco Algarotti
Count Francesco Algarotti (11 December 1712 – 3 May 1764) was an Italian polymath, philosopher, poet, essayist, anglophile, art critic and art collector. He was a man of broad knowledge, an expert in Newtonianism, architecture and opera. He was ...
's ''Essay on the Opera'' (1755) proved to be an inspiration for Gluck's reforms. He advocated that ''opera seria'' had to return to basics and that all the various elements—music (both instrumental and vocal), ballet, and staging—must be subservient to the overriding drama. Several composers of the period, including Niccolò Jommelli and Tommaso Traetta
Tommaso Michele Francesco Saverio Traetta (30 March 1727 – 6 April 1779) was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan School. Along with other composers mainly in the Holy Roman Empire and France, he was responsible for certain operatic r ...
, attempted to put these ideals into practice (and added more ballets).
In Vienna, Gluck met like-minded figures in the operatic world: Count Giacomo Durazzo, the head of the court theatre, and one of the primary instigators of operatic reform in Vienna ; the librettist Ranieri de' Calzabigi Ranieri de' Calzabigi (; 23 December 1714 – July 1795) was an Italian poet and librettist, most famous for his collaboration with the composer Christoph Willibald Gluck on his "reform" operas.
Born in Livorno, Calzabigi spent the 1750s in Paris ...
, who wanted to attack the dominance of Metastasian opera seria; the innovative choreographer Gasparo Angiolini; and the London-trained castrato Gaetano Guadagni
Gaetano Guadagni (16 February 1728 – 11 November 1792) was an Italian mezzo-soprano castrato singer, most famous for singing the role of Orpheus at the premiere of Gluck's opera '' Orfeo ed Euridice'' in 1762.
Career
Born at Lodi, Guadag ...
.
The first result of the new thinking was Gluck's reformist ballet ''Don Juan
Don Juan (), also known as Don Giovanni ( Italian), is a legendary, fictional Spanish libertine who devotes his life to seducing women. Famous versions of the story include a 17th-century play, ''El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra'' ...
'', but a more important work was soon to follow. On 5 October 1762, '' Orfeo ed Euridice'' was given its first performance, on a libretto
A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...
by Calzabigi, set to music by Gluck. Gluck tried to achieve a noble, Neo-Classical or "beautiful simplicity". The dances were arranged by Angiolini and the title role was taken by Guadagni, a catalytic force in Gluck's reform, renowned for his unorthodox acting and singing style. ''Orfeo'', which has never left the standard repertory, showed the beginnings of Gluck's reforms. His idea was to make the drama of the work more important than the star singers who performed it, and to do away with dry recitative
Recitative (, also known by its Italian name "''recitativo''" ()) is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repeat ...
(recitativo secco, accompanied only by continuo) that broke up the action. In 1765 Melchior Grimm
Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm (26 September 172319 December 1807) was a German-born French-language journalist, art critic, diplomat and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers'' ...
published ''"Poème lyrique"'', an influential article for the Encyclopédie
''Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers'' (English: ''Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts''), better known as ''Encyclopédie'', was a general encyclopedia publis ...
on lyric and opera libretto
A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...
s.
Gluck and Calzabigi followed ''Orfeo'' with '' Alceste ''(1767) and ''Paride ed Elena
' (; ''Paris and Helen'') is an opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck. It is the third of Gluck's so-called reform operas for Vienna, following '' Orfeo ed Euridice'' and '' Alceste'', and the least often performed of the three. Like its predecess ...
''(1770), dedicated to his friend João Carlos de Bragança (Duke de Lafões)
João is the Portuguese equivalent of the given name John. The diminutive is Joãozinho and the feminine is Joana. It is widespread in Portuguese-speaking countries. Notable people with the name are enumerated in the sections below.
Kings
* ...
, an expert on music and mythology, pushing their innovations even further. Calzabigi wrote a preface to ''Alceste'', which Gluck signed, setting out the principles of their reforms:
* no da capo aria
The da capo aria () is a musical form for arias that was prevalent in the Baroque era. It is sung by a soloist with the accompaniment of instruments, often a small orchestra. The da capo aria is very common in the musical genres of opera and orato ...
s
* no opportunity for vocal improvisation
Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...
or virtuosic
A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'' or , "virtuous", Late Latin ''virtuosus'', Latin ''virtus'', "virtue", "excellence" or "skill") is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such as ...
displays of vocal agility or power
* no long melisma
Melisma ( grc-gre, μέλισμα, , ; from grc, , melos, song, melody, label=none, plural: ''melismata'') is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is refer ...
s
* a more predominantly syllabic setting of the text to make the words more intelligible
* far less repetition of text within an aria
In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...
* a blurring of the distinction between recitative
Recitative (, also known by its Italian name "''recitativo''" ()) is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repeat ...
and aria, declamatory and lyrical passages, with altogether less recitative
* accompanied rather than secco recitative
Recitative (, also known by its Italian name "''recitativo''" ()) is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repea ...
* simpler, more flowing melodic lines
* an overture that is linked by theme or mood to the ensuing action
Joseph von Sonnenfels
Joseph Freiherr von Sonnenfels (1732 – 25 April 1817) was an Austrian and German jurist and novelist. He was among the leaders of the Illuminati movement in Austria, and a close friend and patron of Mozart. He is also the dedicatee of Ludwig va ...
praised Gluck's tremendous imagination and the setting
Setting may refer to:
* A location (geography) where something is set
* Set construction in theatrical scenery
* Setting (narrative), the place and time in a work of narrative, especially fiction
* Setting up to fail a manipulative technique to eng ...
after attending a performance of ''Alceste''. In 1769 Gluck performed his operas in Parma
Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...
.
On 2 September 1771 Charles Burney visited Gluck, living in Sankt Marx. Burney thought Gluck's preface, in which Gluck gives his “reasons for deviating from the beaten track”, important enough to give it almost in its entirety: "It was my intention to confine music to its true dramatic province, of assisting poetical expression, and of augmenting the interest of the fable; without interrupting the action, or chilling it with useless and superfluous ornaments; for the office of music, when joined to poetry, seemed to me, to resemble that of colouring in a correct and well disposed design, where the lights and shades only seem to animate the figures, without altering the out-line." On 11 September Burney went to see Gluck to say goodbye; Gluck was still in bed, as he used to work in the night.
Paris
As his operas were not appreciated by Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...
, Gluck began to focus on France. Under the patronage of Marie Antoinette, who had married the future French King Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
in 1770, Gluck signed a contract for six stage works with the management of the Paris Opéra. He began with ''Iphigénie en Aulide
''Iphigénie en Aulide'' ('' Iphigeneia in Aulis'') is an opera in three acts by Christoph Willibald Gluck, the first work he wrote for the Paris stage. The libretto was written by François-Louis Gand Le Bland Du Roullet and was based on Jean ...
''. The premiere on 19 April 1774 sparked a huge controversy, almost a war, such as had not been seen in the city since the Querelle des Bouffons
The ("Quarrel of the Comic Actors"), also known as the ("War of the Comic Actors"), was the name given to a battle of musical philosophies that took place in Paris between 1752 and 1754. The controversy concerned the relative merits of French an ...
. Gluck's opponents brought the leading Italian composer Niccolò Piccinni
Niccolò Piccinni (; 16 January 1728 – 7 May 1800) was an Italian composer of symphonies, sacred music, chamber music, and opera. Although he is somewhat obscure today, Piccinni was one of the most popular composers of opera—particularly th ...
to Paris to demonstrate the superiority of Neapolitan opera, and the "whole town" engaged in an argument between "Gluckists" and "Piccinnists". The composers themselves took no part in the polemics, but when Piccinni was asked to set the libretto to '' Roland'', on which Gluck was also known to be working, Gluck destroyed everything he had written for that opera up to that point.
On 2 August 1774 the French version of ''Orfeo ed Euridice'' was performed, more Rameau
Jean-Philippe Rameau (; – ) was a French composer and music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera and ...
-like,[Opera – From the “reform” to grand opera](_blank)
''Encyclopædia Britannica online''. with the title role transposed from the castrato to the tenor voice. This time Gluck's work was better received by the Parisian public. In the same year, Gluck returned to Vienna, where he was appointed composer to the imperial court (18 October 1774) after 20 years serving as Kapellmeister. Over the next few years, the now internationally famous composer would travel back and forth between Paris and Vienna. He became friends with the poet Klopstock
Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (; 2 July 1724 – 14 March 1803) was a German poet. His best known work is the epic poem ''Der Messias'' ("The Messiah"). One of his major contributions to German literature was to open it up to exploration outsid ...
in Karlsruhe. On 23 April 1776, the French version of ''Alceste'' was given.
During the rehearsals for ''Echo et Narcisse
In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the list ...
'' in September 1779, Gluck became dangerously ill.[Robl 2013, p. 48.] Since the opera itself was a failure, running for only 12 performances, Gluck decided to return to Vienna within two weeks. In that city ''Die unvermuthete Zusammenkunft'' or ''Die Pilgrime von Mekka'' (1772), a German version of ''La rencontre imprévue'', had been performed 51 times.
His musical heir in Paris was the composer Antonio Salieri
Antonio Salieri (18 August 17507 May 1825) was an Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subject of the Habsburg monarchy ...
, who had been Gluck's protégé since he arrived in Vienna in 1767, and later had made friends with Gluck. Gluck brought Salieri to Paris with him and bequeathed him the libretto for ''Les Danaïdes
''Les Danaïdes'' is an opera by Antonio Salieri, in five acts: more specifically, it is a ''tragédie lyrique''. The opera was set to a libretto by François-Louis Gand Le Bland Du Roullet and Louis-Théodore de Tschudi, who in turn adapted t ...
'' by François-Louis Gand Le Bland Du Roullet François-Louis Gand Le Bland Du Roullet (10 April 1716 in Normanville – 2 August 1786 in Paris) was a French diplomat and playwright. He is chiefly remembered today as the librettist of Gluck's operas ''Iphigénie en Aulide
''Iphigénie en ...
and baron de Tschudi. The opera was announced as a collaboration between the two composers; however, after the overwhelming success of its premiere on 26 April 1784, Gluck revealed to the prestigious ''Journal de Paris
The ''Journal de Paris'' (1777–1840) was the first daily French newspaper.(7 October 2014)The first French daily: Journal de Paris History of JournalismAndrews, ElizabethBetween Auteurs and Abonnés: Reading the Journal de Paris, 1787–1789 '' ...
'' that the work was wholly Salieri's.
Last years
In Vienna Gluck wrote a few more minor works, spending the Summer with his wife in Perchtoldsdorf
Perchtoldsdorf (; colloquially ''Petersdorf'') is a market town in the Mödling District, in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It is known chiefly for its winemaking.
Geography
It is located immediately at the Vienna city limits, south of the ...
, famous for its wine (Heuriger
In eastern Austria, a ''Heuriger'' (; Austrian dialect pronunciation: Heiriga) is a tavern where local winemakers serve their new wine under a special licence in alternate months during the growing season. The ''Heurige'' are renowned for their at ...
). Gluck suffered from melancholy and high blood pressure. In 1781, he brought out a German version of ''Iphigénie en Tauride''. Gluck dominated the season's proceedings with 32 performances. On 23 March 1783 he seems to have attended a concert by Mozart who played KV 455, variations on ''La Rencontre imprévue'' by Gluck (Wq. 32).
On 15 November 1787, lunching with friends, Gluck suffered a heart arrhythmia
Arrhythmias, also known as cardiac arrhythmias, heart arrhythmias, or dysrhythmias, are irregularities in the heartbeat, including when it is too fast or too slow. A resting heart rate that is too fast – above 100 beats per minute in adult ...
and died a few hours later, at the age of 73. Usually, it is mentioned Gluck had several strokes and became paralyzed on his right side. Robl, a family doctor, had doubts as Gluck was still able to play his clavicord
The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras.
Historically, it was mostly used as a practice instrument and as an aid to compositi ...
or piano in 1783. At a formal commemoration on 8 April 1788, his friend, pupil and successor Salieri conducted Gluck's '' De profundis'', and a requiem by the Italian composer Niccolò Jommelli was given. His death opened the way for Mozart at court, according to H. C. Robbins Landon. Gluck was buried in the Matzleinsdorf Protestant Cemetery, Matzleinsdorfer Friedhof. On 29 September 1890 his remains were transferred to the Vienna Central Cemetery, Zentralfriedhof; a tomb was erected containing the original plaque.
Legacy
Although only half of his work survived after a fire in 1809,[Daniela Philippi (2012)]
"Zur Überlieferung der Werke Christoph Willibald Glucks in Böhmen, Mähren und Sachsen"
p. 75. Gluck's musical legacy includes approximately 35 complete full-length operas plus around a dozen shorter operas and operatic introductions, as well as numerous ballets and instrumental works. His reforms influenced Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart, particularly his opera ''Idomeneo'' (1781). He left behind a flourishing school of disciples in Paris, who would dominate the French stage throughout the Revolutionary and Napoleonic period. As well as Salieri, they included Antonio Sacchini, Sacchini, Luigi Cherubini, Cherubini, Étienne Méhul, Méhul and Gaspare Spontini, Spontini. His greatest French admirer would be Hector Berlioz, whose epic ''Les Troyens'' may be seen as the culmination of the Gluckian tradition. Though Gluck wrote no operas in German, his example influenced the German school of opera, particularly Carl Maria von Weber and Richard Wagner, whose concept of music drama was not so far removed from Gluck's own.
Works
Notes
Sources
* Arend, Max (1920). ''Gluck, eine Biographie''. Berlin: Schuster & Loeffler
Copy
at HathiTrust.
* Brown, Bruce Alan (1991). ''Gluck and the French Theatre in Vienna''. Oxford: Clarendon Press. .
* Brown, Bruce Alan; Rushton, Julian (2001)
"Gluck, Christoph Willibald, Ritter von"
Grove Music Online, edited by L. Macy (accessed 11 November 2007), grovemusic.com (subscription access).
* Gerhard Croll, Croll, Gerhard (1991). "Gluck, Christoph", vol. 5, , in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica'', 15th edition. Chicago. .
* Croll, Gerhard; Croll, Renate (2010). ''Gluck. Sein Leben, Seine Musik'' (in German). Kassel; New York: Bärenreiter. .
* Croll, Gerhard; Croll, Renate (2014). ''Gluck. Sein Leben, Seine Musik'' (2nd edition, in German). Kassel; New York: Bärenreiter. .
* Cronin, Vincent (1989). ''Louis and Antoinette''. Collins Harvill .
* Einstein, Alfred (1936). ''Gluck'', English translation by Eric Blom, 1964. McGraw-Hill. (1972 paperback edition).
* Garcin, Laurent (1772). ''Traité du mélo-drame''. Paris: Chez Vallat-la-Chapelle.
Copy
at Gallica.
* Harewood, 7th Earl of, Harewood, The Earl of; Peattie, Antony, editors (1997). ''The New Kobbé's Opera Book''. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. London: Ebury Press. .
* Hayes, Jeremy; Brown, Bruce Alan; Loppert, Max; Dean, Winton (1992). "Gluck, Christoph Willibald", vol. 2, , in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', edited by Stanley Sadie. London: Macmillan. .
* Heartz, Daniel (1988). "Coming of Age in Bohemia: The Musical Apprenticeships of Benda and Gluck", ''The Journal of Musicology'', vol. 6, no. 4 (Autumn, 1988), pp. 510–27. . Also availabl
here
* Howard, Patricia (1995). ''Gluck: An Eighteenth-Century Portrait in Letters and Documents''. Oxford: Clarendon Press. .
* Howard, Patricia (2003). ''Christoph Willibald Gluck. A Guide to Research'', Second Edition. New York and London: Routledge.
* Kuhn, Laura (2000). ''Baker's Dictionary of Opera''. New York: Schirmer. .
* Mosel, Ignaz Franz von (1827). ''Ueber das Leben und die Werke des Anton Salieri, K.k. Hofkapellmeister''. Vienna: Wallishausser
Copy
at Bavarian State Library website.
* Moser, Hans Joachim (1940). ''Christoph Willibald Gluck : die Leistung, der Mann, das Vermächtnis''. Stuttgart: Cotta. .
*Mueller von Asov, Hedwig and E. H., editors (1963). ''Collected correspondence and papers of Christoph Willibald Gluck'', translated by Stewart Thomson
copy at Internet Archive)
New York: St. Martin's Press.
* Prod'homme, Jacques-Gabriel (1948; revised 1985). ''Gluck''. Paris: Société de'Éditions Françaises et Internationales. . 1985 revision by Marie Fauquet: Paris: Fayard. .
* Robl, Werner (2013)
''Christoph Willibald Gluck wurde doch in Weidenwang geboren'' (in German).
* Robl, Werner (2015)
''Auf den Spuren der Familie Gluck in den Dörfern Weidenwang und Erasbach Fallstricke und Lösungen der regionalen Gluck-Forschung''
Berching.
* (1854). ''Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck. Dessen Leben und tonkünstlerishes Wirken''. Leipzig: Friedrich Fleischer
Copy
at Google Books.
Further reading
*Anna Amalie Abert, Abert, A. A., ''Christoph Willibald Gluck'' (in German) (Munich, 1959)
*Felix, W., ''Christoph Willibald Gluck'' (in German) (Leipzig, 1965)
*Daniel Heartz, Heartz, D., "From Garrick to Gluck: the Reform of Theatre and Opera in the Mid-Eighteenth Century", ''Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association'', xciv (1967–68), pp. 111–27. .
*Gibbons, W. ''Building the Operatic Museum: Eighteenth-Century Opera in Fin-de-siècle Paris''. University of Rochester Press, 2013.
*Howard, P., ''Gluck and the Birth of Modern Opera''. London, 1963
*Howard, P., "''Orfeo'' and ''Orphée''", ''The Musical Times'', cviii (1967), pp. 892–94.
*Howard, P., "Gluck"s Two Alcestes: a Comparison", ''The Musical Times'', cxv (1974), pp. 642–93.
*Howard, P., "Armide: a Forgotten Masterpiece", ''Opera'', xxx (1982), 572–76.
*Joseph Kerman, Kerman, Joseph, ''Opera as Drama''. New York, 1956, 2/1989. Revised 1989 edition .
*Noiray, M., ''Gluck's Methods of Composition in his French Operas "Iphigénie en Aulide", "Orphée", "Iphigénie en Tauride"''. Dissertation, University of Oxford, 1979
*Julian Rushton, Rushton, J., "''Iphigénie en Tauride'': the Operas of Gluck and Piccinni", ''Music & Letters'', liii (1972), pp. 411–30.
*Rushton, J., "The Musician Gluck", ''The Musical Times'', cxxvi (1987), pp. 615–18.
*Rushton, J., "'Royal Agamemnon': the Two Versions of Gluck's ''Iphigénie en Aulide''", ''Music and the French Revolution'', ed. M. Boyd (Cambridge, 1992), pp. 15–36. .
*Saloman, O. F., ''Aspects of Gluckian Operatic Thought and Practice in France'' (diss., Columbia University, 1970)
*Sternfeld, F. W., "Expression and Revision in Gluck's ''Orfeo'' and ''Alceste'', Essays Presented to Egon Wellesz" (Oxford, 1966), pp. 114–29
* Youell, Amber Lynne (2012
"Opera at the Crossroads of Tradition and Reform in Gluck's Vienna"
PhD dissertation, Columbia University
External links
*
*
Digital catalogue raisoné
Gluck the Reformer. William Christie & John Eliot Gardiner feature in this documentary on the operas of Christoph Willibald Gluck
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gluck, Christoph Willibald
Christoph Willibald Gluck,
1714 births
1787 deaths
People from Neumarkt (district)
German Bohemian people
18th-century classical composers
Ballet composers
Composers awarded knighthoods
German Classical-period composers
German male classical composers
German opera composers
Male opera composers
18th-century German composers
18th-century male musicians
Glass harp players
Burials at the Vienna Central Cemetery