Christoph Willibald Gluck

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Christoph Willibald (von) Gluck (July 2, 1714 – November 15, 1787) was a Bohemian-German composer. He is seen as one of the most important opera composers of the Classical music era, and is particularly remembered for the opera Orfeo ed Euridice, the best known part of which is probably the Dance of the Blessed Spirits, a slow, soft melody for flute and orchestra. Gluck was born in Erasbach, Upper Palatinate, Bavaria, Germany to a forester in the service of a nobleman. He studied music and philosophy in Prague from the age of eighteen. He wrote his first opera, Artaserse in 1741, and began to compose very prolifically for the stage. His works at this time were quite conservative Italian opera seria. He began to travel widely across Europe and in 1754 he secured the post of Kapellmeister to Maria Theresa of Austria, and settled in Vienna.

In 1756, Pope Benedict XIV knighted Gluck and awarded him the Order of the Golden Spur. From that time on, Gluck used the title "Ritter von Gluck" or "Chevalier de Gluck".

While in Vienna, Gluck composed Orfeo ed Euridice (1762) (also known as Orpheus und Euridice), one of his best known works, and the ballet Don Juan (1761). These both show some of the changes in style that were to reach full expression in Alceste (1767), which included a preface laying out his ideas on a new style of opera. Gluck's idea was to make the drama of the work more important than the star singers who performed it, and to do away with recitative which broke up the action. The more flowing and dramatic style which resulted has been seen as a precursor to the music dramas of Richard Wagner.

In his own time, however, Gluck's reforms were controversial. After a move to Paris in 1773, where he enjoyed the protection of Queen Marie Antoinette, and where Iphigénie en Aulide and several of his other works were produced, two camps amongst music critics emerged: one praising Gluck's new style, the other deprecating him, and instead supporting the more traditional works of Niccolò Piccinni. The composers themselves did not get involved with the polemics, but when Piccinni was asked to set a libretto that Gluck himself was known to be working on, Gluck destroyed what he had written so far.

Gluck revised both Orfeo ed Euridice and Alceste for Parisian productions, also translating them from the original Italian into French. After the premieres of Armide in 1777 and Iphigénie en Tauride in 1779, Gluck returned to Vienna. He continued to write some smaller works there, but largely retired. He died there in 1787, leaving around 35 completed operas, as well as several ballets and instrumental works. Gluck was also an important influence on Hector Berlioz who was a fan.

Christoph Willibald Gluck is buried in the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna, Austria.

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Principal Works

  • Artaserse, Milan 26 December 1741
  • Demetrio, Venice 2 May 1742
  • Demofoonte, Milan 6 January 1743
  • Tigrane, Crema 26 September 1743
  • Sofonisba (or Siface), Milan 18 January 1744
  • La finta schiava Venice 13 May 1744
  • Ipermestre, Venice 21 November 1744
  • Poro, Turin 26 December 1744
  • Ippolito, Milan 31 January 1745
  • La caduta de' Giganti Haymarket Theatre, London 7 January 1746
  • Artamene, Haymarket Theatre, London 4 March 1746
  • Le nozze d'Ercole e d'Ebe Pillnitz 29 June 1747
  • Semiramide riconosciuta, Aachen 5 May 1748
  • La contesa de' Numi Charlottenburg 9 April 1749
  • Ezio Prague 26 December 1749
  • Issipile Prague 1751-1752
  • La clemenza di Tito, Naples 4 November 1752
  • Paride ed Elena, Vienna 3 November 1770
  • Alceste, Vienna 26 December 1767, revised Paris 23 April 1776
  • Orfeo ed Euridice, Vienna 5 October 1762, revised Paris 2 August 1776
  • Iphigénie en Aulide, Paris 19 April 1774
  • Armide, Paris 23 September 1777
  • Iphigénie en Tauride, Paris 18 May 1779
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Sources

Gluck, Christoph Willibald by Jeremy Hayes, Bruce Alan Brown, Max Loppert and Winton Dean, in the New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7cy:Christoph Willibald Gluck da:Christoph Willibald Gluck de:Christoph Willibald Gluck es:Christoph Willibald Gluck fr:Christoph Willibald Gluck he:כריסטוף ויליבלד גלוק hr:Christoph Willibald Gluck it:Christoph Willibald Gluck lt:Kristofas Vilibaldas Gliukas nl:Christoph Willibald Gluck ja:クリストフ・ヴィリバルト・グルック no:Christoph Willibald Gluck pl:Christoph Willibald Gluck pt:Cristoph Willibald Gluck fi:Christoph Willibald Gluck sv:Christoph Willibald Gluck th:คริสโตฟ วิลลิบาล์ด กลุด zh:克里斯托夫·维利巴尔德·冯·格鲁克

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