." See also Lully, Jean-Baptiste ; Music ; Opera ; Vienna . Alceste, in addition, broke with tradition in omitting castrati from the soloists' ranks (original version). The following year (1756) Vienna saw Il repastore, while the first performance of the opera Antigono was given during a visit to Rome. In 1775, as an act of homage to the memory of Jean Baptiste Lully and as a diplomatic gesture to French sensitivities, Gluck undertook to compose an opera based on Philippe Quinault's drama Armide, which had already been composed by Lully. Encyclopedia.com. Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) was an Austrian composer and opera reformer. In 1762, however, his dramatic ballet Don Juan was performed in Vienna; this event marked a significant change in Gluck's career. Encyclopedia.com. As several of the innovations were inspired by the model of the French tragédie and the tragédie lyrique, Gluck decided to try to conquer Paris, then the cultural capital of Europe. (September 30, 2020). Christoph Willibald Gluck was born of German-Bohemian stock on July 2, 1714, at Erasbach in the Upper Palatinate. In 1726, according to some sources, Gluck was sent to a Jesuit college where he received formal music lessons as part of his education. In Armide Gluck not only exploited spectacular stage effects, but also achieved a more fluid musical construction. ed., 1 vol., 1965). ." Gluck and Calzabigi collaborated on three operas. His operas represent an end to the older style of the opera seria and the beginning of the modern music drama. Brown, Bruce A. Gluck and the French Theatre in Vienna. The best biography of Gluck in English is Alfred Einstein, Gluck (trans. This work, as well as Gluck’s second London opera, Artamene, produced on March 14, 1746, consisted largely of music from his own earlier works, lack of time having forced him to this device. Calzabigi and Gluck thus opened the way for the possibilities for reform of the old-fashioned Italian opera seria. For the next dozen years he followed a career path typical of moderately successful composers of Italian opera. Not only were these operas part of the repertory throughout the nineteenth century, although they were sometimes revised to meet current casts and audience tastes by musicians such as Berlioz (Orphée, 1859; Alceste, 1861, both Paris), Wagner (Iphigénie en Aulide, 1847, Dresden) and Richard Strauss (Iphigénie en Tauride, 1889, Weimar), they have continued to be revived in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Both London operas include much music revised from earlier works, as would remain Gluck's custom throughout his career (and, indeed, it was standard practice for Italian opera composers to borrow from works of their own heard only elsewhere and, often at the behest of singers, to include music of others in their scores). Their second collaborative effort, Alceste, modeled on the Euripides drama, premiered in 1767 in Vienna. ." During the following two winters Gluck was in Prague, where he wrote Ezio (1750) and Issipile (1751–52). Get kids back-to-school ready with Expedition: Learn! In order to escape from disagreements with his father, the young Gluck left home (probably about 1727) and, supporting himself by his music, made his way to Prague, where he played in several churches, began university work (1731), and continued his musical studies. Vanneschi, glorified the hero of the day, the Duke of Cumberland, after his victory at Culloden over the forces of Prince Charles Edward, the Stuart claimant to the British throne. Christoph Willibald Gluck interesting facts, biography, family, updates, life, childhood facts, information and more: Berching, July 2, 1714; d.Vienna, November 15, 1787) was a German composer. It proved a brilliant success for the composer, although Metastasio privately termed its music “insupportably barbaric.” At that time Gluck met his future wife, Marianne Pergin, the 16-year-old daughter of a rich merchant; in the same year, as conductor of the P. and A. Mingotti Travelling Opera company, he travelled via Hamburg to Copenhagen, where he composed the opera-serenade La contesa dei Numi in celebration of the birth of the heir to the Danish throne; the work in some respects foreshadows his later reform operas. His father, Alexander Gluck, had moved to Erasbach as a ranger in 1711–12; the family then moved to Reichstadt near Böhmisch-Leipa in Bohemia. Gluck was a very practical man of the theater, and during the 2 decades he was involved with opera reform he continued to compose other operas and entertainments in the old-fashioned, traditional style. Naxos Classical Music - Biography of Christoph Willibald Gluck, AllMusic - Biography of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Christoph Willibald Gluck - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). 30 Sep. 2020 . Privacy Policy. https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/christoph-willibald-gluck, "Christoph Willibald Gluck Iphigénie en Tauride builds on this in an unusually high number of ensembles matching the drama. His father was a forester. . Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) was an Austrian composer and opera reformer. . London, 2001. Gluck himself, according to the Irish singer Michael Kelly, tried to emulate Handel, whom he described as the “divine master of our art.”. Because he was busy with Viennese projects and because travel was hindered by the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748) and its aftermath, Gluck seldom ventured elsewhere during this period. "Christoph Willibald Gluck Gluck gave the scores of Le Cadi dupé and La Rencontre imprévue particular charm by using “oriental” instrumental effects. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). One important exception was the opera for Rome, Antigono (1756); during his visit there the pope named him cavaliere dello sperone d'oro (knight of the golden spur), a title that the composer took pride in using. Still, Orfeo and Alceste mark the most thoroughgoing development of a new aesthetic, a "noble simplicity" according to contemporaries: the drama comes first and unfolds in a logical, straightforward way; aria structures are more varied and flexible and avoid lengthy orchestral introductions (ritornelli); florid vocal display is avoided in favor of a more direct expression in often syllabic settings; the chorus has a heightened role; integration of chorus, soloists, aria, accompanied recitative, and dance in impressive tableaux match requirements of the plot and give the work greater musical continuity (though the divisions remain clear).