Christoph Willibald GLUCK

Bio:

Christoph Willibald (von) Gluck (also "Ritter von Gluck" or "Chevalier de Gluck" - Titles used by himself after 1756 in which he was made a ..Knight of the Golden Spur.. by ..Pope Benedict XIV...) (July 2, 1714 - November 15, 1787) was a German composer, one of the most important opera composers of the Classical music era, particularly remembered for Orfeo ed Euridice (A treatment of the story of the legendary musician Orpheus and his journey to the Underworld to bring back again his beloved Euridice, an ancient illustration of the power of music.) He is also remembered as the music teacher of Marie-Antoinette who as Queen of France promoted Gluck and was his patron. Being the son of a forester (in the Upper Palatinate -now the western extreme of Czechoslovakia-), Gluck was born in Erasbach, Bavaria, Germany. At about 14 he left home to study music in Prague and travelled throughout many cities, Vienna, London, Paris, Rome, Dresden, Copenhagen, Naples... as one of the greatest musicians of the time. By his own words, Some regard him as the father of the Rococo and Classical age of music---at least in Opera. Gluck's operatic reforms, eliminating all that was undramatic, were a turning point in the history. Gluck's musical legacy was around 35 complete operas, together with numerous ballets and instrumental works. His reforms influenced Mozart, particularly his opera Idomeneo (1781). Gluck 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 Sacchini, Cherubini, Méhul and Spontini. Gluck's 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 Weber and Wagner , whose concept of music drama was not so far removed from Gluck's own. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Stage 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 Ipermestra, 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 La 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 Le Cinesi, Vienna, 24 September 1754 La Danza, Vienna, 5 May 1755 L'innocenza giustificata, Vienna, 8 December 1755 Antigono, Rome, 9 February 1756 Il rè pastore, Vienna, 8 December 1756 La fausse esclave, Vienna, 8 January 1758 L'ile de Merlin, ou Le monde renversé, Vienna, 3 October 1758 La Cythère assiégée, Vienna, early 1759 Le diable à quatre, ou La double métamorphose 1759 L'arbre enchanté, ou Le tuteur dupé 1759 L'ivrogne corrigé, Vienna, April 1760 Tetide, Vienna, 10 October 1760 Don Juan (ballet), Vienna, 17 October 1761 Le cadi dupé, Vienna, 9 December 1761 Orfeo ed Euridice, Vienna 5 October 1762, revised Paris 2 August 1774 Il trionfo di Clelia, Bologna, 14 May 1763 La rencontre imprévue, Vienna, 7 January 1764 Il Parnaso Confuso, Vienna, 24 January 1765 Telemaco, o sia l'isola di Circe, Vienna, 30 January 1765 La Corona (unperformed, planned for 4 October 1765) Il Prologo, 1767 (introductory music for an opera by Traetta) Alceste, Vienna 26 December 1767, revised Paris 23 April 1776 Le Feste d'Apollo, Parma, 24 August 1769 Paride ed Elena, Vienna 3 November 1770 Iphigénie en Aulide, Paris 19 April 1774 Armide, Paris 23 September 1777 Iphigénie en Tauride, Paris 18 May 1779 Echo et Narcisse, Paris 24 September 1779 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Member Since:

April 03, 2007

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