OTA Berlin Apartments

 

 

Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck was born in 1714 in Erasbach Bavaria when he died in 1787 in Vienna was heralded as one of the greatest opera composers of the era, who influenced even WA Mozart, von Weber and even Richard Wagner  – but most specifically French opera.

One can even speak of a ‘Gluckian’ tradition in France which culminated in the epic opera of Hector Berlioz, ‘Les Troyens’.

Gluck was basically an opera composer in the early classical period – in Germany at this time it meant something new and something a bit special.

He spent many years as Hof-composer at the Habsburg court of Vienna, and during this time developed many practical changes of opera practice which needed over-hauling.

With his  series operas written and produced in the mid-1760s, like ‘Orfeo and Euridice’ and ‘Alceste’ – still produced and popular today - he at one stroke broke the suffocating stranglehold that previous ‘Metastasian’ opera style had had up to this time.

He travelled extensively in Europe and stayed for various periods in both Italy – at this time the capital of opera – and later for a shorter period England.

However because he felt most drawn to the influence of French opera he decided to live in Paris from 1773.

 He then started taking the best traditions of Italian opera and adding the French national genre which became a new synthesis, Gluck wrote eight operas for the Parisian stages.

Here he wrote and presented the opera ‘ Iphigénie en Tauride’, which was heralded as a great success and is considered his best composition.

Gluck became very popular with the Paris public and brought about a revival in new French opera.

However he did feel always a bit of an outsider and after one particularly poor reception of one of his works he left Paris and France in disgust and returned to live in Vienna.

For a more exact reference in how Gluck influenced his contemporaries please see;

http://www.mozartforum.com/Contemporary%20Pages/Gluck_contemp.htm

Tags: Christoph Willibald Gluck, OTA-Berlin Composer Mini Biography

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