Willibald Gluck short biography. Gluck Christoph Willibald - biography
(1714-1787) German composer
Gluck is often called a reformer of opera, which is true: after all, he created new genre musical tragedy and wrote monumental operatic works that were very different from what had been created before him. Although formally he is called the composer of the Viennese classical school, Gluck influenced the development of English, French and Italian musical art.
The composer came from a family of hereditary foresters, which led a nomadic life, constantly moving from place to place. Gluck was born in the town of Erasbach, where at that time his father served on the estate of Prince Lobkowitz.
Gluck Sr. had no doubt that Christophe would follow in his footsteps, and was very upset when it was discovered that the boy was more interested in music. In addition, he showed remarkable musical abilities. Soon he began to study singing, as well as playing the organ, piano and violin. These lessons were given to Gluck by the musician and composer B. Chernogorsky who worked on the estate. From 1726, Christophe sang in the church choir of the Jesuit church in Comotauí and at the same time studied at the Jesuit school. Then, together with B. Chernogorsky, he went to Prague, where he continued his music lessons. The father never forgave his son for his betrayal and refused to help him, so Christophe had to earn a living himself. He worked as a chorister and organist in various churches.
In 1731, Gluck began studying at the university's Faculty of Philosophy and at the same time composing music. Improving his skills, he continues to take lessons from Chernogorsky.
In the spring of 1735, the young man ends up in Vienna, where he meets the Lombard prince Melzi. He invites Gluck to work in his home orchestra and takes him with him to Milan.
Gluck stayed in Milan from 1737 to 1741. While serving as house musician in the Melzi family chapel, he also studied the basics of composition with the Italian composer G.B. Sammartini. With his help, he masters the new Italian style of music instrumentation. The fruit of this collaboration was six trio sonatas published in London in 1746.
First success as opera composer comes to Gluck in 1741, when his first opera, Artaxerxes, was staged in Milan. Since then, the composer creates one or even several oners every year, which are performed with constant success on the stage of the Milan theater and in other cities of Italy. In 1742 he wrote two operas - “Demetrius” and “Demophon”, in 1743 one - “Tigran”, but in 1744 he created four at once - “Sofonis-ba”, “Hypermnestra”, “Arzache” and “Poro” ”, and in 1745 another one - “Phaedra”.
Unfortunately, the fate of Gluck's first works turned out to be sad: only isolated fragments of them have survived. But it is known that the talented writer managed to change the tonality of traditional Italian operas. He brought energy and dynamism to them and at the same time retained the passion and lyricism characteristic of Italian music.
In 1745, at the invitation of Lord Middlesex, head of the Italian opera at the Haymarket Theater, Gluck moved to London. There he met Handel, who was then the most popular opera composer in England, and they arranged a kind of creative competition between themselves.
On March 25, 1746, they gave a joint concert at the Hay Market Theater, which featured works by Gluck and an organ concerto by Handel, performed by the composer himself. True, relations between them remained strained. Handel did not recognize Gluck and once ironically remarked: “My cook knows counterpoint better than Gluck.” However, Gluck was quite friendly towards Handel and found his art divine.
In England, Gluck studied folk English songs, the melodies of which he later used in his work. In January 1746, the premiere of his opera The Fall of the Giants took place, and Gluck instantly became the hero of the day. However, the composer himself did not consider this work of genius. It was a kind of medley from his early works. Early ideas were also embodied in Gluck's second opera, Artamena, staged in March of the same year. At the same time, the composer leads the Italian opera group Mingotti.
Gluck moves with her from one European city to another. He writes operas, works with singers, and conducts. In 1747, the composer staged the opera “The Wedding of Hercules and Hebe” in Dresden, the following year in Prague he staged two operas at once - “Semiramis Recognized” and “Ezio”, and in 1752 - “The Clemency of Titus” in Naples.
Gluck's wanderings ended in Vienna. In 1754 he was appointed to the post of court conductor. Then he fell in love with Marianne Pergin, the sixteen-year-old daughter of a wealthy Austrian businessman. True, for some time he has to go to Copenhagen, where he again composes an opera-serenade in connection with the birth of the heir to the Danish throne. But returning to Vienna, Gluck immediately marries his beloved. Their marriage was happy, although childless. Gluck later adopted his niece Marianne.
The composer leads a very busy life in Vienna. He gives concerts every week, performing his arias and symphonies. In the presence of the imperial family, the premiere of his serenade opera, performed in September 1754 at Schlosshof Castle, takes place brilliantly. The composer composes one opera after another, especially since the director of the court theater entrusted him with writing all the theatrical and academic music. During a visit to Rome in 1756, Gluck was knighted.
At the end of the fifties he suddenly had to change his creative manner. From 1758 to 1764 he wrote several comic operas based on librettos sent to him from France. In them, Gluck was free from traditional operatic canons and the obligatory use of mythological plots. Using French vaudeville tunes, folk songs, the composer creates bright, cheerful works. True, over time he refuses folk basis, preferring purely comic opera. Thus, a peculiar opera style composer: a combination of richly nuanced melody and complex dramatic design.
Encyclopedists occupy a special place in Gluck's work. They wrote a libretto for him for the dramatic ballet Don Juan, which he staged in Paris. famous choreographer J. Noverre. Even earlier, he staged Gluck's ballets The Chinese Prince (1755) and Alexander (1755). From a simple plotless divertissement - an appendix to the opera - Gluck turned the ballet into a bright dramatic performance.
His compositional skills gradually improved. Work in the genre comic opera, composing ballets, expressive music for the orchestra - all this prepared Gluck to create a new musical genre - musical tragedy.
Together with Italian poet and the playwright R. Calzabigi, who then lived in Vienna, Gluck created three operas: in 1762 - “Orpheus and Eurydice”, later, in 1774, its French version was created; in 1767 - “Alceste”, and in 1770 - “Paris and Helen”. In them he refuses bulky and noisy music. Attention is focused on dramatic plot and the experiences of the characters. Each character receives a complete musical characteristic, and the entire opera turns into a single performance that captivates the audience. All its parts are strictly measured against each other; the overture, according to the composer, seems to warn the viewer about the nature of the future action.
Usually opera aria looked like a concert number, and the artist only sought to present it favorably to the public. Gluck also introduces extensive choruses into the opera, emphasizing the tension of the action. Each scene acquires completeness, each word of the characters carries deep meaning. Of course, Gluck would not have been able to carry out his plans without complete understanding with the librettist. They work together, perfecting every verse and sometimes even word. Gluck directly wrote that he attributes his success to the fact that professionals worked with him. Previously, he had not attached such importance to the libretto. Now music and content exist in inextricable integrity.
But Gluck's innovations were not recognized by everyone. Fans of Italian opera did not initially accept his operas. At that time, only the Paris Opera dared to stage his works. The first of these is “Iphigenia in Aulis”, followed by “Orpheus”. Although Gluck was appointed official court composer, he himself travels to Paris from time to time and supervises productions.
However, the French version of Alceste was unsuccessful. Gluck falls into depression, which intensifies with the death of his niece, and in 1756 he returns to Vienna. His friends and rivals are divided into two opposing parties. The opponents are led by the Italian composer N. Piccinni, who specially comes to Paris to enter into creative competition with Gluck. It all ends with Gluck completing Artemis, but tearing up the sketches for Roland upon learning of Piccinni's intentions.
The war between the Gluckists and the Piccinnists reached its climax in 1777-1778. In 1779, Gluck created Iphigenia in Tauris, which brought him his greatest stage success, and Piccinni staged Roland in 1778. Moreover, the composers themselves were not at odds; they were on friendly terms and respected each other. Piccinni even admitted that sometimes, as, for example, in his opera Dido, he relied on some musical principles, characteristic of Gluck. But in the fall of 1779, after the premiere of the opera “Echo and Narcissus” was coolly received by the public and critics, Gluck left Paris forever. Returning to Vienna, he first felt slightly unwell, and doctors advised him to stop active musical activity.
For the last eight years of his life, Gluck lived constantly in Vienna. He reworked his old operas, one of them, “Iphigenia in Tauris,” was staged in 1781 in connection with the visit of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich. In addition, he publishes his odes for voice with piano accompaniment to words by Klopstock. In Vienna, Gluck meets Mozart again, but, as in Paris, no friendly relations arise between them.
The composer worked until the last days of his life. In the eighties, he suffered several cerebral hemorrhages one after another, from which he ultimately died before completing the cantata. Last Judgment" His funeral took place in Vienna with a large crowd of people. The premiere of the cantata, which was completed by his student A. Salieri, became a kind of monument to Gluck.
Date of birth: July 2, 1714.
Date of death: November 15, 1787.
Place of birth: Erasbach, Bavaria.
Gluck Christoph Willibald- a famous composer who worked in Austria. Also Christoph Gluck known as a reformer of Italian opera.
Christophe was born in Bavaria, in the family of a forester. Since childhood, the boy was fascinated by music, but his father did not share this passion and did not allow the idea that his first-born would become a musician.
The teenager completed his studies at the Jesuit Academy and left home. By the age of seventeen he reached Prague and was able to enter the university, the Faculty of Philosophy.
To earn extra money, he was a singer in church and played the violin as part of traveling musical groups. Nevertheless, he found time for music lessons, which were given to him by the composer B. Chernogorsky.
After completing his studies, Christophe went to Vienna, and there A. Melzi was invited to become a court musician at the chapel in Milan. Having gone there, the young man gained knowledge not only in the theory of composition, but also studied many operas of the most outstanding masters this genre. Soon Christophe himself created the opera, and it was staged in Milan.
The premiere was a success, new orders followed and four more equally successful operas were written. Having become successful, the composer went on tour to London and then to Vienna.
Soon he decided to stay in Vienna for good and accepted the offer of Prince Saxe-Hildburghausen to become conductor of his orchestra. Every week this orchestra gave a concert at which the Sami performed various works.
Christophe, as a leader, sometimes also stood at the conductor's stand, sang, played the different instruments. Soon the composer began to direct the court opera. He became one of its reformers and popularizers of French opera.
He was able from comedy genre make a dramatically directed genre. In addition, he taught music to Archduchess Marie Antoinette. When she married the French heir, she invited her teacher to move to Paris.
There he continued to stage operas and create new ones. In Paris he created his best work- “Iphigenia in Tauris.” After the premiere last opera The composer had a stroke.
Two years later, another one happened, which could not but affect the ability to work.
However, he created small piece, which was performed on the day of his funeral in 1787.
Achievements of Christophe Gluck:
Reformer of Italian and French opera
Created about 50 operas
Author of a number of works for orchestra
Was the inspiration of Schumann, Beethoven, Berlioz
Dates from the biography of Christoph Gluck:
1714 born
1731 settled in Prague
1736 moved to Vienna
1741 first production of the opera in Italy
1745 tour in London
1752 settled in Vienna
1756 received the Order of the Golden Spur
1779 stroke
died 1787
Gluck Christoph Willibald (1714-1787), German composer, opera reformer, one of the greatest masters of the era of classicism. Born on July 2, 1714 in Erasbach (Bavaria), in the family of a forester; Gluck's ancestors came from Northern Bohemia and lived on the lands of Prince Lobkowicz. Gluck was three years old when the family returned to their homeland; he studied at the schools of Kamnitz and Albersdorf.
In 1732 he went to Prague, where he apparently attended lectures at the university, earning a living by singing in church choirs and playing the violin and cello. According to some reports, he took lessons from the Czech composer B. Montenegrin (1684-1742).
In 1736, Gluck arrived in Vienna in the retinue of Prince Lobkowitz, but the very next year he moved to the chapel of the Italian Prince Melzi and followed him to Milan. Here Gluck studied composition for three years with the great master of chamber genres G.B. Sammartini (1698-1775), and at the end of 1741 the premiere of Gluck’s first opera Artaserse took place in Milan.
Then he led the life usual for a successful Italian composer, that is, he continuously composed operas and pasticcios (opera performances in which the music is composed of fragments of various operas by one or more authors). In 1745, Gluck accompanied Prince Lobkowitz on his trip to London; their path lay through Paris, where Gluck first heard the operas of J. F. Rameau (1683-1764) and highly appreciated them.
In London, Gluck met with Handel and T. Arn, staged two of his pasticcios (one of them, The Fall of the Giants, La Caduta dei Giganti, is a play on the topic of the day: it is about the suppression of the Jacobite uprising), gave a concert in which he played on a glass harmonica of his own design, and published six trio sonatas.
In the second half of 1746, the composer was already in Hamburg, as conductor and choirmaster of the Italian opera troupe P. Mingotti. Until 1750, Gluck traveled with this troupe around different cities and countries, composing and staging their own operas. In 1750 he married and settled in Vienna.
None of Gluck's operas early period did not fully reveal the scale of his talent, but nevertheless, by 1750 his name already enjoyed a certain fame. In 1752, the Neapolitan San Carlo Theater commissioned him the opera La Clemenza di Tito (La Clemenza di Tito) to a libretto by the major playwright of that era, Metastasio.
Gluck conducted himself, and aroused both keen interest and jealousy of local musicians and received praise from the venerable composer and teacher F. Durante (1684-1755). Upon his return to Vienna in 1753, he became bandmaster at the court of the Prince of Saxe-Hildburghausen and remained in this position until 1760.
In 1757, Pope Benedict XIV awarded the composer the title of knight and awarded him the Order of the Golden Spur: from then on, the musician signed himself - “Cavalier Gluck” (Ritter von Gluck).
During this period, the composer became surrounded by the new manager of the Viennese theaters, Count Durazzo, and composed a lot both for the court and for the count himself; in 1754 Gluck was appointed conductor of the court opera. After 1758, he worked hard to create works based on French librettos in the style of French comic opera, which was propagated in Vienna by the Austrian envoy in Paris (meaning such operas as The Island of Merlin, L'Isle de Merlin; The Imaginary Slave, La fausse esclave; Fooled cadi, Le cadi dupe).
The dream of " opera reform", the purpose of which was to restore drama, originated in Northern Italy and dominated the minds of Gluck’s contemporaries, and these tendencies were especially strong at the Parma court, where French influence played a large role. Durazzo came from Genoa; years creative development Gluck took place in Milan; they were joined by two more artists originally from Italy, but who had experience working in theaters in different countries - the poet R. Calzabigi and the choreographer G. Angioli.
Thus, a “team” of gifted people was formed, smart people, and influential enough to put general ideas into practice. The first fruit of their collaboration was the ballet Don Juan (1761), then Orpheus and Euridice (1762) and Alceste (1767) were born - Gluck's first reform operas.
In the preface to Alceste's score, Gluck formulates his operatic principles: the subordination of musical beauty to dramatic truth; the destruction of thoughtless vocal virtuosity, all kinds of inorganic insertions into the musical action; interpretation of the overture as an introduction to the drama.
In essence, all this already existed in modern French opera, and since the Austrian princess Marie Antoinette, who had previously taken singing lessons from Gluck, then became the wife of the French monarch, it is not surprising that Gluck was soon commissioned for a number of operas for Paris. The premiere of the first, Iphigenie en Aulide, was conducted by the author in 1774 and served as the occasion for a fierce battle of opinions, a real battle between supporters of French and Italian opera, which lasted about five years.
During this time, Gluck staged two more operas in Paris - Armide (Armide, 1777) and Iphigenie en Tauride (1779), and also reworked Orpheus and Alceste for the French stage. Fanatics of Italian opera specially invited composer N. Piccinni (1772-1800) to Paris, who was a talented musician, but still could not withstand the competition with the genius of Gluck. At the end of 1779 Gluck returned to Vienna. Gluck died in Vienna on November 15, 1787.
Gluck's work is the highest expression of the aesthetics of classicism, which already during the composer's lifetime gave way to the emerging romanticism. The best of Gluck's operas still occupy a place of honor in opera repertoire, and his music captivates listeners with its noble simplicity and deep expressiveness.
The famous composer Christoph Willibald Gluck was able to offer music community a new dramaturgy of opera, other forms of musical expression, “liberated” the art of opera from court aesthetics. All operas composed by the composer fully possess psychological truthfulness, depth of feelings and passions.
Becomingcomposer
Christoph Willibald Gluck was born on July 2, 1714 in the town of Erasbach, located in the Austrian state of Falz. Christophe's father, a forester by profession, considered music an unworthy occupation and in every possible way interfered with his son's education.
The teenager, who passionately loved music, could not stand this attitude and left home. He traveled a lot and dreamed of receiving good education. Christoph's wanderings led him to Prague, where in 1731 he managed to enter the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Prague. Gluck successfully combines studies at the university and music studies, sings in the choir of the Church of St. Jacob. In addition, the young man often travels around the outskirts of Prague, memorizing and analyzing Czech folk music.
Within four years, Christoph Willibald became a mature musician and received an offer to become a chamber musician at the Milanese court chapel. Begins in 1735 creative path Gluck as an opera composer: in Milan he gets acquainted with the work of the best Italian composers, takes lessons in creating opera music from G. Sammartini.
Recognition of creative talent
First big success came to the composer in 1741, when the premiere of the opera “Artaxerxes” took place, which brought fame and popularity to the young author. Orders for essays did not take long to arrive. Over the course of three years, Gluck created the opera seria “Demetrius”, “Poro”, “Demophon” and others.
The composer is invited to go on tour to England. During performances in London, Gluck receives strong impressions from listening to the oratorio of another. Subsequently, Christophe set such a monumental and majestic landmark as his creative reference point. musical style. The European tour not only allowed the composer himself to open up, but also to get acquainted with various opera schools, gain a lot of ideas, and make interesting creative contacts.
With the move to the Austrian capital in 1752, the new stage creative career composer. Gluck became the conductor of the court opera, and in 1774 he was awarded the title of “actual imperial court composer.” Christophe continues to write opera music mainly based on comic librettos French composers. Among them are “Merlin’s Island”, “The Imaginary Slave” and others. In collaboration with the French choreographer Angiolini, the composer creates the pantomime ballet Don Juan. The ballet was staged based on a tragic plot, rare for that time, from Moliere’s play, touching on the eternal questions of human existence.
"Orpheus". Revolution in opera
Most important milestone in Gluck's work, from the point of view of the development of world musical art, is the opera "Orpheus". This reform work, created by Christoph Gluck in collaboration with librettist R. Calzabigi, became a delightful example of constructing a large operatic form, which perfectly combined musical and stage development of the plot. The arias of the hero of the ancient Greek myth Orpheus, the flute solo and many other fragments of the opera revealed the melodic genius of Christophe Gluck.
Soon after the premiere of Orpheus, in 1767-1770, two more operas of the reformist style created by Gluck were published: Alceste and Paris and Helen. However, the composer's innovative ideas were not properly appreciated by the Austrian and Italian public. Gluck moves to Paris, where he spends the most fruitful creative period In my life.
Here is an incomplete list of the composer’s Parisian works:
- "Iphigenia in Aulis" (1774);
- "Armida" (1777);
- “Iphigenia in Tauris” (1779);
- "Echo and Narcissus" (1779).
The Parisian cultural elite was divided in its assessment of the composer's work. French educators were completely captivated by Gluck's works, but adherents of the old French opera school tried in every possible way to prevent his work in Paris. The composer has to return to the Austrian capital. On November 15, 1787, Christoph Gluck, who was seriously ill, passed away.
Christoph Willibald von Gluck(German: Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck, July 2, 1714, Erasbach - November 15, 1787, Vienna) - German composer, mainly operatic, one of largest representatives musical classicism. The name of Gluck is associated with the reform of the Italian opera seria and the French lyrical tragedy in the second half of the 18th century, and if the works of Gluck the composer were not popular at all times, then the ideas of Gluck the reformer determined the further development opera house.
early years
Information about early years Christoph Willibald von Gluck's work is extremely scanty, and much of what was established by the composer's early biographers was disputed by later ones. It is known that he was born in Erasbach (now the Berching district) in the Upper Palatinate in the family of the forester Alexander Gluck and his wife Maria Walpurga, was passionate about music from childhood and, apparently, received a home musical education, common in those days in Bohemia, where the family moved in 1717. Presumably, for six years Gluck studied at the Jesuit gymnasium in Komotau and, since his father did not want to see his eldest son as a musician, he left home, ended up in Prague in 1731 and studied for some time at the University of Prague, where he attended lectures on logic and mathematics, earning a living by playing music. A violinist and cellist who also had good vocal abilities, Gluck sang in the choir of St. Jakub and played in an orchestra conducted by the greatest Czech composer and music theorist Boguslav Chernogorsky, sometimes he went to the outskirts of Prague, where he performed for peasants and artisans.
Gluck attracted the attention of Prince Philipp von Lobkowitz and in 1735 was invited to his Viennese house as a chamber musician; Apparently, the Italian aristocrat A. Melzi heard him in Lobkowitz's house and invited him to his private chapel - in 1736 or 1737 Gluck ended up in Milan. In Italy, the birthplace of opera, he had the opportunity to become acquainted with the work of the greatest masters of this genre; At the same time, he studied composition under the guidance of Giovanni Sammartini, a composer not so much of opera as of symphony; but it was under his leadership, as S. Rytsarev writes, that Gluck mastered “modest” but confident homophonic writing,” which was already fully established in Italian opera, while the polyphonic tradition still dominated in Vienna.
In December 1741, the premiere of Gluck's first opera, the opera seria Artaxerxes, with a libretto by Pietro Metastasio, took place in Milan. In Artaxerxes, as in all of Gluck's early operas, the imitation of Sammartini was still noticeable, nevertheless it was a success, which entailed orders from different cities of Italy, and in the next four years no less successful opera seria were created. Demetrius", "Porus", "Demophon", "Hypermnestra" and others.
In the autumn of 1745, Gluck went to London, from where he received an order for two operas, but in the spring next year left the English capital and joined the Italian opera troupe of the Mingotti brothers as a second conductor, with whom he toured Europe for five years. In 1751, in Prague, he left Mingotti for the post of conductor in the troupe of Giovanni Locatelli, and in December 1752 he settled in Vienna. Having become conductor of the orchestra of Prince Joseph of Saxe-Hildburghausen, Gluck led its weekly concerts - “academies”, in which he performed both other people's compositions and his own. According to contemporaries, Gluck was also an outstanding opera conductor and knew well the features of ballet art.
In search of musical drama
In 1754, at the suggestion of the manager of the Viennese theaters, Count G. Durazzo, Gluck was appointed conductor and composer of the Court Opera. In Vienna, gradually becoming disillusioned with the traditional Italian opera seria - “opera-aria”, in which the beauty of melody and singing acquired a self-sufficient character, and composers often became hostages to the whims of prima donnas - he turned to French comic opera (“The Island of Merlin”, “ The Imaginary Slave”, “The Reformed Drunkard”, “The Fooled Cadi”, etc.) and even to ballet: created in collaboration with the choreographer G. Angiolini, the pantomime ballet “Don Juan” (based on the play by J.-B. Molière), a real choreographic drama, became the first embodiment of Gluck's desire to transform the opera stage into a dramatic one.
K.V. Gluck. Lithograph by F. E. Feller
In his quest, Gluck found support from the chief intendant of the opera, Count Durazzo, and his compatriot, poet and playwright Ranieri de Calzabigi, who wrote the libretto of Don Giovanni. The next step in the direction of musical drama was their new collaboration- the opera “Orpheus and Eurydice”, in the first edition staged in Vienna on October 5, 1762. Under the pen of Calzabigi ancient greek myth turned into ancient drama, in full accordance with the tastes of the time; however, neither in Vienna nor in other European cities did the opera achieve success with the public.
The need to reform the opera seria, writes S. Rytsarev, was dictated by objective signs of its crisis. At the same time, it was necessary to overcome “the centuries-old and incredibly strong tradition of opera-spectacle, musical performance with a firmly established division of the functions of poetry and music.” In addition, opera seria was characterized by static dramaturgy; it was justified by the “theory of affects”, which assumed for everyone emotional state- sadness, joy, anger, etc. - use of certain means musical expressiveness, established by theorists, and did not allow for the individualization of experiences. The transformation of stereotyping into a value criterion gave rise in the first half of the 18th century, on the one hand, to a boundless number of operas, on the other hand, very many of them. short life on stage, on average from 3 to 5 performances.
Gluck in his reform operas, writes S. Rytsarev, “made the music “work” for the drama not at individual moments of the performance, which was often found in contemporary opera, but throughout its entire duration. Orchestral means have become effective, secret meaning, began to counterpoint the development of events on stage. A flexible, dynamic change of recitative, aria, ballet and choral episodes has developed into a musical and plot event, entailing a direct emotional experience.”
Other composers also searched in this direction, including in the genre of comic opera, Italian and French: this young genre had not yet had time to fossilize, and it was easier to develop its healthy tendencies from within than in opera seria. By order of the court, Gluck continued to write operas in traditional style, generally giving preference to comic opera. A new and more perfect embodiment of his dream of musical drama was the heroic opera Alceste, created in collaboration with Calzabigi in 1767, presented in the first edition in Vienna on December 26 of the same year. Dedicating the opera to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, the future Emperor Leopold II, Gluck wrote in the preface to Alceste:
It seemed to me that the music should play in relation to poetic work the same role played by the brightness of colors and correctly distributed effects of chiaroscuro, which animate the figures without changing their contours in relation to the drawing... I tried to expel from the music all the excesses against which common sense and justice protest in vain. I believed that the overture should illuminate the action for the audience and serve as an introductory overview of the content: the instrumental part should be determined by the interest and tension of the situations... All my work should have been reduced to searching noble simplicity, freedom from ostentatious piling up of difficulties at the expense of clarity; the introduction of some new techniques seemed to me valuable insofar as it suited the situation. And finally, there is no rule that I would not break in order to achieve greater expressiveness. These are my principles.
Such a fundamental subordination of music to poetic text was revolutionary for that time; in an effort to overcome the number structure characteristic of the then opera seria, Gluck not only combined episodes of the opera into big stages, permeated with a single dramatic development, he tied the overture to the action of the opera, which at that time was usually a separate concert number; In order to achieve greater expressiveness and drama, he increased the role of the choir and orchestra. Neither Alceste, nor the third reform opera based on Calzabigi's libretto, Paris and Helena (1770), found support among either the Viennese or Italian public.
Gluck's responsibilities as a court composer included teaching music to the young Archduchess Marie Antoinette; Having become the wife of the heir to the French throne in April 1770, Marie Antoinette invited Gluck to Paris. However, the composer’s decision to move his activities to the capital of France was influenced to a much greater extent by other circumstances.
Glitch in Paris
In Paris, meanwhile, there was a struggle around the opera, which became the second act of the struggle that had died down back in the 50s between adherents of Italian opera (“Buffonists”) and French opera (“anti-Buffonists”). This confrontation split even the crowned family: the French king Louis XVI preferred Italian opera, while his Austrian wife Marie Antoinette supported national French opera. The split also struck the famous “Encyclopedia”: its editor D’Alembert was one of the leaders of the “Italian party”, and many of its authors, led by Voltaire, actively supported the French one. The stranger Gluck very soon became the banner of the “French party”, and since the Italian troupe in Paris at the end of 1776 was headed by the famous and popular composer Niccolo Piccinni in those years, the third act of this musical and social polemic went down in history as a struggle between the “Gluckists” and "Piccinists". In the struggle that seemed to unfold around styles, the dispute was actually about what an opera performance should be - just an opera, a luxurious spectacle with beautiful music and beautiful vocals, or something significantly more: encyclopedists were waiting for new social content, in tune with the pre-revolutionary era. In the struggle of the “Gluckists” with the “Piccinists,” which 200 years later already seemed like a grandiose theatrical performance, as in the “War of the Buffons,” “powerful cultural strata of aristocratic and democratic art” entered into polemics, according to S. Rytsarev.
In the early 70s, Gluck's reform operas were unknown in Paris; in August 1772, the attaché of the French embassy in Vienna, François le Blanc du Roullet, brought them to the attention of the public in the pages of the Parisian magazine Mercure de France. The paths of Gluck and Calzabigi diverged: with a reorientation towards Paris, du Roullet became the main librettist of the reformer; in collaboration with him, the opera “Iphigenia in Aulis” (based on the tragedy by J. Racine) was written for the French public, staged in Paris on April 19, 1774. The success was consolidated, although it caused fierce controversy, by the new French edition of Orpheus and Eurydice.
Statue of K. W. Gluck at the Grand Opera
Recognition in Paris did not go unnoticed in Vienna: if Marie Antoinette awarded Gluck 20,000 livres for “Iphigenia” and the same for “Orpheus”, then Maria Theresa on October 18, 1774 in absentia awarded Gluck the title of “actual imperial and royal court composer” with an annual salary of 2000 guilders. Thanking for the honor, Gluck, after a short stay in Vienna, returned to France, where at the beginning of 1775 the production was staged. new edition his comic opera “The Enchanted Tree, or the Deceived Guardian” (written back in 1759), and in April, at the Royal Academy of Music, a new edition of “Alceste”.
Music historians consider the Paris period to be the most significant in Gluck's work. The struggle between the “Gluckists” and the “Piccinists,” which inevitably turned into personal rivalry between the composers (which, however, did not affect their relationship), proceeded with varying degrees of success; by the mid-70s, the “French party” split into adherents of traditional French opera (J.B. Lully and J.F. Rameau), on the one hand, and the new French opera of Gluck, on the other. Willingly or unwittingly, Gluck himself challenged the traditionalists by using for his heroic opera “Armide” a libretto written by F. Kino (based on the poem “Jerusalem Liberated” by T. Tasso) for opera of the same name Lully. "Armida", which premiered at the Royal Academy of Music on September 23, 1777, apparently was received so differently by representatives of different "parties" that even 200 years later some spoke of a "tremendous success", others - of a "failure" "
Nevertheless, this struggle ended in Gluck’s victory, when on May 18, 1779, his opera “Iphigenia in Tauris” (on a libretto by N. Gniar and L. du Roullet based on the tragedy of Euripides) was presented at the Royal Academy of Music, which many still consider best opera composer. Niccolo Piccinni himself admitted “ musical revolution» Gluck. Even earlier, J. A. Houdon sculpted a white marble bust of the composer with the inscription in Latin: “Musas praeposuit sirenis” (“He preferred the muses to the sirens”) - in 1778 this bust was installed in the foyer of the Royal Academy of Music next to the busts of Lully and Rameau.
Last years
On September 24, 1779, the premiere of Gluck's last opera, Echo and Narcissus, took place in Paris; However, even earlier, in July, the composer was struck by a stroke, which resulted in partial paralysis. In the autumn of the same year, Gluck returned to Vienna, which he never left: a new attack of illness occurred in June 1781.
During this period, the composer continued the work he had begun back in 1773 on odes and songs for voice and piano based on the poems of F. G. Klopstock (German: Klopstocks Oden und Lieder beim Clavier zu singen in Musik gesetzt), dreamed of creating a German national opera based on Klopstock’s story “The Battle of Arminius,” but these plans were not destined to come true. Anticipating his imminent departure, around 1782 Gluck wrote “De profundis” - short essay for a four-voice choir and orchestra on the text of Psalm 129, which was performed by his student and follower Antonio Salieri at the composer’s funeral on November 17, 1787. On November 14 and 15, Gluck experienced three more apoplexy attacks; he died on November 15, 1787 and was initially buried in the church cemetery of the suburb of Matzleinsdorf; in 1890 his ashes were transferred to the Vienna Central Cemetery.
Creation
Christoph Willibald Gluck was a composer primarily of opera, but the exact number of operas he owned has not been established: on the one hand, some works have not survived, on the other, Gluck repeatedly reworked his own operas. The Musical Encyclopedia gives the number 107, but lists only 46 operas.
Monument to K. W. Gluck in Vienna
In 1930, E. Braudo regretted that Gluck’s “true masterpieces,” both of his Iphigenias, had now completely disappeared from the theatrical repertoire; but in the middle of the 20th century, interest in the composer’s work was revived; for many years they have not left the stage and have an extensive discography of his operas “Orpheus and Eurydice”, “Alceste”, “Iphigenia in Aulis”, “Iphigenia in Tauris”, which are even more popular they use symphonic fragments from his operas, which have long acquired an independent life on the concert stage. In 1987, the International Gluck Society was founded in Vienna to study and promote the composer's work.
At the end of his life, Gluck said that “only the foreigner Salieri” adopted his manners from him, “for not a single German wanted to study them”; nevertheless, he had many followers in different countries, each of whom in his own way applied his principles in own creativity, - in addition to Antonio Salieri, these are primarily Luigi Cherubini, Gaspare Spontini and L. van Beethoven, and later Hector Berlioz, who called Gluck “Aeschylus of music”; among his closest followers, the composer’s influence is sometimes noticeable even outside of operatic creativity, as in Beethoven, Berlioz and Franz Schubert. As for Gluck’s creative ideas, they determined the further development of the opera theater; in the 19th century there was no major opera composer who, for the most part or to a lesser extent would not be influenced by these ideas; Another opera reformer, Richard Wagner, also turned to Gluck, who half a century later faced opera stage with the same “costume concert” against which Gluck’s reform was directed. The composer’s ideas turned out to be not alien to Russian opera culture- from Mikhail Glinka to Alexander Serov.
Gluck also wrote a number of works for orchestra - symphonies or overtures (during the composer’s youth the distinction between these genres was not yet clear enough), a concerto for flute and orchestra (G major), 6 trio sonatas for 2 violins and a general bass, written back in the 40s. In collaboration with G. Angiolini, in addition to Don Juan, Gluck created three more ballets: Alexander (1765), as well as Semiramis (1765) and The Chinese Orphan - both based on the tragedies of Voltaire.
