The Classical Music Book

119

Gluck’s opera Il Parnasso confuso

premiered in 1765 at the marriage

of Emperor Joseph II. Johann Franz

Greipel’s painting shows Archduke

Leopold on the harpsichord.

See also: Euridice 62–63 ■ St. Matthew Passion 98–105 ■ The Magic

Flute 134 –137 ■ Der Freischütz 149

CL ASSICAL 1750 –1820

arias and recitatives interrupted

the flow. Gluck and his librettist,

Ranieri de’ Calzabigi, wanted to

reform opera by putting the drama

center stage, sweeping away

absurdities of plot and making the

music serve the action. Musically

this meant doing away with the

repeats in the da capo arias and

developing a simpler, clearer style.

A good example is Orfeo’s Act III

aria “Che farò senza Euridice”

(“What shall I do without Eurydice”),

an aria in rondo form in which the

opening theme returns at the end

but without the direct da capo

repetition. Gluck also integrated

the arias and recitatives, using the

whole orchestra to accompany

the latter as well as the former.

This improved the flow and made

the music more expressive of

character and emotion. In the

Act One aria in which Orfeo

sings of his grief, the composer

inserts moving recitatives before

each verse, further integrating

the elements.

Outcomes and effects

The effect of these changes was

to make operas more focused on

character and action—in other

words, if not fully realistic, more

real and more emotionally moving.

The plots tended to be more

coherent and the characters and

situations—even when drawn from

mythology—more credible. At

the same time, there were fewer

opportunities for singers to make

the sort of virtuosic displays that

could interrupt the action. Later

composers, especially Mozart,

further developed these ideas to

produce operatic masterpieces. ■

Christoph

Willibald Gluck

The son of a forester, Gluck

was born in Erasbach, Bavaria,

in 1714. Largely self-taught,

he traveled widely, learning

the organ and cello in Prague.

He studied with the composer

Giuseppe Sammartini in Milan,

before heading to London in

the 1740s, where he composed

operas for the King’s Theatre.

There, he met Handel, who

famously stated that his own

cook (bass singer Gustavus

Waltz) knew more about

counterpoint than Gluck.

Gluck eventually settled in

Vienna, where he worked with

librettist Ranieri de’ Calzabigi.

The pair aimed to “reform”

opera by integrating the music

and the action. They made

operas inspired by classical

mythology, including Orfeo

ed Euridice (1762) and Alceste

(1767). Gluck’s fame grew

with further works, including

French versions of Orfeo and

some of his other operas. He

retired after suffering a stroke

in 1779 and died in 1787.

Other key works

1767 Alceste

1777 Armide

1779 Iphigénie en Tauride

US_118-119_Gluck.indd 119 26/03/18 1:00 PM