708 THE SURVIVAL OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) was one of the greatest composers of
the first half of the eighteenth century. He was a prolific musician, and although
the general public knows him primarily for his oratorios, he was very much con-
cerned with the composition of operas. In fact many of his oratorios on secular
themes are operatic in nature and, although intended for the concert hall, are
much closer to the theater than to the church; some deal with mythology, for
example, Semele and Hercules. Handel wrote forty operas and fortunately revivals
and recordings have become more frequent in recent years to reveal their abun-
dant riches. Many of Handel's operas are based on history, for example, Attone,
Agrippina, Giulio Cesare, and Serse; some are more strictly mythological—Acis and
Galatea (a pastorale), Admeto, and Deidamia.Gluck, Piccinni, Sacchini, and Haydn. Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) is
the composer of the earliest opera to maintain any kind of position in the stan-
dard repertoire, Orfeo ed Euridice (first version, 1762). This beautiful work, re-
strained in its passion and exquisite in its melody, remains one of the most ar-
tistically rewarding settings of the myth. The libretto, by Raniero Calzabigi,
proved a great help to Gluck, whose avowed purpose was to compose music that
would best serve the poetry and the plot. Musical extravaganzas with artificial
and even absurd plots and the immoderate intrusion of ballet and spectacle had
become too fashionable. As a result Gluck and Calzabigi desperately felt a need
for reform. It was appropriate that Gluck should resort to the same theme as that
of his idealistic predecessors. Orpheus' arias expressing his anguish at the loss
of his wife, "Che puro ciel" and "Che faro senz Euridice," well illustrate the high-
est embodiment of these ideals. In the first version of Gluck's opera, the role of
Orfeo was written for a castrato—a male who had been castrated and therefore
sang soprano and who undertook both male and female roles. When Gluck wrote
a second version of the opera for production in Paris in 1774, he reworked the
role for a tenor. It is now usually sung by a mezzo-soprano or contralto; but per-
formances and recordings may be found sung by both male and female voices.
Gluck again worked with Calzabigi for Alceste (first version, 1767). Derived
from Euripides' play, it is another impressive achievement more monumental
in character than Orfeo, but nevertheless equally touching in its nobility and sen-
timent. Their third collaboration, Paride ed Elena, although originally a failure,
sounds most enjoyable today. Subsequent operas by Gluck are Echo et Narcisse,
Iphigénie en Aulide, and Iphigénie en Tauride; the latter two are particularly melodic
and compelling. Richard Wagner admired and reworked the score of Iphigénie
en Aulide to create the version that is usually performed. Early in his career, be-
fore he had established his identity as an operatic reformer (1747), Gluck com-
posed a serenata, Die Hochzeit von Herkules und Hebe, to a libretto that had pre-
viously been set to music and reused music from some of his previous operas.
The theme of the marriage of Heracles and Hebe was appropriate for a work
performed at the marriage celebration of the Electoral Prince of Saxony.