The Classical Music Book

118

T

he opera Orfeo ed Euridice

by Christoph Willibald

Gluck was first performed

in Vienna in 1762. It is based

on a familiar tale from classical

mythology, the story of Orpheus’s

journey to the underworld to

rescue his wife, Eurydice. Unlike

the original myth, but in line with

contemporary taste, Gluck’s opera

has a happy ending.

Even if the opera’s story was

largely familiar, Gluck’s style was

quite new. He transformed opera

to integrate the music and drama

more fully than before, streamlining

distracting elements that slowed up

the action, making the work more

involving and more real. He also

humanized his characters and

their arias by making them

express emotions more directly.

Opera seria

In the mid-18th century, the most

fashionable type of opera was

what is now called opera seria

(serious opera). This type of opera

features recitative—passages sung

in the rhythm of speech with many

syllables on the same note that are

usually accompanied only by

continuo instruments (typically

harpsichord and cello alone),

playing an improvised added bass

line—and arias, accompanied by

full orchestra. The arias have a

distinct structure, called da capo

(“from the top”), with three sections,

the third being a repeat of the first,

with ornamentation to show off the

singer’s ability. In between, the

second section introduces a new

melody or develops the initial tune.

Meanwhile, features such as rich

and varied stage sets and elaborate

ballets, often enliven the event.

Gluck believed that the lavish

spectacles and the long showy

arias tended to get in the way of

the drama and that the difference

in musical texture between the

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Classical opera seria

BEFORE

1690 Composers such as

Alessandro Scarlatti create a

new style of opera derived from

Baroque vocal works—the

Neapolitan School—rapidly

popularizing the genre.

1748 Gluck’s fame is

enhanced when his opera

La Semiramide riconosciuta

(“Semiramis Revealed”) is

performed in Vienna for the

birthday of Habsburg empress

Maria Theresa.

1752 Gluck and librettist

Pietro Metastasio produce

the highly successful opera,

La clemenza di Tito (The

Clemency of Titus).

AFTER

1781 Mozart’s opera

Idomeneo premieres. It

shows the influence of

Gluck, particularly in the

accompanied recitatives.

THE MOST

MOVING ACT IN

ALL OF OPERA

ORFEO ED EURIDICE (1762),

CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK

There is no musical

rule that I have not

willingly sacrificed

to dramatic effect.

Christoph W. Gluck

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