A glitch biography and a brief description of the composer's work. Christoph Willibald the glitch and his opera reform Glitch biography summary the most important

Christoph Willibald Gluck made an enormous contribution to the history of music as an outstanding composer and reformer of opera. Few of the opera composers of subsequent generations have not experienced, to a greater or lesser extent, the influence of his reform, including the authors of Russian operas. And the great German opera revolutionary, put the work of Gluck very highly. Ideas to debunk routine and clichés on the opera stage, to put an end to the omnipotence of soloists there, to bring musical and dramatic content closer together - all this, perhaps, remains relevant to this day.

Cavalier Gluck - and this is how he had the right to introduce himself since he was awarded the Order of the Golden Spur (he received this honorary award from the Pope in 1756 for his merits in the art of music) - was born into a very modest family. His father served as the forester of Prince Lobkowitz. The family lived in the town of Erasbach, south of Nuremberg, in Bavaria, or rather Franconia. Three years later, they moved to Bohemia (Czech Republic), and there the future composer was educated, first at the Jesuit college in Komotau, then, against the will of his father, who did not want his son to have a musical career, he left for Prague on his own and attended classes at the philosophy faculty of the university. and at the same time lessons of harmony and general bass from B. Chernogorsky.

Prince Lobkowitz, a renowned philanthropist and amateur musician, drew attention to the talented and hardworking young man and took him with him to Vienna. It was there that he became acquainted with modern operatic art, he became infatuated with it - but at the same time he became aware of the inadequacy of his composer's armament. Once in Milan, Gluck improved himself under the guidance of the experienced Giovanni Sammartini. In the same place, with the production of the opera-seria (which means “serious opera”) “Artaxerxes” in 1741 his composer's career started, and it should be noted - with great success, which gave the author confidence in his abilities.

His name became known, orders began to come in, and new operas were staged on the stages of various European theaters. Only in London Gluck's music was received coldly. There, accompanying Lobkowitz, the composer did not have enough time, and was only able to stage 2 “Pasticcios”, which meant “an opera composed of excerpts from previously composed”. But it was in England that Gluck was greatly impressed by the music of Georg Friedrich Handel, and this made him think seriously about himself.

He was looking for his own ways. Having tried his luck in Prague, then returning to Vienna, he tried himself in the genre of French comic opera (The Corrected Drunkard 1760, The Pilgrims from Mecca 1761, etc.)

But the fateful meeting with the Italian poet, playwright and talented librettist Raniero Calzabigi revealed the truth to him. He finally found a like-minded person! They were united by dissatisfaction with modern opera, which they knew from the inside. They began to strive for a closer and artistically correct combination of musical and dramatic action. They opposed the transformation of a live performance into concert numbers. Their fruitful collaboration resulted in the ballet Don Giovanni, the operas Orpheus and Eurydice (1762), Alcesta (1767) and Paris and Helena (1770) - a new page in the history of musical theater.

By that time, the composer was already happily married for a long time. His young wife also brought with her a large dowry, and one could devote oneself entirely to creativity. He was a highly respected musician in Vienna, and the activities under his leadership of the "Academy of Music" was one of the most interesting events in the history of this city.

A new twist of fate took place when Gluck's noble student, daughter of the Emperor Marie Antoinette, became Queen of France and took her beloved teacher with her. In Paris, she became his active supporter and promoter of his ideas. Her husband, Louis XV, on the contrary, was among the supporters of Italian operas and patronized them. Disputes about tastes turned into a real war, which remained in history as the “war of glukists and picchinists” (composer Niccolo Piccini was urgently discharged from Italy to help). Gluck's new masterpieces, created in Paris - "Iphigenia in Aulis" (1773), "Armida" (1777) and "Iphigenia in Taurida" - marked the pinnacle of his work. He also made the second edition of the opera Orpheus and Eurydice. Niccolo Piccini himself recognized Gluck's revolution.

But, if the works of Gluck won that war, the composer himself gave in to his health. Three strokes in a row knocked him down. Leaving a remarkable artistic legacy and students (among whom was, for example, Antonio Salieri), Christoph Willibald Gluck died in 1787 in Vienna, his grave is now in the main city cemetery.

Music Seasons

K.V. Gluck is a great opera composer who performed in the second half of the 18th century. the reform of the Italian opera-seria and the French lyric tragedy. The great mythological opera, which was experiencing an acute crisis, acquired in Gluck's work the qualities of a genuine musical tragedy, filled with strong passions, uplifting the ethical ideals of loyalty, duty, and readiness for self-sacrifice. The appearance of the first reformist opera "Orpheus" was preceded by a long journey - the struggle for the right to become a musician, travel, the development of various opera genres of that time. Gluck lived an amazing life, devoting himself entirely to musical theater.

Gluck was born into the family of a forester. The father considered the profession of a musician an unworthy occupation and in every possible way interfered with the musical hobbies of the eldest son. Therefore, as a teenager, Gluck leaves home, travels, dreams of getting a good education (by this time he graduated from the Jesuit college in Kommotau). In 1731 Gluck entered the University of Prague. The student of the Faculty of Philosophy devoted a lot of his time to musical studies - he took lessons from the famous Czech composer Boguslav Chernogorsky, sang in the choir of the Church of St. Jacob. Wanderings in the vicinity of Prague (Gluck willingly played in itinerant ensembles on the violin and especially his beloved cello) helped to get to know Czech folk music better.

In 1735 Gluck, already an established professional musician, went to Vienna and joined the chapel of Count Lobkowitz. Soon the Italian philanthropist A. Melzi offered Gluck a job as chamber musician of the court chapel in Milan. Gluck's career as an opera composer begins in Italy; he gets acquainted with the works of the greatest Italian masters, is engaged in composition under the direction of G. Sammartini. The preparatory stage lasted almost 5 years; it was only in December 1741 in Milan that Gluck's first opera Artaxerxes (lib. P. Metastasio) was successfully staged. Gluck receives numerous orders from the theaters of Venice, Turin, Milan and over the course of four years creates several more opera-seria (Demetrius, Poro, Demofont, Hypernestra, etc.), which brought him fame and recognition with quite sophisticated and demanding Italian public.

In 1745 the composer toured London. The strongest impression was made on him by GF Handel's oratorios. This sublime, monumental, heroic art became for Gluck the most important creative reference point. A stay in England, as well as performances with the Italian opera troupe of the Mingotti brothers in the largest European capitals (Dresden, Vienna, Prague, Copenhagen) enriched the composer's stock of musical impressions, helped to establish interesting creative contacts, and get to know different opera schools better. In recognition of Gluck's authority in the music world, he was awarded the papal Order of the Golden Spur. "Cavalier Gluck" - this title was assigned to the composer. (Let us recall the excellent short story by T. A. Hoffmann "Cavalier Gluck".)

A new stage in the life and work of the composer begins with a move to Vienna (1752), where Gluck soon took the post of conductor and composer of the court opera, and in 1774 received the title of "actual imperial and royal court composer". Continuing to compose opera-seria, Gluck turns to new genres. French comic operas ("Merlin's Island", "The Imaginary Slave", "The Corrected Drunkard", "The Fooled Cadi", etc.), written on the texts of the famous French playwrights A. Lesage, C. Favard and J. Seden, enriched the composer's style with new intonations, compositional techniques, responded to the needs of the audience in a directly vital, democratic art. Gluck's work in the genre of ballet is of great interest. In collaboration with the talented Viennese choreographer G. Angiolini, the pantomime ballet Don Juan was created. The novelty of this performance - a genuine choreographic drama - is largely determined by the nature of the plot: not traditionally fabulous, allegorical, but deeply tragic, acutely conflicting, touching upon the eternal problems of human existence. (The ballet script was written based on the play by J. B. Moliere.)

The most important event in the creative evolution of the composer and in the musical life of Vienna was the premiere of the first reformist opera, Orpheus (1762). strict and sublime antique drama. The beauty of Orpheus's art and the power of his love are able to overcome all obstacles - this eternal and always exciting idea lies at the heart of the opera, one of the composer's most perfect creations. In the arias of Orpheus, in the famous flute solo, also known in numerous instrumental versions under the name "Melody", the original melodic gift of the composer was revealed; and the stage at the gates of Hades - the dramatic duel of Orpheus and the furies - remained a remarkable example of the construction of a large operatic form, in which absolute unity of musical and stage development was achieved.

Orpheus was followed by 2 more reformist operas - Alcesta (1767) and Paris and Helena (1770) (both in libra. Calzabidzhi). In the preface to Alceste, written on the occasion of the dedication of the opera to the Duke of Tuscany, Gluck formulated the artistic principles that guided all his creative activities. Not finding the proper support from the Viennese and Italian public. Gluck goes to Paris. The years spent in the capital of France (1773-79) are the time of the composer's highest creative activity. Gluck writes and puts on new reformist operas at the Royal Academy of Music - Iphigenia in Aulis (lib. L. du Roullet after the tragedy of J. Racine, 1774), Armida (lib. F. Kino based on T. Tasso's poem Jerusalem Liberated ", 1777)," Iphigenia in Taurida "(lib. N. Gniar and L. du Roullet based on the drama by G. de la Touche, 1779)," Echo and Narcissus "(lib. L. Chudi, 1779), reworking" Orpheus "And" Alcestu ", in accordance with the traditions of the French theater. Gluck's activities stirred up the musical life of Paris, provoked the most acute aesthetic discussions. On the composer's side are the French educators and encyclopedists (D. Diderot, J. Rousseau, J. D'Alembert, M. Grimm), who welcomed the birth of a truly lofty heroic style in opera; his opponents are adherents of the old French lyric tragedy and opera-seria. In an effort to shake Gluck's position, they invited to Paris the Italian composer N. Piccinni, who at that time enjoyed European recognition. The controversy between the supporters of Gluck and Piccinni went down in the history of French opera under the name of the "War of Gluckists and Picchinnists". The composers themselves, who treated each other with sincere sympathy, remained far from these "aesthetic battles".

In the last years of his life, which passed in Vienna, Gluck dreamed of creating a German national opera based on the plot of F. Klopstock "The Battle of Hermann". However, serious illness and age hindered the implementation of this plan. During the funeral of Glucks in Vienna, his last work "De profundls" ("I call out from the abyss ...") was performed for choir and orchestra. This peculiar requiem was conducted by Gluck's student A. Salieri.

The passionate admirer of his work G. Berlioz called Gluck "Aeschylus of Music". The stylistics of Gluck's musical tragedies - the sublime beauty and nobility of images, the impeccability of taste and the unity of the whole, the monumentality of the composition based on the interaction of solo and choral forms - goes back to the traditions of ancient tragedy. Created in the heyday of the educational movement on the eve of the Great French Revolution, they responded to the needs of the time in great heroic art. So, Diderot wrote shortly before Gluck's arrival in Paris: "Let a genius appear who will confirm the true tragedy ... on the lyrical stage." Having set as his goal "to expel from the opera all those bad excesses, against which common sense and good taste have been vainly protested for a long time," Gluck creates a performance in which all the components of drama are logically expedient and perform certain necessary functions in the overall composition. "... I avoided demonstrating a pile of spectacular difficulties to the detriment of clarity," - said in the dedication of "Alcesta", - "and I did not attach any value to the discovery of a new technique, if it did not follow naturally from the situation and was not associated with expressiveness." Thus, the choir and ballet become full-fledged participants in the action; intonationally expressive recitatives naturally merge with arias, the melody of which is free from the excesses of a virtuoso style; the overture anticipates the emotional structure of the future action; relatively complete musical numbers are combined into large scenes, etc. Directed selection and concentration of the means of musical and dramatic characteristics, strict subordination of all links of a large composition - these are the most important discoveries of Gluck, which were of great importance both for the renewal of opera drama and for the approval of a new one. symphonic thinking. (The heyday of Gluck's operatic creativity falls on the time of the most intensive development of large cyclical forms - symphony, sonata, concept.) An older contemporary of I. Haydn and W. A. ​​Mozart, closely associated with the musical life and artistic atmosphere of Vienna. Gluck, both in terms of his creative personality and the general direction of his searches, adjoins the Viennese classical school. The traditions of Gluck's "high tragedy", new principles of his drama were developed in the operatic art of the 19th century: in the works of L. Cherubini, L. Beethoven, G. Berlioz and R. Wagner; and in Russian music - M. Glinka, who highly appreciated Gluck as the first among opera composers of the 18th century.

I. Okhalova

The son of a hereditary forester, from an early age accompanies his father on his numerous journeys. In 1731 he entered the University of Prague, where he studied vocal art and playing various instruments. While in the service of Prince Melzi, he lives in Milan, takes composition lessons from Sammartini and puts on a number of operas. In 1745 he met Handel and Arn in London and composed for the theater. After becoming the conductor of the Italian troupe Mingotti, he visits Hamburg, Dresden and other cities. In 1750 he marries Marianne Pergin, daughter of a wealthy Viennese banker; in 1754 he became Kapellmeister of the Vienna Court Opera and was surrounded by Count Durazzo, who ran the theater. In 1762, Gluck's opera Orpheus and Eurydice was staged with success on a libretto by Calzabigi. In 1774, after several financial setbacks, he followed Marie-Antoinette (with whom he was a music teacher), who became the French queen, to Paris and won the public's favor despite the opposition of the picchinists. However, upset by the failure of the opera Echo and Narcissus (1779), he leaves France and leaves for Vienna. In 1781, the composer is paralyzed, and he stops all activity.

The name Gluck is identified in the history of music with the so-called reform of the Italian type of musical drama, the only one known and widespread in his time in Europe. He is considered not only a great musician, but above all the savior of the genre, distorted in the first half of the 18th century by the virtuoso decorations of the singers and the rules of conventional librettos based on machinery. Nowadays, Gluck's position no longer seems exceptional, since the composer was not the only creator of the reform, the need for which was felt by other opera composers and librettists, in particular Italian ones. In addition, the concept of the decline of musical drama cannot refer to the summit works of the genre, but perhaps to low-grade compositions and poorly gifted authors (it is difficult to blame such a master as Handel for the decline).

Be that as it may, prompted by the librettist Calzabigi and other members of the entourage of Count Giacomo Durazzo, manager of Vienna's imperial theaters, Gluck introduced a number of innovations that certainly led to major results in the field of musical theater. Calzabiji recalled: “For Mr. Gluck, who spoke poorly in our language [that is, in Italian], it was impossible to recite poetry. I read him "Orpheus" and several times recited many fragments, emphasizing the shades of declamation, stops, slowing down, speeding up, sounds that are heavy, then smooth, which I wanted him to use in his composition. At the same time I asked him to remove all grace, cadence , rituals and all that barbaric and extravagant that has penetrated into our music. "

GLUCK (Gluck) Christoph Willibald (1714-1787), German composer. He worked in Milan, Vienna, Paris. Gluck's opera reform, carried out in line with the aesthetics of classicism (noble simplicity, heroism), reflected new trends in the art of the Enlightenment. The idea of ​​subjecting music to the laws of poetry and drama greatly influenced musical theater in the 19th and 20th centuries. Operas (over 40): "Orpheus and Eurydice" (1762), "Alcesta" (1767), "Paris and Helena" (1770), "Iphigenia in Aulis" (1774), "Armida" (1777), "Iphigenia in Tauride "(1779).

GLUCK(Gluck) Christoph Willibald (Cavalier Gluck, Ritter von Gluck) (2 July 1714, Erasbach, Bavaria - 15 November 1787, Vienna), German composer.

Becoming

Born into the family of a forester. Gluck's native language was Czech. At the age of 14, he left his family, wandered, earning a living by playing the violin and singing, then in 1731 he entered the University of Prague. During his studies (1731-34) he served as a church organist. In 1735 he moved to Vienna, then to Milan, where he studied with the composer JB Sammartini (c. 1700-1775), one of the largest Italian representatives of early classicism.

In 1741 Gluck's first opera Artaxerxes was staged in Milan; then there were the premieres of several more operas in various cities of Italy. In 1845 Gluck was commissioned to compose two operas for London; in England he met G.F. In 1846-51 he worked in Hamburg, Dresden, Copenhagen, Naples, Prague. In 1752 he settled in Vienna, where he took the position of accompanist, then conductor at the court of Prince J. of Saxe-Hildburghausen. In addition, he composed French comic operas for the imperial court theater and Italian operas for palace entertainments. In 1759, Gluck received an official position at the court theater and soon received a royal pension.

Fruitful fellowship

Around 1761, Gluck's collaboration with the poet R. Calzabigi and the choreographer G. Angiolini (1731-1803) began. In their first joint work, the ballet Don Juan, they managed to achieve an amazing artistic unity of all components of the performance. A year later, the opera Orpheus and Eurydice appeared (libretto by Calzabigi, dances staged by Angiolini) - the first and best of Gluck's so-called reformist operas. In 1764, Gluck composed the French comic opera An Unforeseen Meeting, or The Pilgrims from Mecca, and a year later, two more ballets. In 1767, the success of Orpheus was consolidated with the opera Alcesta, also based on Calzabigi's libretto, but with dances staged by another outstanding choreographer, J.-J. Noverra (1727-1810). The third reformist opera Paris and Helena (1770) had a more modest success.

In Paris

In the early 1770s, Gluck decided to apply his innovative ideas to French opera. In 1774, Iphigenia at Aulis and Orpheus, the French version of Orpheus and Eurydice, were staged in Paris. Both works received an enthusiastic reception. Gluck's succession of Parisian successes was continued by the French edition of Alceste (1776) and Armida (1777). The latter work served as a pretext for a fierce controversy between the "Gluckists" and supporters of traditional Italian and French opera, which was personified by the talented composer of the Neapolitan school N. Piccinni, who arrived in Paris in 1776 at the invitation of Gluck's opponents. Gluck's victory in this controversy was marked by the triumph of his opera Iphigenia in Taurida (1779) (however, the opera Echo and Narcissus, staged in the same year, failed). In the last years of his life, Gluck carried out the German edition of "Iphigenia in Taurida" and composed several songs. His last work was the psalm De profundis for chorus and orchestra, which was performed under the baton of A. Salieri at the funeral service for Gluck.

Gluck's contribution

In total, Gluck wrote about 40 operas - Italian and French, comic and serious, traditional and innovative. It is thanks to the latter that he secured a solid place in the history of music. The principles of Gluck's reform are set out in his preface to the publication of the score for "Alcesta" (probably written with the participation of Kaltsabidzhi). They boil down to the following: music should express the content of a poetic text; orchestral rituals and, especially, vocal decorations, which only distract attention from the development of the drama, should be avoided; the overture should anticipate the content of the drama, and the orchestral accompaniment of the vocal parts should correspond to the character of the text; in the recitatives, the vocal-declamatory beginning should be emphasized, that is, the contrast between the recitative and the aria should not be excessive. Most of these principles were embodied in the opera Orpheus, where recitatives with orchestral accompaniment, ariosos and arias are not separated from each other by sharp boundaries, and individual episodes, including dances and choirs, are combined into large scenes with a dramatic development. Unlike the plots of the opera-series with their intricate intrigues, disguises and sidelines, the plot of "Orpheus" appeals to simple human feelings. In terms of skill, Gluck was noticeably inferior to such of his contemporaries as C.F.E.Bach and J. Haydn, but his technique, with all its limitations, fully met his goals. His music combines simplicity and monumentality, irrepressible energy pressure (as in "Dance of the Furies" from "Orpheus"), pathos and sublime lyrics.

Christoph Willibald von Gluck is a musical genius whose work in the history of world musical culture can hardly be overestimated. His reformatory activities can be called a revolution that overturned the previous foundations that existed in the art of opera. Having created a new opera style, he determined the further development of European operatic art and had a significant influence on the work of such musical geniuses as L. Beethoven, G. Berlioz and R. Wagner.

A short biography of Christoph Willibald Gluck and many interesting facts about the composer can be found on our page.

Brief biography of Gluck

In 1714, on July 2, in the family of Alexander Gluck and his wife Maria, living in the town of Erasbach, located near the Bavarian city of Berching, a joyful event took place: a boy was born - the first-born, whom happy parents gave the name Christoph Willibald. The elder Gluck, who in his youth served in the army, and then chose the work of a forester as his main occupation, was at first unlucky with employment, and for this reason the whole family had to often move, changing their place of residence, until in 1717 they had a chance to move to the Czech Bohemia.

Gluck's biography says that from an early age, parents began to notice their son Christoph's special musical abilities and interest in mastering various kinds of musical instruments. Alexander was categorically against such a hobby of the boy, since in his thoughts the firstborn had to continue the family business. As soon as Christoph grew up, his father began to attract him to his work, and when the boy was twelve years old, his parents assigned him to a Jesuit college in the Czech city of Chomutov. At the educational institution, Christophe mastered Latin and Greek, and also studied ancient literature, history, mathematics, natural science. In addition to the main subjects, he enthusiastically mastered musical instruments: violin, cello, piano, body and, having a good voice, sang in the choir of the church. Gluck studied at college for more than five years and, despite the fact that the parents were looking forward to the return of their son home, the young man, against their will, decided to continue his education.

In 1732, Christophe entered the University of Prague at the Faculty of Philosophy, and, having lost the financial support of his relatives due to his disobedience, earned his living by playing the violin and cello in roving ensembles. In addition, Gluck served as a chorister in the choir of the Church of St. Jacob, where he met the composer Bohuslav Chernogorsky, who was a music teacher for Gluck, who introduced the young man to the basics of composition. At this time, Christophe began to compose little by little, and then stubbornly improve his composing knowledge, acquired from the outstanding maestro.

The beginning of creative activity

In Prague, the young man lived only two years, after reconciliation with his father, he was introduced to Prince Philip von Lobkowitz (Gluck Sr. was in his service at that time). A noble nobleman, appreciating Christoph's musical professionalism, made him an offer, which the young man could not refuse. In 1736, Gluck became a chapel chorister and chamber musician in the Vienna palace of Prince Lobkowitz.

A new period began in the life of Christoph, which can be designated as the beginning of his career. Despite the fact that the Austrian capital has always attracted the young man, since a special musical atmosphere reigned here, his stay in Vienna was not long. One of the evenings, the Italian magnate and philanthropist A. Melzi was invited to the palace of the Lobkowitz princes. Admired by Gluck's talent, the count invited the young man to go to Milan and take the position of chamber musician in his home chapel. Prince Lobkowitz, being a true connoisseur of art, not only agreed with this intention, but also supported it. Already in 1937, Christophe in Milan took up his duties in his new position. The time spent in Italy was very fruitful for Gluck. He met and then became friends with the prominent Italian composer Giovanni Sammartini, who for four years taught Christophe composition so effectively that by the end of 1741 the young man's musical education could be considered completely complete. This year in the life of Gluck became very important also because it marked the beginning of his composing career. It was then that Christophe wrote his first opera Artaxerxes, which premiered successfully at the Milan court theater Reggio Ducal and brought recognition to the young composer, which entailed orders for musical performances from theaters in various Italian cities: Turin, Venice, Cremona and Milan. ...

Christoph began an active composer's life. In four years he wrote ten operas, the productions of which were successful and brought him the recognition of the sophisticated Italian public. Gluck's fame grew with each new premiere and now he began to receive creative proposals from other countries. For example, in 1745 Lord Mildron, the manager of the Italian opera of the famous Royal Haymarket Theater, invited the composer to visit the English capital so that the London public could also get acquainted with the works of the maestro, who had gained great popularity in Italy. This trip became very important for Gluck, as it had a significant impact on his future work. Christophe in London met Handel, at that time the most popular opera composer, and for the first time listened to his monumental oratorios, which made a strong impression on Gluck. According to a contract with the London Royal Theater, Gluck presented two pastichos to the public: "The Fall of the Giants" and "Artamen", but both performances did not have much success among English music lovers.

After the tour in England, Gluck's creative tour continued for another six years. Holding the position of Kapellmeister of the Mingotti Italians' opera company, he traveled to European cities, where he not only staged, but also composed new operas. His name gradually gained more and more popularity in cities such as Hamburg, Dresden, Copenhagen, Naples and Prague. Here he met interesting creative people and enriched his stock of musical impressions. In Dresden in 1749, Gluck staged a newly written musical performance "The Wedding of Hercules and Hebe", and in Vienna in 1748 for the opening of the reconstructed "Burgtheater" he composed another new opera called "Recognized Semiramis". The magnificent splendor of the premiere, timed to coincide with the birthday of the Emperor's wife Maria Theresa and held with great success, marked the beginning of a series of subsequent Viennese triumphs for the composer. In the same period, good changes were outlined in Christoph's personal life. He met a charming girl, Maria Pergin, with whom he entered into legal marriage two years later.

In 1751, the composer accepted an offer from entrepreneur Giovanni Locatelli to become the conductor of his troupe, and, in addition, received an order to create a new opera "Ezio". After the staging of this musical performance in Prague, Gluck went to Naples in 1752, where the premiere of Gluck's next new opera, Titus's Mercy, soon took place at the Teatro San Carlo.

Vienna period

The changed marital status made Christoph think about a permanent place of residence and, undoubtedly, the choice fell on Vienna - a city with which the composer was associated with a lot. In 1752, the Austrian capital received Gluck, who was then already a recognized master of Italian opera - seria, with great cordiality. After Prince Joseph of Saxe-Hildburghausen, a great music lover, invited the maestro to take the position of Kapellmeister of the orchestra at his palace, Christoph began organizing weekly "academies", that was the name of the concerts, which soon became so popular that the most eminent soloists and vocalists considered it honorable to receive an invitation to speak at such an event. In 1754, the composer took up another important position: Count Giacomo Durazzo, manager of the theaters in Vienna, appointed him as conductor of the opera troupe at the Court Burgtheater.

Gluck's life during this period was very tense: in addition to active concert activity, he devoted a lot of time to creating new works, composing not only opera, but also theatrical and academic music. However, during this period, while working intensively on seria operas, the composer gradually began to become disillusioned with this genre. He was not satisfied with the fact that the music did not obey the dramatic action at all, but only helped to demonstrate to the singers their vocal art. Such dissatisfaction forced Gluck to turn to other genres, for example, on the advice of Count Durazzo, who wrote several scripts from Paris, he composed a number of French comic operas, as well as several ballets, including his famous Don Juan. This choreographic performance, created by the composer in 1761 in collaboration with prominent Italians - librettist R. Calzabigi and choreographer G. Angiolini, became a harbinger of Gluck's subsequent transformations in the art of opera. A year later, the premiere was successfully held in Vienna opera "Orpheus and Eurydice", which is still considered the best reform music performance of the composer. The beginning of a new period in the development of musical theater was confirmed by Gluck with two more operas: "Alcesta", presented in the Austrian capital in 1767 and "Paris and Helena", written in 1770. Unfortunately, both of these operas have not received due recognition from the Viennese public.

Paris and the last years of life

In 1773, Gluck accepted an invitation from his former student, the young Archduchess Marie Antoinette, who became Queen of France in 1770, and gladly moved to Paris. He hoped that his transformations in the art of opera would be more appreciated precisely in the French capital, which at that time was the center of advanced culture. The time spent by Gluck in Paris is noted as the period of his greatest creative activity. Already in the following year, 1774, at the theater, which today is referred to as the "Grand Opera", the premiere of the opera "Iphigenia at Aulis", written by him in Paris, was successfully held. The performance caused a stormy controversy in the press between supporters and opponents of the Gluckian reform, and ill-wishers even summoned from Italy N. Piccinni, a talented composer who personifies traditional opera. A confrontation arose that lasted almost five years and ended in a triumphant victory for Gluck. The premiere of his opera Iphigenia in Taurida in 1779 was a stunning success. However, in the same year, the composer's health deteriorated sharply, and for this reason he returned to Vienna again, from which he did not leave until the end of his days and where he died in 1787 on November 15.

Interesting facts about Christophe Willibald Gluck

• Gluck's merits in the field of musical art have always been well paid. Archduchess Marie Antoinette, who became Queen of France, generously rewarded the composer for the operas Orpheus and Eurydice and Iphigenia in Aulis: for each he received 20 thousand livres as a gift. And the mother of Marie Antoinette, the Austrian Archduchess Maria Theresa, elevated the maestro to the title of "Actual Imperial and Royal Composer" with an annual reward of 2 thousand guilders.

• A special sign of high respect for the composer's musical achievements was his knighting and the presentation of the Order of the Golden Spur by Pope Benedict XIV. This award was given to Gluck very hard and it is connected with the order of the Roman theater "Argentina". The composer wrote the opera Antigone, which, fortunately for him, was very much liked by the sophisticated audience of the Italian capital. The result of this success was a high award, after which the maestro began to be called nothing but "Cavalier Gluck".
• It was not by chance that the remarkable German romantic writer and composer Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann named his first literary work dedicated to music and musicians "Cavalier Gluck". This poetic story tells about an unknown German musician who introduces himself as Gluck and considers himself the custodian of the invaluable legacy left by the great maestro. In the novel, he is, as it were, a living embodiment of Gluck, his genius and immortality.
• Christoph Willibald Gluck left a rich artistic legacy to descendants. He wrote works in various genres, but gave preference to opera. Art critics still argue about how many operas came out of the composer's pen, but some sources indicate that there were more than a hundred of them.
• Giovanni Battista Locatelli is an entrepreneur, with whose troupe Gluck worked as a conductor in Prague in 1751, and made a significant contribution to the formation of Russian musical culture. In 1757, having arrived in St. Petersburg with his troupe at the invitation of Empress Elizabeth I, Locatelli began to organize theatrical performances for the empress and her entourage. And as a result of such activities, his troupe became part of Russian theaters.
• During his tour of London, Gluck met the outstanding English composer Handel, about whose work he spoke with great admiration. However, the brilliant Englishman did not like the works of Gluck at all, and he disdainfully expressed his opinion about them in front of everyone, declaring that his chef is better than Gluck understands counterpoint.
• Gluck was a very gifted person who not only wrote music talentedly, but also tried himself in inventing musical instruments.

• It is known that during a tour of foggy Albion, the composer at one of the concerts performed musical works on a glass harmonica of his own design. The instrument was very peculiar, and its originality lay in the fact that it consisted of 26 glasses, each of which, with the help of a certain amount of water, was tuned to a certain tone.
• From the biography of Gluck, we learn that Christoph was a very lucky person, and not only in his work, but also in his personal life. In 1748, the composer, who at that time turned 34, while working in Vienna on the opera Semiramis Recognized, met the daughter of a wealthy Viennese merchant, sixteen-year-old Marianne Pergin. A sincere feeling arose between the composer and the girl, which was fixed by the wedding, which took place in September 1750. The marriage of Gluck and Marianne, despite the fact that they had no children, was very happy. The young wife, surrounding her spouse with love and care, accompanied him on all his touring trips, and the impressive fortune inherited after the death of her father allowed Gluck to be creative without thinking about material well-being.
• The maestro had many students, but as the composer himself believed, the best of them was the famous Antonio Salieri.

Gluck's creativity

All of Gluck's work played a very important role in the development of world opera. In musical drama, he created a completely new style and introduced into it all his aesthetic ideals and forms of musical expression. It is believed that as a composer, Gluck began his career rather late: the maestro was twenty-seven years old when he wrote his first opera Artaxerxes. At this age, other musical writers (his contemporaries) had already managed to gain fame in all European countries, although then Gluck wrote so much and diligently that he left behind a very rich creative heritage. How many operas the composer wrote, today no one can say for sure, the information is very different, but his German biographers offer us a list of 50 works.

In addition to operas, the composer's creative baggage includes 9 ballets, as well as instrumental works such as a concerto for flute, trio sonatas for a duet of violins and bass, several small symphonies that look more like overtures.

Of the vocal compositions, the most popular are the work for choir and orchestra "De profundis clamavi", as well as odes and songs to the words of the composer's contemporary, the popular poet F.G. Klopstock.

Gluck's biographers conditionally divide the entire creative path of the composer into three stages. First period, which is called pre-reform, began with the composition of the opera Artaxerxes in 1741 and lasted twenty years. From the pen of Gluck during this time came such works as "Demetrius", "Demophon", "Tigran", "Virtue triumphs over love and hatred", "Sofonisba", "Imaginary slave", "Hypermester", "Poro" , "Hippolytus". A significant part of the composer's first musical performances were composed based on texts by the renowned Italian playwright Pietro Metastasio. In these works, all the talent of the composer has not yet been fully revealed, although they had great success with the audience. Unfortunately, Gluck's first operas have not been completely preserved to this day, only small episodes have survived to us.

Further, the composer created many operas of different genres, including works in the style of the Italian opera-seria: "Recognized Semiramis", "The Wedding of Hercules and Eba", "Ezio", "Discord of the Gods", "Titus's Mercy", "Issipile", "Chinese Women" , "Countryside Love", "Justified Innocence", "The Shepherd King", "Antigone" and others. In addition, he was happy to write music in the genre of French musical comedy - these are musical performances "Merlin's Island", "Imaginary Slave", "Devil's Wedding", "Siege under Siege", "The Deceived Guardian", "The Corrected Drunkard", "The Fooled Cadi ".

According to the biography of Gluck, the next stage of the composer's career, called the "Vienna Reform", lasted eight years: from 1762 to 1770. This period was very significant in the life of Gluck, since among the ten operas written at this time, he created the first reformist operas: Orpheus and Eurydice, Alcesta and Paris and Helena. The composer continued his operatic transformations in the future, living and working in Paris. There he wrote his last musical performances "Iphigenia in Aulis", "Armida", "Liberated Jerusalem", "Iphigenia in Taurida", "Echo and Narcissus".

Gluck's opera reform

Gluck went down in the world history of music as an outstanding composer, who in the 18th century carried out significant transformations in the art of opera, which had a great influence on the further development of European musical theater. The main provisions of his reform boil down to the fact that all the components of an opera performance: solo singing, chorus, orchestra and ballet numbers, should be interconnected and subordinated to a single concept, that is, to reveal the dramatic content of the work as fully as possible. The essence of the transformations was as follows:

• To more vividly reveal the feelings and experiences of the heroes, music and poetry should be inextricably linked,
• Aria is not a concert number in which the singer strove to show his vocal technique, but the embodiment of feelings expressed and expressed by one or another hero of the drama. Singing technique is natural, without virtuoso excesses.
• Opera recitatives, so that the action does not seem interrupted, should not be dry. The distinction between them and the Aryans must be made more relaxed.
• The overture is a prologue - a preface to the action that will unfold on stage. In it, an introductory overview of the content of the work should be done in musical language.
• The role of the orchestra has been significantly increased. He actively participates in the characterization of the heroes, as well as in the development of the entire action taking place.
• The choir becomes an active participant in the events taking place on the stage. It is like the voice of the people, which is very sensitive to what happened.

Gluck, Christoph Willibald (1714-1787), German composer, operatic reformer, one of the greatest masters of the era of classicism. Born July 2, 1714 in Erasbach (Bavaria), in the family of a forester; Gluck's ancestors came from North Bohemia and lived on the lands of Prince Lobkowitz. Gluck was three years old when the family returned to their homeland; he studied at the Kamnitz and Albersdorf schools.

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. Chernogorsky (1684-1742).

In 1736 Gluck arrived in Vienna in the retinue of Prince Lobkowitz, but the next year he transferred 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 JB Sammartini (1698-1775), and at the end of 1741 in Milan the premiere of Gluck's first opera Artaxerxes (Artaserse) took place.

Further, he led a life usual for a successful Italian composer, that is, he continuously composed operas and pasticho (operatic performances in which music is composed of fragments of various operas by one or more authors). In 1745 Gluck accompanied Prince Lobkowitz on his journey 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, put on 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: we are talking about the suppression of the Jacobite uprising), gave a concert in which he played on a glass harmonica of his own design, and printed 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 to different cities and countries, composing and staging his operas. In 1750 he married and settled in Vienna.

None of Gluck's operas of the early period fully revealed the extent of his talent, but nevertheless, by 1750, his name already enjoyed a certain fame. In 1752, the Neapolitan theater "San Carlo" commissioned him to perform the opera La Clemenza di Tito on the libretto of Metastasio, a prominent playwright of that era.

Gluck himself conducted, and aroused both keen interest and jealousy of local musicians and received praise from the venerable composer and teacher F. Durante (1684-1755). On his return to Vienna in 1753, he became Kapellmeister at the court of the Prince of Saxe-Hildburghausen and remained in this position until 1760.

In 1757, Pope Benedict XIV conferred the title of knight on the composer and awarded him the Order of the Golden Spur: since then, the musician signed himself as "Cavalier Gluck" (Ritter von Gluck).

During this period, the composer entered the entourage of the new manager of Vienna's theaters, Count Durazzo, and wrote 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 diligently on the creation of works on French librettos in the style of the French comic opera, which was planted in Vienna by the Austrian envoy in Paris (meaning such operas as Merlin's Island, L'Isle de Merlin; The Imaginary Slave, La fausse esclave; The Fooled cadi, Le cadi dupe).

The dream of "operatic reform", the aim of which was to restore the drama, originated in Northern Italy and dominated the minds of Gluck's contemporaries, and these tendencies were especially strong at the Court of Parma, where French influence played an important role. Durazzo came from Genoa; the years of creative formation of Gluck were spent in Milan; they were joined by two more artists from Italy, but with experience in theaters in different countries - the poet R. Calzabigi and the choreographer G. Angioli.

Thus, a "team" of gifted, intelligent people, moreover influential enough to translate common ideas into practice, was formed. The first fruit of their collaboration was the ballet Don Juan (1761), then Orpheus and Eurydice (Orfeo ed Euridice, 1762) and Alceste (Alceste, 1767), the first reformist operas by Gluck, were born.

In the preface to Alcesta's score, Gluck formulates his operatic principles: subordination of musical beauty to dramatic truth; elimination of unintelligible vocal virtuosity, all kinds of inorganic insertions into musical action; interpretation of the overture as an introduction to the drama.

In fact, all this was already present in modern French opera, and since the Austrian princess Marie Antoinette, who in the past took singing lessons from Gluck, then became the wife of the French monarch, it is not surprising that soon Gluck was ordered a number of operas for Paris. The premiere of the first, Iphigenie en Aulide, was held under the direction of the author in 1774 and served as a pretext for a fierce struggle of opinions, a real fight between supporters of French and Italian opera, which lasted about five years.

During this time, Gluck staged two more operas in Paris - Armide (1777) and Iphigenie in Tauride (1779), and also reworked Orpheus and Alcesta for the French stage. Fanatics of Italian opera specially invited to Paris the composer N. Piccinni (1772-1800), who was a talented musician, but still could not withstand the rivalry 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 an honorable place in the operatic repertoire, and his music conquers listeners with its noble simplicity and deep expressiveness.