Page 121 - (DK) The Classical Music Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained

CLASSICAL 1750–1820 119

See also: Euridice 62–63 ■ St. Matthew Passion 98–105 ■ The Magic
Flute 134–137 ■ Der Freischütz 149

arias and recitatives interrupted This improved the flow and made
the flow. Gluck and his librettist, the music more expressive of
Ranieri de’ Calzabigi, wanted to character and emotion. In the
reform opera by putting the drama Act One aria in which Orfeo
center stage, sweeping away sings of his grief, the composer
absurdities of plot and making the inserts moving recitatives before
music serve the action. Musically each verse, further integrating
this meant doing away with the the elements.
repeats in the da capo arias and
developing a simpler, clearer style. Outcomes and effects
A good example is Orfeo’s Act III The effect of these changes was Christoph
aria “Che farò senza Euridice” to make operas more focused on Willibald Gluck
(“What shall I do without Eurydice”), character and action—in other
an aria in rondo form in which the words, if not fully realistic, more The son of a forester, Gluck
opening theme returns at the end real and more emotionally moving. was born in Erasbach, Bavaria,
but without the direct da capo The plots tended to be more in 1714. Largely self-taught,
repetition. Gluck also integrated coherent and the characters and he traveled widely, learning
the arias and recitatives, using the situations—even when drawn from the organ and cello in Prague.
whole orchestra to accompany mythology—more credible. At He studied with the composer
the latter as well as the former. the same time, there were fewer Giuseppe Sammartini in Milan,
opportunities for singers to make before heading to London in
the sort of virtuosic displays that the 1740s, where he composed
Gluck’s opera Il Parnasso confuso could interrupt the action. Later operas for the King’s Theatre.
premiered in 1765 at the marriage composers, especially Mozart, There, he met Handel, who
of Emperor Joseph II. Johann Franz famously stated that his own
Greipel’s painting shows Archduke further developed these ideas to cook (bass singer Gustavus
Leopold on the harpsichord. produce operatic masterpieces. ■ 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

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