Gluck Christoph Willibald - biography, facts from life, photographs, background information. Christoph Willibald Gluck: biography, interesting facts, video, creativity

Christoph Willibald Gluck made an enormous contribution to the history of music as outstanding composer and opera reformer. It is rare that any of the opera composers of subsequent generations did not experience, to a greater or lesser extent, the influence of his reform, including the authors of Russian operas. And the great German opera revolutionary rated Gluck’s work very highly. Ideas to debunk routine and cliches opera stage, to put an end to the omnipotence of soloists, to bring together musical and dramatic content - all this, perhaps, remains relevant to this day.

Chevalier 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 services in the art of music) - was born into a very modest family. His father served as a forester for 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 received his education, first at the Jesuit College in Komotau, then against the will of his father, who did not want his son musical career– went on his own to Prague and there attended classes at the university’s Faculty of Philosophy and at the same time lessons in harmony and general bass from B. Chernogorsky.

Prince Lobkowitz, famous 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 the art of modern opera and developed a passion for it, but at the same time he became aware of the inadequacy of his compositional weapons. Once in Milan, Gluck improved under the guidance of the experienced Giovanni Sammartini. There, with the production of the opera seria (which means “serious opera”) “Artaxerxes” in 1741, his composing career started, and it should be noted - with great success, which gave the author confidence in his abilities.

His name became famous, orders began to arrive, and new operas were staged on the stages of various European theaters. But 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 “Pasticcio”, which meant “an opera composed of excerpts from previously composed ones”. But it was in England that Gluck was greatly impressed by the music of George Frideric Handel, and this made him seriously think 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, “Pilgrims from Mecca” 1761, etc.)

But 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 live performances into concert performances. The result of their fruitful collaboration was the ballet “Don Juan”, the operas “Orpheus and Eurydice” (1762), “Alceste” (1767) and “Paris and Helena” (1770) - new page in history musical theater.

By that time, the composer had already been happily married for a long time. His young wife also brought with her a large dowry, and he could devote himself entirely to creativity. He was a very respected musician in Vienna, and the activities under his leadership of the “Music Academy” were one of interesting events in the history of this city.

A new twist of fate occurred when Gluck's noble student, the emperor's daughter 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 resulted in real war, and remained in history as the “war of the Gluckists and Piccinists” (composer Niccolo Piccini was urgently sent from Italy to help). Gluck's new masterpieces, created in Paris - “Iphigenia in Aulis” (1773), “Armide” (1777) and “Iphigenia in Tauris” - marked the pinnacle of his creativity. He also made the second edition of the opera “Orpheus and Eurydice”. Niccolo Piccini himself recognized Gluck's revolution.

But, if Gluck’s creations won that war, the composer himself suffered greatly in health. Three strokes in a row knocked him down. Having left a remarkable creative legacy and students (among whom was, for example, Antonio Salieri), Christoph Willibald Gluck died in 1787 in Vienna, his grave is now located in the main city cemetery.

Musical Seasons

K.V. Gluck is a great opera composer who realized in the second half of the 18th century. reform of Italian opera seria and 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, exalting the ethical ideals of fidelity, duty, readiness for self-sacrifice. The appearance of the first reform opera "Orpheus" was preceded by long haul- the struggle for the right to become a musician, traveling, mastering 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 to be an unworthy occupation and in every possible way interfered with the musical hobbies of his eldest son. Therefore, while still a teenager, Gluck leaves home, wanders, dreams of getting a good education (by this time he graduated from the Jesuit college in Commotau). In 1731 Gluck entered the University of Prague. The student of the Faculty of Philosophy devoted a lot of time music lessons- took lessons from the famous Czech composer Boguslav of Montenegro, sang in the choir of the Church of St. Jacob. Wanderings in the vicinity of Prague (Gluck willingly played the violin and especially his favorite cello in traveling ensembles) helped him become more familiar with Czech folk music.

In 1735, Gluck, already an established professional musician, went to Vienna and entered the service in the chapel of Count Lobkowitz. Soon, the Italian philanthropist A. Melzi offered Gluck the position of chamber musician in the court chapel in Milan. In Italy, Gluck's journey as an opera composer begins; he became acquainted with the work of the greatest Italian masters and studied composition under the guidance of G. Sammartini. The preparatory stage lasted for almost 5 years; It was only in December 1741 that Gluck’s first opera, Artaxerxes (libr. P. Metastasio), was successfully staged in Milan. Gluck received numerous orders from the theaters of Venice, Turin, Milan and over the course of four years created several more opera seria (Demetrius, Poro, Demophon, Hypermnestra, etc.), which brought him fame and recognition among a fairly sophisticated and demanding Italian public.

In 1745 the composer toured London. The oratorios of G. F. Handel made a strong impression on him. This sublime, monumental, heroic art became the most important creative reference point for Gluck. Stay in England, as well as performances with Italian opera troupe The Mingotti brothers in major European capitals (Dresden, Vienna, Prague, Copenhagen) enriched the composer’s stock of musical impressions, helped to establish interesting creative contacts, and become better acquainted with various opera schools. Recognition of Gluck's authority in the musical world was his awarding of the Papal Order of the Golden Spur. “Cavalier Gluck” - this title stuck with the composer. (Let us recall the wonderful short story by T. A. Hoffmann “Cavalier Gluck.”)

A new stage in the composer’s life and work begins with his move to Vienna (1752), where Gluck soon took up 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 also turned to new genres. French comic operas (“The Island of Merlin”, “The Imaginary Slave”, “The Corrected Drunkard”, “The Fooled Cadi”, etc.), written to the texts of 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 listeners in directly vital, democratic art. Gluck's work in the ballet genre is of great interest. In collaboration with the talented Viennese choreographer G. Angiolini, the pantomime ballet “Don Giovanni” was created. The novelty of this performance - a genuine choreographic drama - is determined largely by the nature of the plot: not traditionally fairy-tale, allegorical, but deeply tragic, acutely conflicting, affecting eternal problems 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 reform opera - “Orpheus” (1762), the Ancient Greek myth of legendary singer Gluck and R. Calzabigi (author of libr., like-minded person and constant collaborator of the composer in Vienna) interpreted it in the spirit of strict and sublime ancient drama. The beauty of Orpheus' art and the power of his love can 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 composer’s original melodic gift was revealed; and the scene 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 has been achieved.

“Orpheus” was followed by 2 more reform operas - “Alceste” (1767) and “Paris and Helen” (1770) (both in libr. Calzabigi). 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 him throughout creative activity. Without finding adequate support from the Viennese and Italian public. Gluck goes to Paris. The years spent in the capital of France (1773-79) were the time of the composer’s highest creative activity. Gluck writes and stages new reform operas at the Royal Academy of Music - “Iphigenia in Aulis” (libr. L. du Roullet based on the tragedy of J. Racine, 1774), “Armide” (libr. F. Kino based on T. Tasso’s poem “Jerusalem Liberated” ", 1777), "Iphigenia in Tauris" (libr. N. Gniar and L. du Roullet based on the drama by G. de la Touche, 1779), "Echo and Narcissus" (libr. L. Tschudi, 1779), reworks "Orpheus " and "Alceste", in accordance with the traditions of the French theater. Gluck's activities stirred up the musical life of Paris and provoked heated aesthetic discussions. On the composer’s side are French educators and encyclopedists (D. Diderot, J. Rousseau, J. D’Alembert, M. Grimm), who welcomed the birth of a truly high heroic style in opera; his opponents are adherents of the old French lyrical tragedy and opera-seria. In an effort to shake Gluck's position, they invited the Italian composer N. Piccinni, who at that time enjoyed European recognition, to Paris. The controversy between supporters of Gluck and Piccinni went down in the history of French opera under the name “wars of Gluckists and Piccinnistas.” The composers themselves, who treated each other with sincere sympathy, remained far from these “aesthetic battles.”

IN recent years lives passed in Vienna, Gluck dreamed of creating a German national opera based on the story of F. Klopstock “The Battle of Hermann”. However, serious illness and age prevented the implementation of this plan. During Glück's funeral in Vienna, his last work, “De profundls” (“From the abyss I cry...”) was performed for choir and orchestra. This unique requiem was conducted by Gluck's student A. Salieri.

A passionate admirer of his work, G. Berlioz, called Gluck “Aeschylus of Music.” The style of Gluck's musical tragedies - the sublime beauty and nobility of the 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 traditions ancient tragedy. Created during the heyday of the educational movement on the eve of the Great french revolution, they responded to the needs of the time for great heroic art. Thus, Diderot wrote shortly before Gluck’s arrival in Paris: “Let a genius appear who will establish true tragedy... on the lyrical stage.” Having set his goal “to expel from opera all those bad excesses against which common sense and good taste have been protesting in vain for a long time,” Gluck creates a performance in which all the components of dramaturgy are logically expedient and perform certain, necessary functions in the overall composition. “...I avoided demonstrating a heap of spectacular difficulties to the detriment of clarity,” says the dedication of “Alceste,” “and I did not attach any value to the discovery of a new technique if it did not flow naturally from the situation and was not associated with expressiveness.” Thus, the choir and ballet become full participants in the action; intonationally expressive recitatives naturally merge with arias, the melody of which is free from the excesses of a virtuosic style; the overture anticipates the emotional structure of the future action; relatively complete musical numbers are combined into big stages etc. Directed selection and concentration of means of musical and dramatic characterization, strict subordination of all links of a large composition - these are Gluck’s most important discoveries, which were of great importance both for the renewal of operatic dramaturgy and for the establishment of new, symphonic thinking. (The heyday of Gluck's operatic creativity occurred at a time of intense development of major cyclic forms- symphonies, sonatas, concepts.) Senior contemporary of I. Haydn and W. A. ​​Mozart, closely associated with musical life and the artistic atmosphere of Vienna. Glitch, and in the warehouse creative individuality, and in terms of the general direction of his searches he is adjacent precisely to the Viennese classical school. The traditions of Gluck’s “high tragedy” and the new principles of his dramaturgy were developed in opera art of the 19th century c.: in the works of L. Cherubini, L. Beethoven, G. Berlioz and R. Wagner; and in Russian music - M. Glinka, who extremely highly valued Gluck as the first among opera composers XVIII V.

I. Okhalova

The son of a hereditary forester, with early years accompanies her father on his many moves. 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 stages a number of operas. In 1745 in London he met Handel and Arne and composed for the theater. Having become conductor of the Italian Mingotti troupe, he visits Hamburg, Dresden and other cities. In 1750 he married Marianne Pergin, the daughter of a wealthy Viennese banker; in 1754 he became conductor of the Vienna Court Opera and became part of the entourage of Count Durazzo, who managed the theater. In 1762, Gluck's opera "Orpheus and Eurydice" with a libretto by Calzabigi was successfully staged. In 1774, after several financial failures, he followed Marie Antoinette (to whom he was a music teacher), who became the French queen, to Paris and won the favor of the public despite the resistance of the Piccinnistas. However, upset by the failure of the opera “Echo and Narcissus” (1779), he leaves France and goes to Vienna. In 1781, the composer suffered from paralysis and stopped all activities.

The name of Gluck is identified in the history of music with the so-called reform of musical drama of the Italian type, the only one known and widespread in Europe during his time. He is considered not only a great musician, but above all the savior of a genre that was distorted in the first half of the 18th century by the virtuoso embellishments of singers and the rules of conventional machine-based librettos. 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 apply to the top works of the genre, but perhaps to low-quality works and less talented 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 the Viennese imperial theaters, Gluck introduced a number of innovations into practice, which certainly led to major results in the field of musical theater. Calzabigi recalled: “It was impossible for Mr. Gluck, who spoke our language [that is, Italian] poorly, to recite poetry. I read “Orpheus” to him and recited many fragments several times, emphasizing the shades of declamation, stops, slowing down, speeding up, sounds, sometimes heavy, sometimes smooth, which I wanted him to use in his composition. At the same time, I asked him to remove all the flourishes and cadences , ritornellos and everything barbaric and extravagant that has penetrated into our music.”

Biography

Christoph Willibald Gluck was born into the family of a forester, was passionate about music since childhood, and since his father did not want to see his eldest son as a musician, Gluck, having graduated from the Jesuit college in Kommotau, left home as a teenager. After long wanderings, he ended up in Prague in 1731 and entered the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Prague; At the same time, he took lessons from the then famous Czech composer Boguslav of Montenegro, sang in the choir of the Church of St. James, and played the violin and cello in traveling ensembles.

Having received his education, Gluck went to Vienna in 1735 and was accepted into the chapel of Count Lobkowitz, and a little later received an invitation from the Italian philanthropist A. Melzi to become a chamber musician at the court chapel in Milan. In Italy, the birthplace of opera, Gluck had the opportunity to become acquainted with the work of the greatest masters of this genre; at the same time, he studied composition under the guidance of Giovanni Sammartini, a composer not so much of opera as of symphony.

In Vienna, gradually becoming disillusioned with the traditional Italian opera seria - “opera-aria”, in which the beauty of melody and singing acquired a self-sufficient character, and composers often became hostages to the whims of prima donnas - Gluck turned to French comic opera (“The Island of Merlin”, “ The Imaginary Slave”, “The Reformed Drunkard”, “The Fooled Cadi”, etc.) and even to ballet: created in collaboration with the choreographer G. Angiolini, the pantomime ballet “Don Juan” (based on the play by J.-B. Molière), a real choreographic drama, became the first embodiment of Gluck's desire to turn the opera stage into a dramatic one.

In search of musical drama

K.V. Gluck. Lithograph by F. E. Feller

In his quest, Gluck found support from the chief intendant of the opera, Count Durazzo, and his compatriot, poet and playwright Ranieri de Calzabigi, who wrote the libretto of Don Giovanni. The next step in the direction of musical drama was their new collaboration- the opera “Orpheus and Eurydice”, in the first edition staged in Vienna on October 5, 1762. Under the pen of Calzabigi, the ancient Greek myth turned into ancient drama, in full accordance with the tastes of that time, but the opera was not successful with the public either in Vienna or in other European cities.

By order of the court, Gluck continued to write operas in the traditional style, without, however, abandoning his idea. A new and more perfect embodiment of his dream of musical drama was the heroic opera Alceste, created in collaboration with Calzabigi in 1767, presented in the first edition in Vienna on December 26 of the same year. Dedicating the opera to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, the future Emperor Leopold II, Gluck wrote in the preface to Alceste:

Such a fundamental subordination of music poetic text it was revolutionary for that time; In an effort to overcome the number structure characteristic of the then opera seria, Gluck combined episodes of the opera into large scenes, permeated with a single dramatic development, he tied the overture to the action of the opera, which at that time was usually a separate concert number, and increased the role of the choir and orchestra... Neither Alceste, nor the third reform opera based on Calzabigi's libretto - Paris and Helena () found support from either the Viennese or Italian public.

Gluck's duties as a court composer also included teaching music to the young Archduchess Marie Antoinette; Having become the wife of the heir to the French throne in April 1770, Marie Antoinette invited Gluck to Paris. However, the composer’s decision to move his activities to the capital of France significantly to a greater extent influenced by other circumstances.

Glitch in Paris

In Paris, meanwhile, there was a struggle around the opera, which became the second act of the struggle that had died down back in the 50s between adherents of Italian opera (“Buffonists”) and French opera (“anti-Buffonists”). This confrontation split even the crowned family: the French king Louis XVI preferred Italian opera, while his Austrian wife Marie Antoinette supported national French opera. The split also struck the famous “Encyclopedia”: its editor D’Alembert was one of the leaders of the “Italian party”, and many of its authors, led by Voltaire and Rousseau, actively supported the French one. The stranger Gluck very soon became the banner of the “French party”, and since the Italian troupe in Paris at the end of 1776 was headed by the famous and popular composer Niccolo Piccini in those years, the third act of this musical and social polemic went down in history as a struggle between the “Gluckists” and “ Piccinists." The dispute was not about styles, but about what an opera performance should be - just an opera, a luxurious spectacle with beautiful music and beautiful vocals, or something significantly more.

In the early 1970s, Gluck's reform operas were unknown in Paris; in August 1772, the attaché of the French embassy in Vienna, François le Blanc du Roullet, brought them to the attention of the public in the pages of the Parisian magazine Mercure de France. The paths of Gluck and Calzabigi diverged: with a reorientation towards Paris, du Roullet became the main librettist of the reformer; in collaboration with him, the opera “Iphigenia in Aulis” (based on the tragedy by J. Racine) was written for the French public, staged in Paris on April 19, 1774. The success was consolidated by the new, French edition of Orpheus and Eurydice.

The recognition in Paris did not go unnoticed in Vienna: on October 18, 1774, Gluck was awarded the title of “actual imperial and royal court composer” with an annual salary of 2,000 guilders. Thanking for the honor, Gluck returned to France, where at the beginning of 1775 a new edition of his comic opera “The Enchanted Tree, or the Deceived Guardian” (written back in 1759) was staged, and in April, at the Grand Opera, a new edition "Alceste".

Music historians consider the Paris period to be the most significant in Gluck's work; the struggle between the “Gluckists” and the “Piccinists,” which inevitably turned into personal rivalry between the composers (which, according to contemporaries, did not affect their relationships), proceeded with varying degrees of success; by the mid-70s, the “French party” split into adherents of traditional French opera (J.B. Lully and J.F. Rameau), on the one hand, and the new French opera of Gluck, on the other. Willingly or unwittingly, Gluck himself challenged the traditionalists by using for his heroic opera “Armide” a libretto written by F. Kino (based on T. Tasso’s poem Jerusalem Liberated) for Lully’s opera of the same name. "Armida", which premiered at the Grand Opera on September 23, 1777, was apparently received so differently by representatives of the various "parties" that even 200 years later, some spoke of a "tremendous success", others - of " failure."

And yet, this struggle ended in Gluck’s victory, when on May 18, 1779, his opera “Iphigenia in Tauris” (on a libretto by N. Gniar and L. du Roullet based on the tragedy of Euripides) was presented at the Paris Grand Opera, which to this day many think best opera composer. Niccolò Piccinni himself recognized Gluck's "musical revolution". At the same time, J. A. Houdon sculpted a white marble bust of Gluck, which was later installed in the lobby of the Royal Academy of Music between the busts of Rameau and Lully.

Recent years

On September 24, 1779, the premiere took place in Paris. last opera Gluck - “Echo and Narcissus”; however, even earlier, in July, the composer was struck by a serious illness that resulted in partial paralysis. In the autumn of the same year, Gluck returned to Vienna, which he never left again (a new attack of illness occurred in June 1781).

Monument to K. W. Gluck in Vienna

During this period, the composer continued his work on odes and songs for voice and piano, which he had begun back in 1773, based on the poems of F. G. Klopstock (Klopstocks Oden und Lieder beim Clavier zu singen in Musik gesetzt), and dreamed of creating a German national opera based on Klopstock’s story “ Battle of Arminius", but these plans were not destined to come true. Anticipating his imminent departure, in 1782 Gluck wrote “De profundis” - a short composition for a four-voice choir and orchestra on the text of the 129th Psalm, which on November 17, 1787, at the composer’s funeral, was performed by his student and follower Antonio Salieri.

Creation

Christoph Willibald Gluck was a composer primarily of opera; he owns 107 operas, of which “Orpheus and Eurydice” (), “Alceste” (), “Iphigenia in Aulis” (), “Armida” (), “Iphigenia in Tauris” () are still on the stage. Even more popular are individual fragments from his operas, which have long acquired an independent life on the concert stage: Dance of the Shadows (aka “Melody”) and Dance of the Furies from “Orpheus and Eurydice”, overtures to the operas “Alceste” and “Iphigenia in Aulis” and others.

Interest in the composer’s work is growing, and for last decades the once-forgotten “Paris and Helen” (Vienna, libretto by Calzabigi), “Aetius”, the comic opera “An Unforeseen Meeting” (Vienna, libr. L. Dancourt), the ballet “Don Giovanni” were returned to the audience... his "De profundis".

At the end of his life, Gluck said that “only the foreigner Salieri” adopted his manners from him, “for not a single German wanted to study them”; nevertheless, Gluck’s reforms found many followers in different countries, each of whom applied his principles in his own way in his own work - in addition to Antonio Salieri, these are primarily Luigi Cherubini, Gaspare Spontini and L. van Beethoven, and later Hector Berlioz, who called Gluck “Aeschylus of music”, and Richard Wagner, which, half a century later, encountered on the opera stage the same “costume concert” against which Gluck’s reform was directed. In Russia, his admirer and follower was Mikhail Glinka. The influence of Gluck on many composers is noticeable even beyond operatic creativity; besides Beethoven and Berlioz, this also applies to Robert Schumann.

Gluck also wrote a number of works for orchestra - symphonies or overtures, a concerto for flute and orchestra (G major), 6 trio sonatas for 2 violins and a general bass, written back in the 40s. In collaboration with G. Angiolini, in addition to “Don Juan,” Gluck created three more ballets: “Alexander” (), as well as “Semiramide” () and “The Chinese Orphan” - both based on the tragedies of Voltaire.

In astronomy

The asteroids 514 Armida, discovered in 1903, and 579 Sidonia, discovered in 1905, are named after the characters in Gluck's opera Armida.

Notes

Literature

• Knights S. Christoph Willibald Gluck. - M.: Music, 1987.
• Kirillina L. Gluck's reformist operas. - M.: Classics-XXI, 2006. 384 p. ISBN 5-89817-152-5

Links

• Summary (synopsis) of the opera “Orpheus” on the “100 Operas” website
• Glitch: sheet music of works on the International Music Score Library Project

Categories:

• Personalities in alphabetical order
• Musicians in alphabetical order
• Born on July 2
• Born in 1714
• Born in Bavaria
• Deaths on November 15
• Died in 1787
• Deceased in Vienna
• Knights of the Order of the Golden Spur
• Vienna Classical School
• Composers of Germany
• Composers of the classical era
• Composers of France
• Opera composers
• Buried in Vienna Central Cemetery

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Gluck's biography is interesting for understanding the history of development classical music. This composer was a major reformer of musical performances; his ideas were ahead of their time and influenced the work of many other composers of the 18th and 19th centuries, including Russians. Thanks to him, the opera acquired a more harmonious appearance and dramatic completeness. In addition, he worked on ballets and small musical compositions- sonatas and overtures, which are also of considerable interest to contemporary performers, who willingly include their excerpts in concert programs.

Youth years

Gluck's early biography is poorly known, although many scholars have actively researched his childhood and teenage years. It is reliably known that he was born in 1714 in the Palatinate in the family of a forester and received a home education. Also, almost all historians agree that already in childhood he showed extraordinary musical abilities and knew how to play musical instruments. However, his father did not want him to become a musician and sent him to the gymnasium.

However, the future wanted to connect his life with music and therefore left home. In 1731 he settled in Prague, where he played the violin and cello under the baton of the famous Czech composer and theorist B. Chernogorsky.

Italian period

Gluck's biography can be divided into several stages, choosing as a criterion the places of his residence, work and active creative activity. In the second half of the 1730s he came to Milan. At this time, one of the leading Italian musical authors was G. Sammartini. Under his influence, Gluck began to write own compositions. According to critics, during this period of time he mastered the so-called homophonic style - a musical direction characterized by the sound of one main topic, while the rest play a supporting role. Gluck's biography can be considered extremely rich, since he worked a lot and actively and brought a lot of new things to classical music.

Mastering the homophonic style was a very important achievement of the composer, since polyphony dominated the European music school of the time in question. During this period, he created a number of operas (“Demetrius”, “Porus” and others), which, despite their imitation, brought him fame. Until 1751 he toured with Italian group until I received an invitation to move to Vienna.

Opera reform

Christoph Gluck, whose biography should be inextricably linked with the history of the formation of opera, did a lot to reform this musical performance. IN XVII-XVIII centuries the opera was a magnificent musical spectacle with beautiful music. Much attention was paid not so much to content as to form.

Often, composers wrote exclusively for a specific voice, without caring about the plot and semantic load. Gluck strongly opposed this approach. In his operas, music was subordinated to drama and the individual experiences of the characters. In his work “Orpheus and Eurydice,” the composer skillfully combined elements of ancient tragedy with choral numbers and ballet performances. This approach was innovative for its time, and therefore was not appreciated by its contemporaries.

Vienna period

One from the 18th century is Christoph Willibald Gluck. The biography of this musician is important for understanding the formation of that classical school, which we know today. Until 1770 he worked in Vienna at the court of Marie Antoinette. It was during this period that his creative principles took shape and received their final expression. Continuing to work in the traditional genre of comic opera of that time, he created a number of original operas in which he subordinated the music to poetic meaning. These include the work “Alceste”, created based on the tragedy of Euripides.

In this opera, the overture, which for other composers had an independent, almost entertaining meaning, acquired a greater semantic load. Its melody was organically woven into the main plot and set the tone for the entire performance. This principle guided his followers and musicians of the 19th century.

Paris stage

The 1770s are considered the most eventful in Gluck's biography. Summary his history must necessarily include a short description of his participation in the controversy that flared up in Parisian intellectual circles over what opera should be. The dispute was between supporters of the French and Italian schools.

The first defended the need to introduce drama and semantic harmony into musical performance, while the latter focused on vocals and musical improvisation. Gluck defended the first point of view. Following your creative principles, he wrote new opera based on Euripides' play "Iphigenia in Tauris". This work was recognized as the best in the composer's work and strengthened his European fame.

Influence

In 1779, due to a serious illness, composer Christopher Gluck returned to Vienna. Biography of this talented musician impossible to imagine without mentioning him latest works. Even while seriously ill, he composed a number of odes and songs for piano. In 1787 he died. He had many followers. The composer himself considered A. Salieri his best student. The traditions laid down by Gluck became the basis of the work of L. Beethoven and R. Wagner. In addition, many other composers imitated him not only in composing operas, but also symphonies. Of the Russian composers, M. Glinka highly appreciated the work of Gluck.

The famous composer Christoph Willibald Gluck managed to offer the musical community a new dramaturgy of opera, other forms of musical expression, “liberated” opera art from court aesthetics. All operas composed by the composer fully possess psychological truthfulness, depth of feelings and passions.

Becomingcomposer

Christoph Willibald Gluck was born on July 2, 1714 in the town of Erasbach, located in the Austrian state of Falz. Christophe's father, a forester by profession, considered music an unworthy occupation and in every possible way interfered with his son's education.

The teenager, who passionately loved music, could not stand this attitude and left home. He traveled a lot and dreamed of receiving good education. Christoph's wanderings led him to Prague, where in 1731 he managed to enter the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Prague. Gluck successfully combines studies at the university and music studies, sings in the choir of the Church of St. Jacob. In addition, the young man often travels around the outskirts of Prague, memorizing and analyzing Czech folk music.

Within four years, Christoph Willibald became a mature musician and received an offer to become a chamber musician at the Milanese court chapel. Begins in 1735 creative path Gluck as an opera composer: in Milan he gets acquainted with the work of the best Italian composers, takes lessons in creating opera music from G. Sammartini.

Recognition of creative talent

The composer's first great success came in 1741, when the premiere of the opera Artaxerxes took place, which brought fame and popularity to the young author. Orders for essays did not take long to arrive. Over the course of three years, Gluck created the opera seria “Demetrius”, “Poro”, “Demophon” and others.

The composer is invited to go on tour to England. During performances in London, Gluck receives strong impressions from listening to the oratorio of another. Subsequently, Christophe set such a monumental and majestic landmark as his creative reference point. musical style. The European tour not only allowed the composer himself to open up, but also to get acquainted with various opera schools, gain a lot of ideas, and make interesting creative contacts.

With moving to Austrian capital begins in 1752 new stage creative career composer. Gluck became the conductor of the court opera, and in 1774 he was awarded the title of “actual imperial court composer.” Christophe continues to write opera music mainly based on comic librettos French composers. Among them are “Merlin’s Island”, “The Imaginary Slave” and others. In collaboration with the French choreographer Angiolini, the composer creates the pantomime ballet Don Juan. The ballet was staged based on a tragic plot, rare for that time, from Moliere’s play, touching on the eternal questions of human existence.

"Orpheus". Revolution in opera

The most important milestone in Gluck's work, from the point of view of the development of the world musical art, is the opera "Orpheus". This reform work, created by Christoph Gluck in collaboration with librettist R. Calzabigi, became a delightful example of the construction of a large operatic form, which perfectly combined musical and stage development of the plot. The arias of the hero of the ancient Greek myth Orpheus, the flute solo and many other fragments of the opera revealed the melodic genius of Christophe Gluck.

Soon after the premiere of Orpheus, in 1767-1770, two more operas of the reformist style created by Gluck were published: Alceste and Paris and Helen. However, the composer's innovative ideas were not properly appreciated by the Austrian and Italian public. Gluck moves to Paris, where he spends the most fruitful creative period in your life.

Here is an incomplete list of the composer’s Parisian works:

• "Iphigenia in Aulis" (1774);
• "Armida" (1777);
• “Iphigenia in Tauris” (1779);
• "Echo and Narcissus" (1779).

The Parisian cultural elite was divided in its assessment of the composer's work. French educators were completely captivated by Gluck's works, but adherents of the old French opera school tried in every possible way to prevent his work in Paris. The composer has to return to the Austrian capital. On November 15, 1787, Christoph Gluck, who was seriously ill, passed away.