K.V. Gluck is a great opera composer who realized in the second half of the 18th century. reform Italian opera-seria and French lyrical 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, elevating the ethical ideals of fidelity, duty, and 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 to musical studies - he took lessons from the famous Czech composer Boguslav of Chernogorsk, sang in the choir of the Church of St. James. 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. A stay in England, as well as performances with the Italian opera troupe of 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 all his 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 him to Paris Italian composer N. Piccinni, who enjoyed European recognition at that time. 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 the last years of his life 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 the traditions of 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 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 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.) 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 individuality and in the general direction of his quest, is closely related to the Viennese classical school. The traditions of Gluck’s “high tragedy” and the new principles of his dramaturgy 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 extremely highly valued 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 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 was successfully staged with a libretto by Calzabigi. 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 the genre, 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 area 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.”
“Before I begin to work, I try to forget that I am a musician,” said the composer Christoph Willibald Gluck, and these words best characterize his reformist approach to composing operas. Gluck “snatched” opera from the power of court aesthetics. He gave her the greatness of ideas, psychological truthfulness, depth and strength of passions.
Christoph Willibald Gluck was born on July 2, 1714 in Erasbach, in the Austrian state of Falz. IN early childhood he often moved from one place to another, depending on which of the noble lands his forester father served on. From 1717 he lived in the Czech Republic. He received the rudiments of musical knowledge at the Jesuit college in Komotau. After graduating in 1731, Gluck began to study philosophy at the University of Prague and study music with Boguslav Matej of Montenegro. Unfortunately, Gluck, who lived in the Czech Republic until he was twenty-two, did not receive the same strong professional education in his homeland as his colleagues in Central European countries.
Failure schooling compensated by the strength and freedom of thought that allowed Gluck to turn to the new and relevant, lying beyond the boundaries of legal norms.
In 1735, Gluck became a house musician at the palace of the Lobkowitz princes in Vienna. Gluck's first stay in Vienna turned out to be short-lived: at one of the evenings in the salon of the princes Lobkowitz, the Italian aristocrat and philanthropist A.M. met the young musician. Melzi. Fascinated by Gluck's art, he invited him to his home chapel in Milan.
In 1737 Gluck entered into his new position at Melzi's house. During the four years he lived in Italy, he became close to the greatest Milanese composer and organist Giovanni Battista Sammartini, becoming his student and later a close friend. The guidance of the Italian maestro helped Gluck complete his music education. However, he became an opera composer mainly due to his innate instinct as a musical playwright and the gift of keen observation. On December 26, 1741, the court theater "Reggio Ducal" opened in Milan new season the opera “Artaxerxes” by the hitherto unknown Christoph Willibald Gluck. He was twenty-eight years old - the age at which other composers of the 18th century managed to achieve pan-European fame.
For his first opera, Gluck chose the libretto of Metastasio, which inspired many composers of the 18th century. Gluck specially completed the aria in the traditional Italian manner in order to highlight the merits of his music to the listeners. The premiere was a significant success. The choice of libretto fell on “Demetrius” by Metastasio, renamed by name main character in Kleonic.
Gluck's fame is growing rapidly. The Milan theater again aims to open its winter season with his opera. Gluck composes music based on the libretto by Metastasio "Demophon". This opera was such a great success in Milan that it was soon staged in Reggio and Bologna. Then, one after another, Gluck's new operas were staged in the cities of northern Italy: "Tigran" - in Cremona, "Sofonisba" and "Hippolytus" - in Milan, "Hypermnestra" - in Venice, "Por" - in Turin.
In November 1745, Gluck appears in London, accompanying his former patron, Prince F.F. Lobkowitz. Due to lack of time, the composer prepared a “pasticcio”, that is, he composed an opera from previously composed music. The premiere of two of his operas, “The Fall of the Giants” and “Artamen,” which took place in 1746, was without much success.
In 1748, Gluck received a commission for an opera for the court theater in Vienna. Furnished with magnificent splendor, the premiere of Semiramis Recognized in the spring of the same year brought the composer truly great success, which became the beginning of his triumphs at the Viennese court.
The composer's further activities are connected with the troupe of G.B. Locatelli, who commissioned him to perform the opera "Aezio" at the carnival celebrations of 1750 in Prague.
The success that accompanied the Prague production of Aezio brought Gluck a new opera contract with the Locatelli troupe. It seemed that from now on the composer was linking his destiny more and more closely with Prague. However, at this time an event occurred that dramatically changed his previous way of life: on September 15, 1750, he married Marianna Pergin, the daughter of a wealthy Viennese merchant. Gluck first met his future life partner back in 1748, when he was working in Vienna on Semiramis Known. Despite the significant age difference, a sincere, deep feeling arose between the 34-year-old Gluck and the 16-year-old girl. The substantial fortune Marianne inherited from her father made Gluck financially independent and allowed him to devote himself entirely to creativity in the future. Having finally settled in Vienna, he leaves it only to attend numerous premieres of his operas in other European cities. On all his trips, the composer is invariably accompanied by his wife, who surrounds him with attention and care.
In the summer of 1752, Gluck received a new order from the director of the famous San Carlo Theater in Naples, one of the best in Italy. He writes the opera "Titus' Mercy", which brought him great success.
After the triumphant performance of Titus in Naples, Gluck returns to Vienna as a universally recognized master of Italian opera seria. Meanwhile, the fame of the popular aria reached the capital of the Austrian Empire, arousing interest in its creator on the part of Prince Joseph von Hildburghausen, a field marshal and musical philanthropist. He invited Gluck to lead, as “accompanist,” the musical “academies” held weekly in his palace. Under Gluck's leadership, these concerts soon became one of the most interesting events musical life in Vienna; They featured outstanding vocalists and instrumentalists.
In 1756, Gluck went to Rome to fulfill an order from the famous Teatro Argentina; he was to write music for Metastasio's libretto Antigone. At that time, performing in front of the Roman public was a serious test for any opera composer.
Antigone was a great success in Rome, and Gluck was awarded the Order of the Golden Spur. This order, ancient in origin, was awarded to encourage outstanding representatives of science and art.
In the middle of the 18th century, the art of virtuoso singers reached its peak, and the opera became exclusively a place for demonstrating the art of singing. Because of this, the connection between music and drama itself, which was characteristic of antiquity, was largely lost.
Gluck was already about fifty years old. A favorite of the public, awarded an honorary order, the author of many operas written in a purely traditional decorative style, he seemed unable to open new horizons in music. The intensely working thought did not break through to the surface for a long time and had almost no effect on the character of his elegant, aristocratically cold creativity. And suddenly, at the turn of the 1760s, deviations from the conventional operatic style appeared in his works.
First, in the opera dating back to 1755, Innocence Justified, there is a departure from the principles that dominated the Italian opera seria. It is followed by the ballet “Don Juan” based on the plot of Moliere (1761) - another harbinger of opera reform.
This was no accident. The composer was distinguished by his amazing sensitivity to the latest trends of our time, his readiness for creative processing of a wide variety of artistic impressions.
As soon as he heard in London in his youth Handel’s oratorios, which had just been created and were not yet known in continental Europe, their sublime heroic pathos and monumental “fresco” composition became an organic element of his own dramatic concepts. Along with the influences of Handel's lush "baroque" music, Gluck adopted from the musical life of London the captivating simplicity and apparent naivety of English folk ballads.
It was enough for his librettist and co-author of the Calzabigi reform to draw Gluck’s attention to French lyrical tragedy, and he instantly became interested in its theatrical and poetic merits. The appearance of the French comic opera at the Viennese court also affected the images of his future musical dramas: they descended from the stilted heights cultivated in the opera seria under the influence of the “standard” librettos of Metastasio, and became closer to real characters folk theater. Progressive literary youth, pondering the fate of modern drama, easily drew Gluck into the circle of their creative interests, which forced him to take a critical look at the established conventions of the opera theater. Many similar examples could be given that speak of Gluck’s acute creative sensitivity to the latest trends of our time. Gluck realized that the main things in an opera should be music, plot development and theatrical performance, and not at all artistic singing with coloratura and technical excesses, subject to a single template.
The opera "Orpheus and Eurydice" was the first work in which Gluck implemented new ideas. Its premiere in Vienna on October 5, 1762 marked the beginning of operatic reform. Gluck wrote the recitative so that the meaning of the words came first, the orchestra's part was subordinate to the general mood of the stage, and the singing static figures finally began to play, showed artistic qualities, and the singing would be united with the action. The singing technique has been significantly simplified, but it has become more natural and much more attractive to listeners. The opera's overture also served to introduce the atmosphere and mood of the action that followed. In addition, Gluck turned the chorus into a direct component of the flow of the drama. The wonderful uniqueness of “Orpheus and Eurydice” lies in its “Italian” musicality. The dramatic structure is based here on complete musical numbers, which, like the arias of the Italian school, captivate with their melodic beauty and completeness.
Following Orpheus and Eurydice, Gluck five years later completed Alceste (libretto by R. Calzabigi after Euripides) - a drama of majestic and strong passions. The civic theme here is pursued consistently through the conflict between social necessity and personal passions. Her dramaturgy centers around two emotional states - “fear and sorrow” (Rousseau). In the theatrical-plot static nature of Alceste, in a certain generality, in the severity of its images, there is something oratorio. But at the same time, there is a conscious desire to free ourselves from the dominance of completed musical numbers and follow the poetic text.
In 1774, Gluck moved to Paris, where, in the atmosphere of pre-revolutionary upsurge, his opera reform was completed and, under the undeniable influence of French theatrical culture, a new opera “Iphigenie in Aulis” (after Racine) was born. This is the first of three operas created by the composer for Paris. Unlike Alceste, the theme of civic heroism is constructed here with theatrical versatility. The main dramatic situation is enriched with a lyrical line, genre motifs, and lush decorative scenes.
High tragic pathos is combined with everyday elements. The musical structure is notable for its individual moments of dramatic climaxes, which stand out against the backdrop of more “impersonal” material. “This is Racine’s Iphigenie, converted into an opera,” the Parisians themselves said about Gluck’s first French opera.
In the next opera “Armida”, written in 1779 (libretto by F. Kino), Gluck, in his own words, “tried to be... more of a poet, painter than a musician.” Turning to the libretto of Lully's famous opera, he wanted to revive the techniques of French court opera based on the latest, developed musical language, new principles of orchestral expressiveness and the achievements of his own reformist dramaturgy. The heroic beginning in "Armide" is intertwined with fantastic pictures.
“I’m waiting with horror that they might decide to compare “Armide” and “Alceste,” wrote Gluck, “... one should evoke tears, and the other should give sensory experiences.”
And, finally, the most amazing “Iphigenia in Tauris”, composed in the same 1779 (after Euripides)! The conflict between feeling and duty is expressed in her psychologically. Pictures of mental confusion, suffering brought to paroxysms form the central moment of the opera. The picture of a thunderstorm - a characteristically French touch - is embodied in the introduction by symphonic means with an unprecedented sense of foreboding tragedy.
Like nine unique symphonies that “fold” into a single concept of Beethoven symphonism, these five opera masterpieces, so related to each other and at the same time so individual, form a new style in musical dramaturgy XVIII century, which went down in history under the name of Gluck's opera reform.
In Gluck's majestic tragedies, which reveal the depth of human spiritual conflicts and raise civil problems, a new idea of musical beauty was born. If in the old court opera of France “they preferred... wit to feeling, gallantry to passions, and grace and color of versification to the pathos required... by the situation,” then in Gluck’s drama high passions and sharp dramatic clashes destroyed the ideal orderliness and exaggerated grace of the court operatic style .
Gluck argued every deviation from the expected and customary, every violation of standardized beauty with a deep analysis of movements human soul. In such episodes, those bold musical techniques were born that anticipated the art of the “psychological” 19th century. It is no coincidence that in an era when dozens and hundreds of individual composers wrote operas in a conventional style, Gluck created only five reformist masterpieces over the course of a quarter of a century. But each of them is unique in its dramatic appearance, each sparkles with individual musical discoveries.
Gluck's progressive efforts were not put into practice so easily and smoothly. The history of opera has even included such a concept as the war of the Piccinists - supporters of the old operatic traditions - and the Gluckists, who, in the new operatic style, on the contrary, saw the fulfillment of their long-standing dream of a genuine musical drama, gravitating towards antiquity.
The adherents of the old, “purists and aesthetes” (as Gluck branded them), were repelled by the “lack of sophistication and nobility” in his music. They reproached him for “loss of taste”, pointed to the “barbaric and extravagant” nature of his art, to “cries of physical pain”, “convulsive sobs”, “cries of grief and despair”, which crowded out the charm of a smooth, balanced melody.
Today these reproaches seem ridiculous and groundless. Judging Gluck's innovation with historical detachment, one can be convinced that he preserved those artistic techniques, which were developed in the opera house over the previous century and a half and formed the “golden fund” of its expressive means. IN musical language There is an obvious continuity between Gluck and the expressive and sweet melody of Italian opera and the elegant “ballet” instrumental style of French lyrical tragedy. But in his eyes, "the true purpose of music" was to "give poetry more new expressive power." Therefore, striving to embody with maximum completeness and truthfulness musical sounds dramatic idea of the libretto (and Calzabigi's poetic texts were full of genuine drama), the composer persistently rejected all decorative and stencil techniques that contradicted this. “Beauty applied in the wrong place not only loses most of its effect, but also does harm, leading astray the listener, who is no longer in the position necessary to follow the dramatic development with interest,” said Gluck.
And the composer’s new expressive techniques really destroyed the conventional, typified “beauty” of the old style, but at the same time expanded the dramatic possibilities of the music to the maximum.
It was Gluck who developed speech and declamatory intonations in his vocal parts, which contradicted the “sweet” smooth melody of the old opera, but truthfully reflected the life of the stage image. The closed static numbers of the “concert in costume” style, separated by dry recitatives, disappeared forever from his operas. Their place was taken by a new close-up composition, built according to scenes, promoting end-to-end musical development and emphasizing musical-dramatic climaxes. The orchestral part, doomed to a pitiful role in Italian opera, began to participate in the development of the image, and hitherto unknown dramatic possibilities of instrumental sounds were revealed in Gluck's orchestral scores.
“Music, music itself, turned into action...” wrote Grétry about Gluck’s opera. Indeed, for the first time in the century-long history of the opera house, the idea of drama was embodied in music with such completeness and artistic perfection. The amazing simplicity that determined the appearance of every thought expressed by Gluck also turned out to be incompatible with the old aesthetic criteria.
Far beyond the boundaries of this school, in the opera and instrumental music different European countries, aesthetic ideals, dramatic principles, and forms of musical expression developed by Gluck were introduced. Without Gluck's reform, not only the operatic, but also the chamber-symphonic creativity of the late Mozart, and, to a certain extent, the oratorio art of the late Haydn would not have matured. The continuity between Gluck and Beethoven is so natural, so obvious, that it seems as if the musician of the older generation bequeathed the great symphonist to continue the work he had begun.
Gluck spent the last years of his life in Vienna, where he returned in 1779. The composer died on November 15, 1787 in Vienna. Gluck's ashes, initially buried in one of the surrounding cemeteries, were subsequently transferred to the central city cemetery, where all outstanding representatives of Vienna's musical culture are buried.
1. five more pieces, please...
Gluck dreamed of debuting his opera at the English Royal Academy of Music, which was formerly called the Bolshoi Opera House. The composer sent the score of the opera “Iphigenia in Aulis” to the theater management. The director was frankly frightened by this unusual - unlike anything - work and decided to play it safe by writing the following answer to Gluck: “If Mr. Gluck undertakes to present at least six equally magnificent operas, I will be the first to contribute to the presentation of Iphigenia.” Without this, no, for this opera surpasses and destroys everything that existed before."
2. a little bit wrong
A certain rather rich and noble amateur, out of boredom, decided to take up music and first composed an opera... Gluck, to whom he gave it for judgment, returning the manuscript, said with a sigh:
- You know, my dear, your opera is quite nice, but...
- Do you think she lacks something?
- Perhaps.
- What?
- I guess poverty.
3. easy way out
Once passing by a store, Gluck slipped and broke the window glass. He asked the store owner how much the glass cost, and having learned that it was one and a half francs, he gave him a coin of three francs. But the owner did not have change, and he was about to go to his neighbor to change money, but was stopped by Gluck.
“Don’t waste your time,” he said. - No need for change, I’d rather break your glass again sometime...
4. "the main thing is that the suit fits..."
At the rehearsal of Iphigenia in Aulis, Gluck noticed the unusually heavy, as they say, “non-stage” figure of the singer Larrivé, who performed the part of Agamemnon, and did not fail to notice this out loud.
“Patience, maestro,” said Larrivé, “you haven’t seen me in a suit.” I'll bet you anything that I'm unrecognizable in the suit.
At the first rehearsal in costumes, Gluck shouted from the stalls:
- Larrivé! You lost your bet! Unfortunately, I recognized you without difficulty!
Gluck, Christoph Willibald (1714–1787), German composer, opera reformer, one of greatest masters era of classicism. Born on July 2, 1714 in Erasbach (Bavaria), in the family of a forester; Gluck's ancestors came from Northern Bohemia and lived on the lands of Prince Lobkowicz. Gluck was three years old when the family returned to their homeland; he studied at the schools of Kamnitz and Albersdorf. 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. Montenegrin (1684–1742).
In 1736, Gluck arrived in Vienna in the retinue of Prince Lobkowitz, but the very next year he moved 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 G.B. Sammartini (1698–1775), and at the end of 1741 the premiere of Gluck’s first opera Artaxerxes took place in Milan. Then he led a life usual for a successful Italian composer, i.e. continuously composed operas and pasticcios (opera performances in which the music is composed of fragments from various operas by one or more authors). In 1745, Gluck accompanied Prince Lobkowitz on his trip 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, staged 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: it is about the suppression of the Jacobite uprising), gave a concert in which he played on a glass harmonica of his own design, and published 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 early period did not fully reveal the scale of his talent, but nevertheless, by 1750 his name already enjoyed a certain fame. In 1752, the Neapolitan San Carlo Theater commissioned him the opera La Clemenza di Tito (La Clemenza di Tito) to a libretto by the major playwright of that era, Metastasio. Gluck conducted himself, and aroused both keen interest and jealousy of local musicians and received praise from the venerable composer and teacher F. Durante (1684–1755). Upon returning to Vienna in 1753, he became bandmaster at the court of the Prince of Saxe-Hildburghausen and remained in this position until 1760. In 1757, Pope Benedict XIV awarded the composer the title of knight and awarded him the Order of the Golden Spur: from then on the musician signed himself - “Cavalier Gluck” ( Ritter von Gluck).
During this period, the composer became surrounded by the new manager of the Viennese theaters, Count Durazzo, and composed 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 hard to create works based on French librettos in the style of French comic opera, which was propagated 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; Fooled Cadi, Le cadi dup). The dream of “opera reform,” the goal of which was the restoration of drama, originated in Northern Italy and dominated the minds of Gluck’s contemporaries, and these trends were especially strong at the Parma court, where French influence played a large role. Genoa; years creative development Gluck took place in Milan; they were joined by two more artists originally from Italy, but who had experience working in theaters in different countries - the poet R. Calzabigi and the choreographer G. Angioli. Thus, a “team” of gifted, intelligent people, and influential enough to put common ideas into practice, was formed. The first fruit of their collaboration was the ballet Don Juan (1761), followed by Orpheus and Euridice (1762) and Alceste (1767), Gluck's first reform operas.
In the preface to Alceste's score, Gluck formulates his operatic principles: the subordination of musical beauty to dramatic truth; the destruction of thoughtless vocal virtuosity, all kinds of inorganic insertions into the musical action; interpretation of the overture as an introduction to the drama. In essence, all this already existed in modern French opera, and since the Austrian princess Marie Antoinette, who had previously taken singing lessons from Gluck, then became the wife of the French monarch, it is not surprising that Gluck was soon commissioned for a number of operas for Paris. The premiere of the first, Iphignie en Aulide, was conducted by the author in 1774 and served as the occasion for a fierce battle of opinions, a real battle between supporters of French and Italian opera, which lasted about five years. During this time, Gluck staged two more operas in Paris - Armide (Armide, 1777) and Iphignie en Tauride (1779), and also reworked Orpheus and Alceste for the French stage. Fanatics of Italian opera specially invited composer N. Piccinni (1772–1800) to Paris, who was talented musician, but still could not withstand the competition 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 a place of honor in the operatic repertoire, and his music captivates listeners with its noble simplicity and deep expressiveness.
Date of birth: July 2, 1714.
Date of death: November 15, 1787.
Place of birth: Erasbach, Bavaria.
Gluck Christoph Willibald- a famous composer who worked in Austria. Also Christoph Gluck known as a reformer of Italian opera.
Christophe was born in Bavaria, in the family of a forester. Since childhood, the boy was fascinated by music, but his father did not share this passion and did not allow the idea that his first-born would become a musician.
The teenager completed his studies at the Jesuit Academy and left home. By the age of seventeen he reached Prague and was able to enter the university, the Faculty of Philosophy.
To earn extra money, he was a chorister in church, played the violin as part of traveling musical groups. Nevertheless, he found time for music lessons, which were given to him by the composer B. Chernogorsky.
After completing his studies, Christophe went to Vienna, and there A. Melzi was invited to become a court musician at the chapel in Milan. Having gone there, the young man gained knowledge not only in the theory of composition, but also studied many operas of the most outstanding masters this genre. Soon Christophe himself created the opera, and it was staged in Milan.
The premiere was a success, new orders followed and four more equally successful operas were written. Having become successful, the composer went on tour to London and then to Vienna.
Soon he decided to stay in Vienna for good and accepted the offer of Prince Saxe-Hildburghausen to become conductor of his orchestra. Every week this orchestra gave a concert at which the Sami performed various works.
Christophe, as a leader, sometimes also stood at the conductor's stand, sang, and played various instruments. Soon the composer began to direct the court opera. He became one of its reformers and popularizers of French opera.
He was able from comedy genre make a dramatically directed genre. In addition, he taught music to Archduchess Marie Antoinette. When she married the French heir, she invited her teacher to move to Paris.
There he continued to stage operas and create new ones. In Paris he created his best work- “Iphigenia in Tauris.” After the premiere last opera The composer had a stroke.
Two years later, another one happened, which could not but affect the ability to work.
However, he created a small piece that was performed on the day of his funeral in 1787.
Achievements of Christophe Gluck:
Reformer of Italian and French opera
Created about 50 operas
Author of a number of works for orchestra
Was the inspiration of Schumann, Beethoven, Berlioz
Dates from the biography of Christoph Gluck:
1714 born
1731 settled in Prague
1736 moved to Vienna
1741 first production of the opera in Italy
1745 tour in London
1752 settled in Vienna
1756 received the Order of the Golden Spur
1779 stroke
died 1787
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