german composer, mainly operatic, one of the largest representatives of musical classicism

short biography

Christoph Willibald von Gluck (German Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck, July 2, 1714, Erasbach - November 15, 1787, Vienna) - German composer, mainly opera, one of the largest representatives of musical classicism. The name of Gluck is associated with the reform of the Italian opera-seria and French lyric tragedy in the second half of the 18th century, and if the works of Gluck the composer were not popular at all times, the ideas of Gluck the reformer determined the further development of the opera house.

early years

Information about the early years of Christoph Willibald von Gluck is extremely scarce, and much of what was established by the early biographers of the composer was disputed by later ones. It is known that he was born in Erasbach (now the Berching district) in the Upper Palatinate in the family of forester Alexander Gluck and his wife Maria Walpurga, was passionate about music from childhood and, apparently, received a home musical education, which was common in those days in Bohemia, where in 1717 the family moved. Presumably, for six years Gluck studied at the Jesuit gymnasium in Komotau and, since his father did not want to see his eldest son as a musician, left home, in 1731 he ended up in Prague and studied for some time at the Prague University, where he attended lectures on logic and mathematics, making a living by playing music. A violinist and cellist, who also had good vocal abilities, Gluck sang in the choir of St. Jakub and played in the orchestra under the direction of the largest Czech composer and music theorist Bohuslav Chernogorsky, sometimes he went to the vicinity of Prague, where he performed in front of peasants and artisans.

Gluck attracted the attention of Prince Philip von Lobkowitz and in 1735 was invited to his Viennese home as a chamber musician; apparently, the Italian aristocrat A. Melzi heard him in Lobkowitz's house and invited him to his private chapel - in 1736 or 1737 Gluck ended up in Milan. In Italy, the homeland of opera, he got the opportunity to get acquainted with the works 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 an operatic as a symphonic one; But it was under his leadership, as S. Rytsarev writes, that Gluck mastered the “modest, but confident homophonic writing”, which was already fully established in Italian opera, while the polyphonic tradition still dominated in Vienna.

In December 1741 in Milan the premiere of Gluck's first opera - the opera-series Artaxerxes to a libretto by Pietro Metastasio - took place. In Artaxerxes, as in all of Gluck's early operas, there was still a noticeable imitation of Sammartini, nevertheless he was a success, which attracted orders from different cities of Italy, and in the next four years no less successful opera-series were created “ Demetrius "," Por "," Demofont "," Hypernestra "and others.

In the fall of 1745, Gluck went to London, from where he received an order for two operas, but in the spring of the following year he left the English capital and joined the Mingotti brothers' Italian opera troupe as a second conductor, with which he toured Europe for five years. In 1751 in Prague, he left Mingotti for the post of Kapellmeister in the troupe of Giovanni Locatelli, and in December 1752 he settled in Vienna. Having become the conductor of the orchestra of Prince Joseph of Saxe-Hildburghausen, Gluck directed his weekly concerts - "academies", in which he performed both other people's compositions and his own. According to contemporaries, Gluck was also an outstanding opera conductor and was well aware of the peculiarities of ballet art.

Looking for a musical drama

In 1754, at the suggestion of the manager of the Viennese theaters, Count G. Durazzo, Gluck was appointed conductor and composer of the Court Opera. 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, he turned to French comic opera ("Merlin's Island", " Imaginary Slave "," The Reformed Drunkard "," The Fooled Cady ", etc.) and even to the ballet: created in collaboration with the choreographer G. Angiolini, the pantomime ballet Don Giovanni (based on the play by J.-B. Moliere), a real choreographic drama, was the first embodiment of Gluck's desire to turn the operatic scene into a dramatic one.

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, the poet and playwright Ranieri de Calzabigi, who wrote the libretto Don Giovanni. The next step in the direction of musical drama was their new joint work - the opera Orpheus and Eurydice, staged in the first edition in Vienna on October 5, 1762. Under the feather of Kaltsabiji ancient greek myth turned into an antique drama, in full accordance with the tastes of that time; however, neither in Vienna nor in other European cities was the opera successful with the public.

The need to reform the opera-series, writes S. Rytsarev, was dictated by objective signs of its crisis. At the same time, it was necessary to overcome "the age-old and incredibly strong tradition of an opera-spectacle, a musical performance with a well-established separation of the functions of poetry and music." In addition, the opera-seria was characterized by a static drama; it was based on the "theory of affects," which assumed for each emotional state - sadness, joy, anger, etc. - the use of certain means of musical expression established by theorists, and did not allow the individualization of experiences. In the first half of the 18th century, the transformation of stereotype into a value criterion gave rise to, on the one hand, an endless number of operas, and on the other, their very short life on stage, on average from 3 to 5 performances.

Gluck in his reformist operas, writes S. Rytsarev, “made the music“ work ”for the drama not at separate moments of the performance, which was often found in contemporary opera, but throughout its entire duration. Orchestral means acquired efficiency, secret meaning, began to counterpoint the development of events on the stage. The flexible, dynamic change of recitative, arias, ballet and choral episodes has developed into a musical and plot eventfulness, entailing a direct emotional experience. "

Searches in this direction were also carried out by other composers, including in the genre of comic opera, Italian and French: this young genre had not yet had time to petrify, and it was easier to develop its healthy tendencies from within than in the opera-seria. Commissioned by the court, Gluck continued to write operas in the traditional style, generally preferring comic opera. A new and more perfect embodiment of his dream of a musical drama was the heroic opera Alcesta, created in collaboration with Kaltsabigi in 1767, and 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:

It seemed to me that music should play in relation to a poetic work the same role played by the brightness of colors and correctly distributed effects of chiaroscuro, animating figures without changing their contours in relation to the drawing ... I tried to expel from music all the excesses against which they vainly protest common sense and fairness. I believed that the overture should illuminate the action for the audience and serve as a kind of introductory overview of the content: the instrumental part should be conditioned by the interest and tension of situations ... All my work should have been reduced to the search for noble simplicity, freedom from ostentatious heap of difficulties at the expense of clarity; the introduction of some new techniques seemed to me valuable insofar as it suited the situation. And finally, there is no rule that I would not break in order to achieve greater expressiveness. These are my principles.

This fundamental subordination of music to poetic text was revolutionary for that time; in an effort to overcome the numbered structure characteristic of the then opera-seria, Gluck not only combined the opera's episodes into large scenes permeated with a single dramatic development, he tied the opera and the overture to the action, which at that time usually represented a separate concert number; for the sake of achieving greater expressiveness and drama, he increased the role of the chorus and orchestra. Neither Alcesta, nor the third reformist opera on Calzabigi's libretto, Paris and Helena (1770), found support either from the Viennese or from the Italian public.

Gluck's duties as court composer included teaching music to the young Archduchess Marie Antoinette; becoming in April 1770 the wife of the heir to the French throne, Marie Antoinette invited Gluck to Paris. However, other circumstances influenced the composer's decision to move his activities to the capital of France.

Glitch in Paris

In Paris, meanwhile, a struggle was going on around the opera, which became the second act of a struggle that had gone off in the 50s between the adherents of the Italian opera ("buffonists") and the French ("anti-buffonists"). This confrontation even split the royal family: the French king Louis XVI preferred Italian opera, while his Austrian wife Marie Antoinette supported the national French one. The famous “Encyclopedia” was also struck by the split: its editor D'Alembert was one of the leaders of the “Italian party”, and many of its authors, led by Voltaire, 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 Piccinni in those years, the third act of this musical and social polemic went down in history as a struggle between the "Gluckists" and "Picchinists". In the struggle that seemed to unfold around the styles, the dispute in reality was about what an opera performance should be - just an opera, a magnificent spectacle with beautiful music and beautiful vocals, or something significantly more: encyclopedists were waiting for a new social content, consonant pre-revolutionary era. In the struggle between the "glukists" and the "picchinists", which 200 years later already seemed to be a grandiose theatrical performance, as in the "war of the buffoons", "powerful cultural layers of aristocratic and democratic art" entered the polemic, according to S. Rytsarev.

In the early 1970s, Gluck's reformist operas were unknown in Paris; in August 1772, the attaché of the French embassy in Vienna, François le Blanc du Roule, drew them to the attention of the public on the pages of the Parisian magazine "Mercure de France". The paths of Gluck and Calzabigi parted ways: with a reorientation to Paris, du Roullet became the main librettist of the reformer; in collaboration with him, the opera Iphigenia at Aulis (based on the tragedy of J. Racine) was written for the French public, staged in Paris on April 19, 1774. The success was consolidated, although it provoked fierce controversy, the new, French edition of Orpheus and Eurydice.

Statue of C.V. Gluck at the Grand Opera

Recognition in Paris did not go unnoticed in Vienna: if Marie Antoinette granted Gluck 20,000 livres for “Iphigenia” and the same amount for “Orpheus”, then Maria Theresia on October 18, 1774 in absentia awarded Gluck the title of “actual imperial and royal court composer” with an annual a salary of 2000 guilders. Thanking for the honor, Gluck, after a short stay in Vienna, returned to France, where at the beginning of 1775 a new version of his comic opera The Enchanted Tree, or Deceived Guardian (written back in 1759) was staged, and in April, at the Royal Academy music, - a new edition of "Alcesta".

The Paris period is considered by music historians to be the most significant in Gluck's work. The struggle between the "glukists" and "picchinists", which inevitably turned into a personal rivalry between composers (which, however, did not affect their relationship), went on with varying success; by the mid-70s, and 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 by Gluck, on the other. Voluntarily or involuntarily, Gluck himself challenged the traditionalists, using for his heroic opera Armida the libretto written by F. Kino (based on T. Tasso's poem Jerusalem Liberated) for the opera of the same name by Lully. "Armida", which premiered at the Royal Academy of Music on September 23, 1777, was apparently so differently received by representatives of the various "parties" that even 200 years later, some spoke of "a huge success", others - of "failure ".

Nevertheless, this struggle ended with Gluck's victory, when on May 18, 1779, his opera Iphigenia in Taurida was presented at the Royal Academy of Music (to a libretto by N. Gniyar and L. du Roullet based on the tragedy of Euripides), which is still considered by many the best opera of the composer. Niccolo Piccinni himself recognized Gluck's "musical revolution". Earlier, J. A. Houdon sculpted a white marble bust of the composer with an inscription in Latin: “Musas praeposuit sirenis” (“He preferred the muses to the sirens”). In 1778, this bust was installed in the foyer of the Royal Academy of Music next to the busts of Lully and Rameau.

Last years

On September 24, 1779, the premiere of Gluck's last opera, Echo and Narcissus, took place in Paris; however, even earlier, in July, the composer was struck by a stroke that turned into partial paralysis. In the autumn of the same year, Gluck returned to Vienna, which he never left: a new attack of the disease occurred in June 1781.

During this period, the composer continued work, begun back in 1773, on odes and songs for voice and piano on verses by F. G. Klopstock (German: Klopstocks Oden und Lieder beim Clavier zu singen in Musik gesetzt), dreamed of creating a German national opera on a plot Klopstock "Battle of Arminius", but these plans were not destined to come true. Anticipating his imminent departure, around 1782, Gluck wrote "De profundis" - a small work for a four-part 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. On November 14 and 15, Gluck experienced three more apoplectic strokes; he died on 15 November 1787 and was originally buried in the churchyard of the suburb of Matzleinsdorf; in 1890 his remains were transferred to Vienna's Central Cemetery.

Creation

Christoph Willibald Gluck was mainly an opera composer, but the exact number of operas belonging to him has not been established: on the one hand, some works have not survived, on the other, Gluck repeatedly reworked his own operas. The Musical Encyclopedia names the number 107, while listing only 46 operas.

Monument to K.V.Gluck in Vienna

In 1930, E. Braudo regretted that Gluck's “true masterpieces”, both of his Iphigenias, had now completely disappeared from the theatrical repertoire; but in the middle of the 20th century, interest in the composer's work revived, for many years they have not left the stage and have an extensive discography of his operas "Orpheus and Eurydice", "Alcesta", "Iphigenia in Aulis", "Iphigenia in Tauris", even more popular enjoy symphonic excerpts from his operas, which have long found an independent life on the concert stage. In 1987, the International Gluck Society was founded in Vienna to study and promote the composer's work.

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, he found many followers in different countries, of which each applied his principles in his own work in his own way - 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"; among his closest followers, the influence of the composer is sometimes noticeable outside of operatic creativity, as in Beethoven, Berlioz and Franz Schubert. As for the creative ideas of Gluck, they determined the further development of the opera house, in the 19th century there was no major opera composerwho would not be more or less influenced by these ideas; Gluck was also approached by another operatic reformer, Richard Wagner, who, half a century later, faced on the opera stage the same "costume concert" against which Gluck's reform was directed. The composer's ideas turned out to be no stranger to Russian opera culture - from Mikhail Glinka to Alexander Serov.

Gluck also owns a number of works for orchestra - symphonies or overtures (during the composer's youth, the distinction between these genres was still not clear-cut), a concert for flute and orchestra (G-dur), 6 trio sonatas for 2 violins and general bass, written back in the 40s. In collaboration with G. Angiolini, in addition to Don Juan, Gluck created three more ballets: Alexander (1765), as well as Semiramis (1765) and The Chinese Orphan - both based on the tragedies of Voltaire.

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 slender appearance and dramatic completeness. In addition, he worked on ballets and small pieces of music - sonatas and overtures, which are also of considerable interest to contemporary performers who willingly include excerpts from them in concert programs.

Youthful years

Gluck's early biography is poorly known, although many scholars are actively exploring his childhood and adolescence. It is reliably known that he was born in 1714 in the Palatinate in the family of a forester and was educated at home. Also, almost all historians agree that already in childhood he showed outstanding 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 direction of the famous Czech composer and theoretician B. Chernogorski.

Italian period

Gluck's biography can be conditionally divided into several stages, choosing as a criterion his place of residence, work and active creative activity... In the second half of the 1730s, he came to Milan. During this time, one of the leading Italian music authors was G. Sammartini. Under his influence, Gluck began to write his own compositions. According to critics, during this period of time he mastered the so-called homophonic style - a musical direction, which is characterized by the sound of one main theme, 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 prevailed in the European musical school of the time under consideration. During this period, he creates a number of operas ("Demetrius", "Por" and others), which, despite their imitativeness, bring him fame. Until 1751 he toured with an Italian group, until he 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 the content as to the form.

Often, composers wrote exclusively for a specific voice, not caring about the plot and semantic load. Gluck strongly opposed this approach. In his operas, music was subordinated to the drama and 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 contemporaries.

Vienna period

One of the 18th century is Christoph Willibald Gluck. The biography of this musician is important for understanding the formation of the classical school that 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 genre of comic opera, traditional for that time, he created a number of original operas, in which he subordinated music to poetic meaning. These include the work "Alcesta", created after the tragedy of Euripides.

In this opera, the overture, which for other composers had an independent, almost entertainment value, acquired a great semantic load. Her melody was organically woven into the main plot and set the tone for the whole performance. This principle was guided by his followers and musicians of the 19th century.

Paris stage

The 1770s are considered the most intense in Gluck's biography. The summary of his history must necessarily include a small description of his participation in the controversy that erupted in Parisian intellectual circles over what the opera should be like. The dispute was between supporters of the French and Italian schools.

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

Influence

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

“Before starting work, I try to forget that I am a musician,” said composer Christoph Willibald Gluck, and these words best characterize his reformatory approach to writing 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 estates his father, the forester, served. From 1717 he lived in Bohemia. He received the rudiments of musical knowledge at the Jesuit college in Komotau. After graduation in 1731, Gluck began to study philosophy at the University of Prague and study music under Bohuslav Matej Chernogorski. 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 Europe.

The inadequacy of schooling was compensated by the power and freedom of thought that allowed Gluck to turn to the new and relevant, which lay outside the legalized norms.

In 1735, Gluck became a house musician at the palace of the Lobkowitz princes in Vienna. Gluck's first stay in Vienna was short-lived: on one of the evenings in the salon of the Lobkowitz princes, the Italian aristocrat and philanthropist A.M. Melzi. Fascinated by the art of Gluck, he invited him to his home chapel in Milan.

In 1737, Gluck assumed his new position at the Melzi house. During the four years he lived in Italy, he became close to the largest Milan composer and organist Giovanni Battista Sammartini, becoming his student and later a close friend. The Italian maestro's guidance helped Gluck complete his musical education. However, he became an opera composer mainly due to his innate instinct as a musical playwright and his gift of keen observation. On December 26, 1741, the court theater "Reggio Ducal" in Milan opened the new season with the opera "Artaxerxes" by the hitherto unknown Christoph Willibald Gluck. He was in his twenty-eighth year - the age at which other composers of the 18th century managed to achieve pan-European fame.

For his first opera, Gluck chose Metastasio's libretto, which inspired many composers of the 18th century. Gluck specially finished the aria in the traditional Italian manner in order to highlight the dignity of his music to the audience. The premiere was a great success. The choice of the libretto fell on "Demetria" by Metastasio, renamed by name the main character in "Cleonic".

Gluck's fame is growing rapidly. The Milan theater aims to reopen its winter season with its opera. Gluck composes music to Metastasio's libretto "Demofont". This opera was so successful in Milan that it was soon staged in Reggio and Bologna as well. Then, one after another in the cities of northern Italy, new operas by Gluck were staged: Tigran in Cremona, Sofonisba and Hippolytus in Milan, Hypernestra in Venice, Por in Turin.

In November 1745, Gluck appears in London, accompanying his former patron, Prince F.F. Lobkowitz. In the absence of time, the composer prepared a "pasticho", that is, 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, passed without much success.

In 1748, Gluck received an order for an opera for the court theater in Vienna. The premiere of The Recognized Semiramis, furnished with magnificent splendor in the spring of the same year, brought the composer a truly great success, which became the beginning of his triumphs at the Viennese court.

Further work of the composer is associated with the troupe of JB Locatelli, who commissioned him to perform the opera "Aezio" at the carnival celebrations of 1750 in Prague.

The good fortune 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 increasingly linking his destiny with Prague. However, at this time, an event occurred that dramatically changed his previous way of life: on September 15, 1750, he married Marianne 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 "Recognized Semiramis". 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 inherited by Marianne 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 trips, the composer is invariably accompanied by his spouse, who surrounded him with attention and care.

In the summer of 1752, Gluck received a new commission from the director of the famous Teatro San Carlo 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 returned to Vienna as the acknowledged master of the Italian Seria opera. Meanwhile, the fame of the popular aria reached the capital of the Austrian empire, arousing interest in its creator from Prince Joseph von Hildburghausen, a field marshal and musical patron of the arts. He invited Gluck to lead the weekly musical academies held at his palace as "accompanist". Under the direction of Gluck, these concerts soon became one of the most interesting events in the musical life of Vienna; outstanding vocalists and instrumentalists performed there.

In 1756, Gluck went to Rome to fulfill an order for the famous Argentina Theater; he was to write the music for Metastasio's libretto "Antigone". At that time, performing in front of the Roman public presented a serious test for any opera composer.

Antigone was very successful in Rome, and Gluck was awarded the Order of the Golden Spur. This order, ancient in its origin, was awarded with the aim of encouraging outstanding representatives of science and art.

In the middle of the 18th century, the art of virtuoso singers reaches its peak, and the opera becomes exclusively a place for the demonstration of singing art. Because of this, the connection between music and drama itself was largely lost, which was characteristic of antiquity.

Glitch was 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. Intensively working thought for a long time did not break through to the surface, almost did not affect the character of his graceful, aristocratic cold creativity. And suddenly, at the turn of the 1760s, deviations from the conventional operatic style appeared in his works.

First, in the 1755 opera, Justified Innocence, there is a departure from the principles that dominated the Italian opera-seria. It is followed by the ballet Don Juan based on the subject of Moliere (1761), another harbinger of the operatic reform.

This was no accident. The composer was remarkable for 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 was young, he heard in London the newly created oratorios of Handel that were not yet known in continental Europe, as their sublime heroic pathos and monumental "fresco" composition became an organic element of his own dramatic concepts. Along with the influences of the lush "baroque" Handel music, Gluck adopted from the musical life of London the enchanting simplicity and seeming naivety of English folk ballads.

It was enough for his librettist and co-author of the Kalzabidzhi reform to draw Gluck's attention to the French lyric tragedy, and he instantly became interested in its theatrical and poetic merits. The appearance at the Viennese court of the French comic opera was also reflected in the images of his future musical dramas: they descended from the stilted heights cultivated in the opera-seria under the influence of Metastasio's "reference" librettos, and became close to real characters folk theater. Leading literary youth, pondering the fate of modern drama, easily drew Gluck into the circle of their creative intereststhat made him take a critical look at the established conventions of the opera house. Similar examples, indicating Gluck's acute creative susceptibility to the latest trends modernity, many could be cited. Gluck realized that music, plot development and theatrical performance should be the main in the opera, 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 realized new ideas. Its premiere in Vienna on October 5, 1762 marked the beginning of the operatic reform. Gluck wrote the recitative so that the meaning of the words came first, the part of the orchestra obeyed the general mood of the stage, and the singing static figures finally began to play, showed artistic qualities, and the singing would be combined with action. The singing technique has become much simpler, but it has become more natural and much more attractive to listeners. The overture in the opera also helped to introduce the atmosphere and mood of the subsequent action. Moreover, Gluck turned the choir into an immediate component of the drama. Wonderful uniqueness of "Orpheus and Eurydice" in its "Italian" musicality. The dramatic structure here is based 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, completes Alcesta (libretto by R. Calzabigi after Euripides) - a drama of majestic and strong passions. The civic theme is here carried out consistently through the conflict between social necessity and personal passion. Her drama centers around two emotional states - “fear and grief” (Rousseau). There is something oratorical in the theatrical-plot static nature of "Alceste", in a certain generalization, in the severity of its images. But at the same time there is a conscious desire to free oneself from the domination of completed musical numbers and follow the poetic text.

In 1774, Gluck moved to Paris, where, in an atmosphere of pre-revolutionary upsurge, his opera reform was completed and under the indisputable influence of French theatrical culture, a new opera Iphigenia in Aulis (after Racine) was born. This is the first of three operas created by the composer for Paris. In contrast to Alcessta, the theme of civil heroism is built here with a theatrical diversity. The main dramatic situation is enriched with a lyrical line, genre motives, lush decorative scenes.

High tragic pathos is combined with everyday elements. In the musical structure, certain moments of dramatic climaxes are remarkable, which stand out against the background of more "impersonal" material. “This is Racine's Iphigenia, converted into an opera,” said the Parisians themselves 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 a poet, painter than musician." Referring to the libretto of Lully's renowned opera, he wanted to revive the techniques of French court opera based on the newest, developed musical language, new principles of orchestral expressiveness and the achievements of his own reformatory drama. The heroic beginning in "Armida" is intertwined with fantastic pictures.

"I am waiting with horror, no matter how they decide to compare" Armida "and" Alcesta ", - wrote Gluck, - ... one should cause a tear, and the other should give sensory experiences."

And, finally, the most amazing "Iphigenia in Taurida", composed in the same 1779 (after Euripides)! The conflict between feeling and duty is expressed in it psychologically. Pictures of mental confusion, suffering, brought to paroxysms, form the central moment of the opera. The picture of a thunderstorm - a characteristic French touch - is embodied in the introduction by symphonic means with an unprecedented acuteness of foreboding of tragedy.

Like nine inimitable symphonies that "fold" into a single concept of Beethoven's symphonism, these five operatic masterpieces, so related to each other and at the same time so individual, form new style in musical drama of the 18th century, which went down in history under the name of Gluck's opera reform.

In the majestic tragedies of Gluck, revealing the depth of a person's spiritual conflicts, raising civic issues, a new idea of \u200b\u200bthe musically beautiful was born. If in the old French court opera "they preferred ... wit to feeling, gallantry to passions, and the grace and color of versification of the pathos demanded ... by the situation," then in Gluck's drama high passions and sharp dramatic collisions destroyed the ideal orderliness and exaggerated grace of the court opera style ...

Every deviation from the expected and the usual, every violation of standardized beauty, Gluck argued with a deep analysis of the movements of the human soul. In such episodes, those bold musical techniques were born that anticipated the art of the "psychological" of the 19th century. It is no coincidence that in an era when dozens and hundreds of operas in the conventional style were written by individual composers, Gluck created only five reformatory masterpieces over a quarter of a century. But each of them is unique in its dramatic appearance, each sparkles with individual musical finds.

Gluck's progressive efforts did not go into practice so easily and smoothly. The history of opera has even included such a concept as the war between the picchinists - supporters of old opera traditions - and the Gluckists, who, on the contrary, saw the fulfillment of their long-standing dream of a genuine musical drama gravitating to antiquity in the new opera style.

The adherents of the old, "purists and aesthetes" (as Gluck branded them), were repelled in his music by "the lack of refinement and nobility." They reproached him for "loss of taste", pointed to the "barbaric and extravagant" nature of his art, to "screams of physical pain", "convulsive sobs", "cries of sorrow and despair", which supplanted the charm of a smooth, balanced melody.

Today these accusations seem ridiculous and unfounded. Judging by the innovation of Gluck with historical detachment, one can be convinced that he surprisingly carefully preserved the artistic techniques that had been developed in the opera house during the previous one and a half century and formed the “golden fund” of his expressive means. In the musical language of Gluck, a continuity is evident with the expressive and ear-pleasing melody of Italian opera, with the graceful "ballet" instrumental style of French lyric tragedy. But in his eyes, "the true purpose of music" was "to give poetry more new expressive power." Therefore, striving with maximum completeness and truthfulness to embody in musical sounds the dramatic idea of \u200b\u200bthe libretto (and the poetic texts of Calzabiji were saturated with genuine drama), the composer persistently rejected all decorative and stencil techniques that contradicted this. “Applied beauty not in place not only loses most of its effect, but also harms, throwing the listener out of the way, who is not already in the position necessary to follow with interest the dramatic development,” Gluck said.

And the new expressive techniques of the composer really destroyed the conventional typed "prettiness" of the old style, but at the same time expanded the dramatic possibilities of the music to the maximum.

It was in Gluck's vocal parts that speech, declamatory intonations appeared that 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 costumes" style, separated by dry recitations, have forever disappeared from his operas. Their place was taken by a new close-up composition, built on scenes, contributing to the through musical development and emphasizing the musical and dramatic climaxes. The orchestral part, doomed to a miserable role in Italian opera, began to participate in the development of the image, and the previously unknown dramatic possibilities of instrumental sounds were revealed in Gluck's orchestral scores.

“Music, the music itself, passed into action ...” - Gretry wrote about Gluck's opera. Indeed, for the first time in the centuries-old history of the opera house, the idea of \u200b\u200ba drama was embodied in music with such fullness and artistic perfection. The amazing simplicity that defined the shape of every thought Gluck expressed was also incompatible with the old aesthetic criteria.

Aesthetic ideals, dramatic principles, and forms of musical expression developed by Gluck were introduced far beyond the boundaries of this school, in opera and instrumental music of different European countries. Outside of the Gluckian reform, not only the operatic, but also the chamber-symphonic works 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. The ashes of Gluck, initially buried in one of the nearby cemeteries, were subsequently transferred to the central city cemetery, where all the outstanding representatives of the musical culture of Vienna are buried.

1.five more, please ...

Gluck dreamed of making his opera debut at the English Royal Academy of Music, formerly known as the Bolshoi Opera House. The composer sent the score of the opera "Iphigenia in Aulis" to the theater management. The director was frankly frightened of this unusual - unlike anything - work and decided to play it safe by writing to Gluck the following answer: "If Mr. Gluck undertakes to present at least six equally magnificent operas, I will be the first to contribute to the performance of Iphigenia." for this opera transcends and destroys all that existed before. "

2.slightly wrong

A rather wealthy and noble dilettante, out of boredom, decided to take up music and first composed an opera ... Gluck, to whom he gave it to the court, 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?
- Poverty, I suppose.

3.easy way out

Once passing by a store, Gluck slipped and broke the window glass. He asked the shopkeeper how much the glass cost, and when he 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 already wanted to go to his neighbor to change money, but was stopped by Gluck.
“Don't waste your time,” he said. - No change, I'd rather break your glass one more time ...

4. "the main thing is that the suit fits ..."

At the rehearsal of "Iphigenia in Aulis" Gluck drew attention to the unusually heavy, as they say, "non-stage" figure of the singer Larriva, who performed the part of Agamemnon, and did not fail to notice it aloud.
“Patience, maestro,” said Larriva, “you haven't seen me in a suit. I would argue for anything that I am unrecognizable in a suit.
At the very first rehearsals in costumes, Gluck shouted from the stalls:
- Larriva! You bet! Unfortunately, I recognized you without difficulty!

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Biography Christoph Willibald GLUCK (1714-87) is a German composer. One of the most prominent representatives of classicism. 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, after graduating from the Jesuit college in Kommotau, left home as a teenager.

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Biography At the age of 14, he left his family, wandered, earning a living on 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.

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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 write two operas for London; in England he met G. F. Handel. In 1846-51 he worked in Hamburg, Dresden, Copenhagen, Naples, Prague.

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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.

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A fruitful collaboration 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 the 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.

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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.

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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).

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The latter work served as a pretext for a fierce polemic between the "glitchists" 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).

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IN last years 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 direction of A. Salieri at the funeral service for Gluck.

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Gluck's Contribution In total, Gluck has written about 40 operas - Italian and French, comic and serious, traditional and innovative. It was thanks to the latter that he secured a solid place in the history of music. The principles of Gluck's reform are set forth in his preface to the publication of the score for "Alceste" (probably written with the participation of Kaltsabidzhi).

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In recent years, on September 24, 1779, the premiere of Gluck's last opera, Echo and Narcissus, took place in Paris; however, even earlier, in July, the composer was struck by a serious illness that turned into partial paralysis. In the autumn of the same year, Gluck returned to Vienna, which he never left. Arminia ”, but these plans were not destined to come true [. Anticipating his imminent departure, around 1782, Gluck wrote "De profundis" - a small work for a four-part 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. The composer died on November 15, 1787 and was originally buried in the churchyard of the Matzleinsdorf suburb; later his ashes were transferred to the Vienna Central Cemetery [

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Biography, life story of Gluck Christoph Willibald

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 \u200b\u200bsubordinating music to the laws of poetry and drama had a great influence on musical theater in the 19th and 20th centuries. Operas (over 40): Orpheus and Eurydice (1762), Alceste (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 write two operas for London; in England he met G. F. Handel. 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 the 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.

CONTINUED BELOW

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 polemic between the "glitchists" 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 direction 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 was 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 "Alceste" (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; the vocal-declamatory beginning should be emphasized in the recitatives, 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 those of his contemporaries such 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, irresistible energy pressure (as in "Dance of the Furies" from "Orpheus"), pathos and sublime lyrics.