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Christophe Willibald Gluck

I n 1734, he left Prague for Vienna. He was engaged to play with the orchestra in Milan. In 1737, he studied with Sammartini until 1741. The way opera was performed was really the main thing that Gluck reformed.

Many important composers studied with Samartini, including J.S. Bach. The style we know as Mozart in terms of orchestration was born in Italy. Orchestration by this time was also beginning to become an important asthetic. Sammartini was the opera man - he was writing the overtures to the operas. The interest lies in his sinfonia that he wrote for the orchestra. The overtures would have been published in sets of 6.

In 1741, he stopped studying with Sammartini, and traveled North, with a short stay in Paris. This was important as he began to understand French opera, including how to include a Tenor lead instead of a Castrati. He ended up in London in 1745, and met Handel professionally, though it is not known if they got on well. It was not a pupil-teacher relationship.

Gluck didn't settle in London for long - in 1746, he went to Holland, and through to North Germany, settling in Vienna at the end of the 1740's. At the beginning of the 1750's, Gluck got married to a wealthy heiress.

The reform of Opera Seria is attributed to Gluck, although it wasn't just his own doing. Gluck's social status (attributed to how wealthy he was) meant he was known in upper class families. He met a Count Durazzo as a result, who was an Italian diplomat of the opinion that opera was not realistic, as well as a choreographer called Angiolini. Between all three of them, they felt they could reform opera.

As a Friday, 27 March, 2009. The first reformed opera is their sixth known work, Orfeo ed Eudeur (1765).

• Drama was realistic - loosening the strict codes of structure of arias and ensemble structure
  • Arias used to be of ABA structure, meaning the opera didn't progress throughout the course of the opera - this was relaxed
• Any other extra arias were removed so the drama would 'flow'
• The overture was also made a set piece, which would likely include themes from the opera itself.
• Cut back on the amount of coloratura, to keep in character of the opera itself.
• Ornaments and other unnecessaries were also stripped from arias. (this wasn't a new idea though - also present in Monteverdi)

This emphasis on all of the above was regarded as very romantic. Orfeus ed Eudeur was a big hit in Vienna, and was revised in Paris, for which he has to write a different version. The Italian version was a Castrati but the French version was for a Tenor. The reforms therefore brought the Italian opera closer in style to French opera.

Gluck was a good orchestrator, but a crap harmoniser. He also lied about his own background, saying he had studied at Prague university, even though records do not exists to prove this claim.

Orchestration was very important - the orchestra was used in an idiosyncratic way, so it almost sounds like Romantic orchestration.

Alceste: (1767) Important writing for trombone.