Christoph Willibald Gluck and his opera reform. Gluck Christoph Willibald - biography, facts from life, photographs, background information What kind of musical education did Gluck receive?

GLUCK, CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD(Gluck, Christoph Willibald) (1714–1787), German composer, opera reformer, one of the greatest masters of the 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 took place in Milan Artaxerxes(Artaserse). 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, Fall of the Giants, La Caduta dei Giganti, - a play on the topic of the day: it is about the suppression of the Jacobite uprising), gave a concert in which he played 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 of the early period fully revealed 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 to perform an opera. Mercy of Titus (La Clemenza di Tito) to a libretto by Metastasio, a major playwright of that era. 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 operas such as Merlin Island, L"Isle of Merlin;Imaginary slave, La fausse esclave; Fooled Cadi, Le cadi dupe). The dream of “opera reform,” the goal of which was to restore 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. Durazzo came from Genoa; Gluck's creative years passed 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 ballet Don Juan (Don Juan, 1761), then were born Orpheus and Eurydice (Orfeo ed Euridice, 1762) and Alceste (Alceste, 1767) - Gluck's first reform operas.

In the preface to the score Alceste 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. Premiere of the first Iphigenia in Aulis (Iphigénie en Aulide), was conducted under the direction of the author in 1774 and served as the reason 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 - Armidou (Armide, 1777) and Iphigenia in Tauris (Iphigénie en Tauride, 1779), and also revised for the French stage Orpheus And Alceste. Fanatics of Italian opera specially invited composer N. Piccinni (1772–1800) to Paris, who was a 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.

In Italy, the struggle of trends took place between seria (serious) opera, which served mainly the court circles of society, and buffa (comic) opera, which expressed the interests of the democratic strata.

The Italian opera seria, which emerged in Naples at the end of the 17th century, had a progressive significance in the early period of its history (in the work of A. Scarlatti and his closest followers). Melodic singing, based on the origins of Italian folk song, the crystallization of the bel canto vocal style, which was one of the criteria of high vocal culture, the establishment of a viable operatic composition, consisting of a number of completed arias, duets, ensembles, united by recitatives, played a very positive role in the further development of European opera art.

But already in the first half of the 18th century, Italian opera seria entered a period of crisis and began to reveal ideological and artistic decline. The high culture of bel canto, which was previously associated with conveying the state of mind of opera heroes, has now degenerated into an external cult of a beautiful voice as such, regardless of the dramatic meaning. Singing began to be replete with numerous seemingly virtuosic passages, coloraturas and graces, which were intended to demonstrate the vocal technique of singers and female singers. Opera, therefore, instead of being a drama, the content of which is revealed through music in organic combination with stage action, turned into a competition of masters of vocal art, for which it received the name “concert in costumes.” The plots of the opera seria, borrowed from ancient mythology or ancient history, were standardized: these were usually episodes from the life of kings, commanders with a complicated love affair and an obligatory happy ending that met the requirements of court aesthetics.

Thus, the Italian opera seria of the 18th century found itself in a state of crisis. However, some composers tried to overcome this crisis in their operatic work. G. F. Handel, certain Italian composers (N. Iomelli, T. Traetta and others), as well as K. V. Gluck in early operas strived for a closer relationship between dramatic action and music, for the destruction of empty “virtuosity” in vocal parties. But Gluck was destined to become a true reformer of opera during the period of creation of his best works.

Opera buffa

In contrast to the opera seria, democratic circles put forward the opera buffa, whose homeland is also Naples. Opera buffa was distinguished by its modern everyday themes, folk-national basis of music, realistic tendencies and life-like truthfulness in the embodiment of typical images.

The first classic example of this advanced genre was G. Pergolesi’s opera “The Maid and Mistress,” which played a huge historical role in the establishment and development of Italian buffa opera.

As the opera buffa further evolved in the 18th century, its scale increased, the number of characters grew, the intrigue became more complex, and such dramaturgically important elements appeared as large ensembles and finales (extended ensemble scenes that conclude each act of the opera).

In the 60s of the 18th century, a lyrical and sentimental current, characteristic of European art of this period, penetrated into the Italian opera buffa. In this regard, such operas as “The Good Daughter” by N. Piccini (1728-1800), partly “The Miller’s Woman” by G. Paisiello (1741 -1816) and his “The Barber of Seville”, written for St. Petersburg (1782) on the plot of a comedy, are indicative Beaumarchais.

The composer whose work completed the development of the Italian opera buffa of the 18th century was D. Chimarosa (1749-1801), the author of the famous, popular opera “The Secret Marriage” (1792).

French lyrical tragedy

Opera life in France was something similar, but on a different national basis and in different forms. Here the operatic direction, reflecting the tastes and demands of courtly aristocratic circles, was the so-called “lyrical tragedy”, created in the 17th century by the great French composer J. B. Lully (1632-1687). But Lully’s work also contained a significant share of people’s democratic elements. Romain Rolland notes that Lully’s melodies “were sung not only in the most noble houses, but also in the kitchen from which he emerged”, that “his melodies were sung in the streets, they were “sung” on instruments, his very overtures were sung with specially chosen words . Many of his melodies turned into folk couplets (vaudevilles)... His music, partially borrowed from the people, returned back to the lower classes.”1

However, after Lully's death, French lyrical tragedy deteriorated. If already in Lully’s operas ballet played a significant role, then later, due to its dominance, the opera turns into almost a continuous divertissement, its dramaturgy disintegrates; it becomes a magnificent spectacle, devoid of a big unifying idea and unity. True, in the operatic work of J. F. Rameau (1683-1764), the best traditions of Lully’s lyrical tragedy are revived and further developed. According to Rameau, he lived in the 18th century, when the advanced strata of French society, led by encyclopedists and educators - J.-J. Rousseau, D. Diderot and others "(ideologists of the third estate) demanded realistic, life-like art, the heroes of which, instead of mythological characters and gods, would be ordinary, simple people.

And this art, meeting the requirements of democratic circles of society, was French comic opera, which originated in the fair theaters of the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

French comic opera. The production in Paris in 1752 of Pergolesi's The Maid and Madam was the final impetus for the development of French comic opera. The controversy surrounding the production of Pergolesi's opera was called the “war of buffonists and anti-buffonists”2. It was led by encyclopedists who advocated realistic musical and theatrical art and against the conventions of the courtly aristocratic theater. In the decades preceding the French bourgeois revolution of 1789, this controversy took on sharp forms. Following Pergolesi’s “The Maid and Mistress,” one of the leaders of the French enlightenment, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, wrote a small comic opera, “The Village Sorcerer” (1752).

French comic opera found its outstanding representatives in the person of F. A. Philidor (1726-1795), P. A. Monsigny (1729-1817), A. Grétry (1742-1813). A particularly prominent role was played by Grétry's opera Richard the Lionheart (1784). Some operas by Monsigny (“The Deserter”) and Grétry (“Lucille”) reflected the same lyrical-sentimental current that was characteristic of the art of the mid- and second half of the 18th century.

Gluck's arrival to classical musical tragedy.

However, French comic opera, with its everyday themes, sometimes with bourgeois ideals and moralizing tendencies, ceased to satisfy the increased aesthetic requirements of advanced democratic circles, and seemed too small to embody the big ideas and feelings of the pre-revolutionary era. What was needed here was heroic and monumental art. And such operatic art, embodying great civic ideals, was created by Gluck. Having critically perceived and mastered all the best that existed in contemporary opera, Gluck came to a new classical musical tragedy that met the needs of the advanced part of society. That is why Gluck's work was greeted with such enthusiasm in Paris by encyclopedists and the progressive public in general.

According to Romain Rolland, “Gluck’s revolution - this was its strength - was not the work of Gluck’s genius alone, but the work of a century-long development of thought. The coup was prepared, announced and expected for twenty years by encyclopedists.”1 One of the most prominent representatives of the French enlightenment, Denis Diderot, wrote back in 1757, that is, almost twenty years before Gluck’s arrival in Paris: “Let a man of genius appear who will bring true tragedy to the stage of the lyric theater!” Diderot further states: “I mean a person who has a genius in his art; This is not a person who only knows how to string modulations and combine notes.”2 As an example of a great classical tragedy that requires musical embodiment, Diderot cites a dramatic scene from “Iphigenia in Aulis” by the great French playwright Racine, accurately indicating the places of recitatives and arias 3.

This wish of Diderot turned out to be prophetic: Gluck's first opera, written for Paris in 1774, was Iphigenia in Aulis.

The life and creative path of K.V. Gluck

Gluck's childhood

Christoph Willibald Gluck was born on July 2, 1714 in Erasbach (Upper Palatinate) near the Czech border.

Gluck's father was a peasant, served as a soldier in his youth, and then made forestry his profession and worked as a forester in the Bohemian forests in the service of Count Lobkowitz. Thus, from the age of three (since 1717), Christoph Willibald lived in the Czech Republic, which subsequently affected his work. A stream of Czech folk song breaks through in Gluck's music.

Gluck's childhood was harsh: the family had meager means, and he had to help his father in the difficult forestry business. This contributed to the development of Gluck's resilience and strong character, which later helped him in implementing reform ideas.

Years of Gluck's teaching

In 1726, Gluck entered the Jesuit college in the Czech city of Komotau, where he studied for six years and sang in the choir of the school church. All teaching at the college was imbued with blind faith in church dogmas and the demand for worship of superiors, which, however, could not subjugate the young musician, in the future an advanced artist.

The positive side of the training was Gluck's mastery of the Greek and Latin languages, ancient literature and poetry. For an opera composer in an era when the art of opera was largely based on ancient themes, this was necessary.

While studying at the college, Gluck also studied the clavier, organ and cello. In 1732, he moved to the Czech capital Prague, where he entered university while continuing his musical education. At times, in order to earn money, Gluck was forced to leave his studies and wander around the surrounding villages, where he played various dances and fantasies on folk themes on the cello.

In Prague, Gluck sang in a church choir led by the outstanding composer and organist Boguslav of Chernogorsk (1684-1742), nicknamed the “Czech Bach.” Chernogorsky was Gluck's first real teacher, teaching him the basics of general bass (harmony) and counterpoint.

Gluck in Vienna

In 1736, a new period began in Gluck’s life, associated with the beginning of his creative activity and musical career. Count Lobkowitz (who had Gluck's father in his service) became interested in the young musician's extraordinary talent; Taking Gluck with him to Vienna, he appointed him court singer in his chapel and chamber musician. In Vienna, where musical life was in full swing, Gluck immediately plunged into the special musical atmosphere created around Italian opera, which then dominated the Viennese opera stage. At the same time, the famous 18th-century playwright and librettist Pietro Metastasio lived and worked in Vienna. Gluck wrote his first operas based on the texts of Metastasio.

Study and work in Italy

At one of the ballroom evenings at Count Lobkowitz's, when Gluck was playing the clavier, accompanying the dances, the Italian philanthropist Count Melzi drew attention to him. He took Gluck with him to Italy, to Milan. There Gluck spent four years (1737-1741), improving his knowledge of musical composition under the guidance of the outstanding Italian composer, organist and conductor Giovanni Battista Sammartini (4704-1774). Having become acquainted with Italian opera in Vienna, Gluck, of course, came into closer and closer contact with it in Italy itself. Beginning in 1741, he himself began to compose operas that were performed in Milan and other Italian cities. These were operas seria, written in large part to texts by P. Metastasio (“Artaxerxes”, “Demetrius”, “Hypermnestra” and a number of others). Almost none of Gluck's early operas have survived in their entirety; Of these, only a few numbers have reached us. In these operas, Gluck, while still captivated by the conventions of traditional opera seria, sought to overcome its shortcomings. This was achieved in different operas in different ways, but in some of them, especially in "Hypermnestra", signs of Gluck's future operatic reform have already appeared: a tendency to overcome external vocal virtuosity, a desire to increase the dramatic expressiveness of recitatives, to give the overture more significant content, organically connecting her with the opera itself. But Gluck was not yet able to become a reformer in his early operas. This was counteracted by the aesthetics of opera seria, as well as by the insufficient creative maturity of Gluck himself, who had not yet fully realized the need for opera reform.

And yet, between Gluck’s early operas and his reform operas, despite their fundamental differences, there is no impassable line. This is evidenced, for example, by the fact that Gluck used the music of early operas in the works of the reformist period, transferring into them individual melodic turns, and sometimes entire arias, but with a new text.

Creative work in England

In 1746, Gluck moved from Italy to England, where he continued to work on Italian opera. For London he wrote the operas seria Artamena and The Fall of the Giants. In the English capital, Gluck met with Handel, whose work made a great impression on him. However, Handel failed to appreciate his younger brother and once even said: “My cook Waltz knows counterpoint better than Gluck.” Handel's work served as an incentive for Gluck to realize the need for fundamental changes in the field of opera, since in Handel's operas Gluck noticed a clear desire to go beyond the standard scheme of opera seria, to make it dramatically more truthful. The influence of Handel's operatic work (especially the late period) is one of the important factors in the preparation of Gluck's operatic reform.

Meanwhile, in London, in order to attract a wide public to his concerts, greedy for sensational spectacles, Gluck did not shy away from external effects. For example, in one of the London newspapers on March 31, 1746, the following announcement was published: “In the great hall of Gickford, on Tuesday, April 14, Mr. Gluck, an opera composer, will give a musical concert with the participation of the best opera artists. By the way, he will perform, accompanied by an orchestra, a concerto for 26 glasses tuned with spring water: this is a new instrument of his own invention, on which the same things can be performed as on the violin or harpsichord. He hopes to satisfy the curious and music lovers in this way.”1

In this era, many artists were forced to resort to this method of attracting the public to a concert, in which, along with similar numbers, serious works were also performed.

After England, Gluck visited a number of other European countries (Germany, Denmark, Czech Republic). In Dresden, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Prague, he wrote and staged operas, dramatic serenades, worked with opera singers, and conducted.

French comic operas by Gluck

The next important period in Gluck's creative activity was associated with work in the field of French comic opera for the French theater in Vienna, where he arrived after a number of years in different countries. Gluck was attracted to this work by Giacomo Durazzo, who was the intendant of the court theaters. Durazzo, ordering various scripts for comic operas from France, offered them to Gluck. Thus arose a whole series of French comic operas with music by Gluck, written between 1758 and 1764: “The Island of Merlin” (1758), “The Corrected Drunkard” (1760), “The Fooled Cadi” (1761), “An Unexpected Meeting, or Pilgrims from Mecca" (1764) and others. Some of them coincide in time with the reformist period in Gluck’s creative activity.

Work in the field of French comic opera played a very positive role in Gluck's creative life. He began to turn more freely to the true origins of folk song. New types of everyday plots and scenarios determined the growth of realistic elements in Gluck's musical dramaturgy. Gluck's French comic operas are included in the general flow of development of this genre.

Work in the field of ballet

Along with operas, Gluck also worked on ballet. In 1761, his ballet “Don Juan” was staged in Vienna. In the early 60s of the 18th century, attempts were made in different countries to reform the ballet, to transform it from a divertissement into a dramatic pantomime with a certain developing plot.

The outstanding French choreographer Jean Georges Noverre (1727-1810) played a major role in the dramatization of the ballet genre. In Vienna in the early 60s, the composer worked with choreographer Gasparo Angiolini (1723-1796), who, along with Noverre, created a dramatic pantomime ballet. Together with Angiolini, Gluck wrote and staged his best ballet, Don Giovanni. The dramatization of ballet, expressive music that conveys great human passions and reveals the stylistic features of Gluck's mature style, as well as work in the field of comic opera, brought the composer closer to the dramatization of opera, to the creation of a great musical tragedy, which was the crown of his creative activity.

The beginning of reform activities

The beginning of Gluck's reform activities was marked by his collaboration with the Italian poet, playwright and librettist Raniero da Calzabigi (1714-1795) who lived in Vienna. Metastasio and Calzabigi represented two different trends in 18th-century opera librettism. Opposing the courtly-aristocratic aesthetics of Metastasio's libretto, Calzabigi strove for simplicity and naturalness, for a truthful embodiment of human passions, for freedom of composition dictated by developing dramatic action, and not by standard canons. Choosing ancient subjects for his librettos, Calzabigi interpreted them in the sublime ethical spirit characteristic of advanced classicism of the 18th century, investing in these themes high moral pathos and great civil and moral ideals. It was the commonality of the progressive aspirations of Calzabigi and Gluck that led them to rapprochement.

Reform operas of the Viennese period

October 5, 1762 was a significant date in the history of the opera house: on this day Gluck's Orpheus based on Calzabigi's text was staged for the first time in Vienna. This was the beginning of Gluck's operatic reform activities. Five years after Orpheus, on December 16, 1767, the first production of Gluck's opera Alceste (also based on Calzabigi's text) took place there, in Vienna. Gluck prefaced the score of Alceste with a dedication addressed to the Duke of Tuscany, in which he outlined the main provisions of his operatic reform. In Alceste, Gluck, even more consistently than in Orpheus, realized and put into practice the musical and dramatic principles that had finally developed in him by this time. Gluck's last opera staged in Vienna was Paris and Helen (1770), based on Calzabigi's text. In terms of integrity and unity of dramatic development, this opera is inferior to the two previous ones.

Living and working in Vienna in the 60s, Gluck reflected in his work the features of the Viennese classical style that was emerging during this period,1 which was finally formed in the music of Haydn and Mozart. The Overture to Alceste can serve as a characteristic example for the early period in the development of the Viennese classical school. But the features of Viennese classicism are organically intertwined in Gluck’s work with the influences of Italian and French music.

Reform activities in Paris

A new and final period in Gluck's creative activity began with his move to Paris in 1773. Although Gluck's operas were a significant success in Vienna, his reform ideas were not fully appreciated there; It was in the French capital - this citadel of advanced culture of that time - that he hoped to find a complete understanding of his creative ideas. Gluck's move to Paris - the largest center of operatic life in Europe at that time - was also facilitated by the patronage of Marie Antoinette, wife of the Dauphin of France, daughter of the Austrian Empress and former student of Gluck.

Gluck's Paris Operas

In April 1774, the first production of Gluck’s new opera “Iphigenie in Aulis” took place in Paris at the Royal Academy of Music, the French libretto of which was written by Du Roullet based on Racine’s tragedy of the same name. This was the type of opera that Diderot dreamed of almost twenty years ago. The enthusiasm generated by the production of Iphigenia in Paris was great. There were significantly more people in the theater than it could accommodate. The entire magazine and newspaper press was full of impressions of Gluck's new opera and the struggle of opinions around his operatic reform; They argued and talked about Gluck, and, naturally, his appearance in Paris was welcomed by encyclopedists. One of them, Melchior Grimm, wrote shortly after this significant production of Iphigenia in Aulis: “For fifteen days now, in Paris they have only been talking and dreaming about music. She is the subject of all our disputes, all our conversations, the soul of all our dinners; It even seems ridiculous to be interested in anything else. To a question related to politics, you are answered with a phrase from the doctrine of harmony; for moral reflection - with the arietka motif; and if you try to remind you of the interest aroused by this or that play of Racine or Voltaire, instead of any answer they will draw your attention to the orchestral effect in the beautiful recitative of Agamemnon. After all this, is it necessary to say that the reason for such fermentation of minds is the “Iphigenia” of the gentleman Gluck? This fermentation is all the more strong since opinions are extremely divided, and all parties are equally seized with rage. Of the disputants, three parties stand out especially sharply: adherents of the old French opera, who took an oath not to recognize other gods than Lully or Rameau; supporters of purely Italian music, who revere only the arias of Iomelli, Piccini or Sacchini; finally, the part of the gentleman Gluck, who believes that they have found the music most suitable for theatrical action, music , the principles of which are drawn from the eternal source of harmony and the internal relationship of our feelings and sensations, music that does not belong to any particular country, but for the style of which the composer’s genius was able to take advantage of the peculiarities of our language.”

Gluck himself began to actively work in the theater in order to destroy the prevailing routine and absurd conventions, do away with ingrained cliches and achieve dramatic truth in the production and performance of operas. Gluck interfered with the stage behavior of the actors, forcing the choir to act and live on stage. In the name of implementing his principles, Gluck did not take into account any authorities or recognized names: for example, about the famous choreographer Gaston Vestris, he expressed himself very disrespectfully: “An artist who has all the knowledge in his heels has no right to kick in an opera like Armide.” .

The continuation and development of Gluck's reform activities in Paris was the production of the opera "Orpheus" in a new edition in August 1774, and in April 1776 - the production of the opera "Alceste", also in a new edition. Both operas, translated into French, underwent significant changes in relation to the conditions of the Parisian opera house. The ballet scenes were expanded, the part of Orpheus was transferred to the tenor, while in the first (Viennese) edition it was written for the viola and intended for the castrato2. In connection with this, Orpheus’s arias had to be transposed into other keys.

Productions of Gluck's operas brought the theatrical life of Paris into great excitement. Encyclopedists and representatives of progressive social circles spoke for Gluck; against him are conservative writers (for example, La Harpe and Marmontel). The debate became especially aggravated when the Italian opera composer Piccolo Piccini came to Paris in 1776, who played a positive role in the development of Italian buffa opera. In the field of opera seria, Piccini, while maintaining the traditional features of this movement, stood on the old positions. Therefore, Gluck's enemies decided to pit Piccini against him and incite rivalry between them. This controversy, which lasted for a number of years and subsided only after Gluck left Paris, was called the “war of the Gluckists and Piccinists.” The struggle of the parties that rallied around each composer did not affect the relations between the composers themselves. Piccini, who survived Gluck, said that he owed much to the latter, and indeed, in his opera Dido, Piccini used Gluck's operatic principles. Thus, the outbreak of the “war of Gluckists and Piccinists” was in fact an attack against Gluck by reactionaries in art, who made every effort to artificially inflate the largely imaginary rivalry between the two outstanding composers.

Gluck's last operas

Gluck's last reform operas staged in Paris were Armide (1777) and Iphigenia in Tauris (1779). “Armida” was written not in an ancient style (like other operas by Gluck), but on a medieval plot, borrowed from the famous poem of the 16th century Italian poet Torquato Tasso “Jerusalem Liberated”. “Iphigenia in Tauris” in its plot is a continuation of “Iphigenia in Aulis” (both operas have the same main character), but there is no musical commonality between them 2.

A few months after Iphigenia in Tauris, Gluck's last opera, Echo and Narcissus, a mythological tale, was staged in Paris. But this opera was a weak success.

The last years of his life Gluck was in Vienna, where the composer's creative work took place mainly in the field of song. Back in 1770, Gluck created several songs based on Klopstock's texts. Gluck did not realize his plan to write the German heroic opera “The Battle of Arminius” based on Klopstock’s text. Gluck died in Vienna on November 15, 1787.

Principles of opera reform

Gluck outlined the main provisions of his opera reform in the dedication preceded by the score of the opera Alceste. Let us present several of the most important provisions that most clearly characterize Gluck's musical drama.

First of all, Gluck demanded truthfulness and simplicity from the opera. He ends his dedication with the words: “Simplicity, truth and naturalness - these are the three great principles of beauty in all works of art.”4 Music in opera should reveal the feelings, passions and experiences of the characters. That's why it exists; however, what is outside these requirements and serves only to delight the ears of music lovers with beautiful, but superficial melodies and vocal virtuosity, only gets in the way. This is how we must understand the following words of Gluck: “... 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... the negation of a rule that I would not willingly sacrifice for the sake of the power of impression.” 2.

Synthesis of music and dramatic action. The main goal of Gluck's musical dramaturgy was the deepest, organic synthesis of music and dramatic action in opera. At the same time, the music should be subordinated to the drama, sensitively respond to all dramatic vicissitudes, since music serves as a means of emotionally revealing the spiritual life of the opera's heroes.

In one of his letters, Gluck says: “I tried to be more of a painter or a poet than a musician. Before I start work, I try at all costs to forget that I am a musician.”3 Gluck, of course, never forgot that he was a musician; evidence of this is his excellent music, which has high artistic merit. The above statement should be understood precisely in this way: in Gluck’s reform operas music did not exist on its own, outside of dramatic action; it was needed only to express the latter.

A. P. Serov wrote about this: “... a thinking artist, when creating an opera, remembers one thing: about his task, about his object, about the characters of the characters, about their dramatic clashes, about the coloring of each scene, in its general and in particular, about the intelligence of every detail, about the impression on the viewer-listener at every given moment; the thinking artist does not care at all about the rest, so important for small musicians, because these worries, reminding him that he is a “musician,” would distract him from the goal, from the task, from the object, and would make him refined, affected.”

Interpretation of arias and recitatives

Gluck subordinates all the elements of an opera performance to the main goal, the connection between music and dramatic action. His aria ceases to be a purely concert number demonstrating the vocal art of the singers: it is organically included in the development of dramatic action and is built not according to the usual standard, but in accordance with the state of feelings and experiences of the hero performing this aria. Recitatives in traditional opera seria, almost devoid of musical content, served only as a necessary connection between concert numbers; in addition, the action developed precisely in the recitatives, but stopped in the arias. In Gluck's operas, the recitatives are distinguished by musical expressiveness, approaching aria singing, although they are not formalized into a complete aria.

Thus, the previously existing sharp line between musical numbers and recitatives is erased: arias, recitatives, choruses, while maintaining independent functions, are at the same time combined into large dramatic scenes. Examples include: the first scene from “Orpheus” (at the tomb of Eurydice), the first scene of the second act from the same opera (in the underworld), many pages in the operas “Alceste”, “Iphigenia in Aulis”, “Iphigenia in Tauris”.

Overture

The overture in Gluck's operas, in its general content and character of the images, embodies the dramatic idea of ​​the work. In the preface to Alceste, Gluck writes: “I believed that the overture should, as it were, warn the audience about the nature of the action that would unfold before their eyes...”1. In Orpheus, the overture in ideological and figurative terms is not yet connected with the opera itself. But the overtures from Alceste and Iphigenia in Aulis are symphonic generalizations of the dramatic ideas of these operas.

Gluck emphasizes the direct connection of each of these overtures with the opera by not giving them an independent conclusion, but immediately transferring them into the first act2. In addition, the overture to “Iphigenia in Aulis” has a thematic connection with the opera: the aria of Agamemnon (father of Iphigenia), which begins the first act, is based on the music of the opening section.

“Iphigenia in Tauris” begins with a short introduction (“Silence. Storm”), which directly leads into the first act.

Ballet

As already mentioned, Gluck does not abandon ballet in his operas. On the contrary, in the Paris editions of Orpheus and Alceste (compared to the Viennese ones) he even expands the ballet scenes. But Gluck’s ballet, as a rule, is not an inserted divertissement unrelated to the action of the opera. The ballet in Gluck's operas is mostly motivated by the course of dramatic action. Examples include the demonic dance of the Furies from the second act of Orpheus or the ballet celebrating the recovery of Admetus in the opera Alceste. Only at the end of some operas does Gluck place a large divertissement after an unexpectedly happy ending, but this is an inevitable tribute to the tradition common in that era.

Typical plots and their interpretation

The libretto of Gluck's operas was based on ancient and medieval subjects. However, the antiquity in Gluck's operas was not similar to the court masquerade that dominated Italian opera seria and especially French lyric tragedy.

Antiquity in Gluck's operas was a manifestation of the characteristic tendencies of classicism of the 18th century, imbued with the republican spirit and played a role in the ideological preparation of the French bourgeois revolution, which, according to K. Marx, draped itself, “alternately in the costume of the Roman Republic and in the costume of the Roman Empire”1. This is precisely the classicism that leads to the work of the tribunes of the French Revolution - the poet Chenier, the painter David and the composer Gossec. Therefore, it is no coincidence that some melodies from Gluck’s operas, especially the chorus from the opera Armide, were heard on the streets and squares of Paris during revolutionary festivities and demonstrations.

Having abandoned the interpretation of ancient plots characteristic of courtly aristocratic opera, Gluck introduces civil motives into his operas: marital fidelity and readiness for self-sacrifice to save the life of a loved one (“Orpheus” and “Alceste”), the heroic desire to sacrifice oneself for the sake of saving one’s life. people from the misfortune that threatens them (“Iphigenia in Aulis”). Such a new interpretation of ancient plots can explain the success of Gluck's operas among the advanced part of French society on the eve of the revolution, including among the encyclopedists who raised Gluck to their shield.

The limitations of Gluck's operatic dramaturgy

However, despite the interpretation of ancient plots in the spirit of the progressive ideals of his time, it is necessary to point out the historically determined limitations of Gluck’s operatic dramaturgy. It is determined by the same ancient plots. Gluck's heroes have a somewhat abstract character: they are not so much living people with individual characters, multifaceted, as generalized bearers of certain feelings and passions.

Gluck also could not completely abandon the traditional conventional forms and customs of the operatic art of the 18th century. Thus, contrary to well-known mythological plots, Gluck ends his operas with a happy ending. In Orpheus (as opposed to the myth where Orpheus loses Eurydice forever), Gluck and Calzabigi force Cupid to touch the dead Eurydice and awaken her to life. In Alceste, the unexpected appearance of Hercules, who entered into battle with the forces of the underworld, frees the spouses from eternal separation. All this was required by the traditional opera aesthetics of the 18th century: no matter how tragic the content of the opera, the end had to be happy.

Gluck Musical Theater

The greatest impressive power of Gluck's operas precisely in the theater was perfectly realized by the composer himself, who responded to his critics in the following way: “You didn’t like it in the theater? No? So what's the deal? If I succeeded in anything in the theater, it means I achieved the goal I set for myself; I swear to you, I care little whether people find me pleasant in a salon or at a concert. Your words seem to me like the question of a man who, having climbed onto the high gallery of the dome of the Invalides, would shout from there to the artist standing below: “Sir, what did you want to depict here? Is this a nose? Is this a hand? It’s not like either one or the other!” The artist, for his part, should have shouted to him with much greater right: “Hey, sir, come down and look - then you will see!”1.

Gluck's music is in unity with the monumental character of the performance as a whole. There are no roulades or decorations in it, everything is strict, simple and written in broad, large strokes. Each aria represents the embodiment of one passion, one feeling. At the same time, there is no melodramatic strain or tearful sentimentality anywhere. Gluck's sense of artistic proportion and nobility of expression never betrayed him in his reform operas. This noble simplicity, without frills or effects, is reminiscent of the harmonious forms of ancient sculpture.

Gluck's recitative

The dramatic expressiveness of Gluck's recitatives is a great achievement in the field of opera. If many arias express one state, then the recitative usually conveys the dynamics of feelings, transitions from one state to another. In this regard, Alceste’s monologue in the third act of the opera (at the gates of Hades) is noteworthy, where Alceste strives to go into the world of shadows to give life to Admetus, but cannot decide to do so; the struggle of conflicting feelings is conveyed with great force in this scene. The orchestra also has a fairly expressive function, actively participating in creating the overall mood. Similar recitative scenes are found in other reform operas by Gluck2.

Choirs

A large place in Gluck's operas is occupied by choirs, which are organically included, along with arias and recitatives, in the dramatic fabric of the opera. Recitatives, arias and choruses together form a large, monumental operatic composition.

Conclusion

Gluck's musical influence extended to Vienna, where he ended his days peacefully. By the end of the 18th century, an amazing spiritual community of musicians had developed in Vienna, which later received the name “Viennese classical school”. Three great masters are usually included in it: Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Glitch, in terms of the style and direction of his creativity, also seems to belong here. But if Haydn, the eldest of the classical triad, was affectionately called “Papa Haydn,” then Gluck belonged to a different generation altogether: he was 42 years older than Mozart and 56 years older than Beethoven! Therefore, he stood somewhat apart. The rest were either in friendly relations (Haydn and Mozart), or in teacher-student relations (Haydn and Beethoven). The classicism of Viennese composers had nothing in common with decorous court art. It was classicism, imbued with freethinking, reaching the point of fighting against God, and self-irony, and a spirit of tolerance. Perhaps the main properties of their music are cheerfulness and gaiety, based on faith in the ultimate triumph of good. God does not leave this music, but man becomes its center. Favorite genres are opera and its related symphony, where the main theme is human destinies and feelings. The symmetry of perfectly calibrated musical forms, the clarity of a regular rhythm, the brightness of unique melodies and themes - everything is aimed at the perception of the listener, everything takes into account his psychology. How could it be otherwise, if in any treatise on music you can find words that the main goal of this art is to express feelings and give people pleasure? Meanwhile, quite recently, in the era of Bach, it was believed that music should, first of all, instill in a person reverence for God. Viennese classics raised purely instrumental music, which was previously considered secondary to church and stage music, to unprecedented heights.

Literature:

1. Hoffman E.-T.-A. Selected works. - M.: Music, 1989.

2. Pokrovsky B. “Conversations about Opera”, M., Education, 1981.

3. Knights S. Christoph Willibald Gluck. - M.: Music, 1987.

4. Collection "Opera librettos", T.2, M., Music, 1985.

5. Tarakanov B., “Music Reviews”, M., Internet-REDI, 1998.

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

Youth years

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

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

Italian period

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

Mastering the homophonic style was a very important achievement of the composer, since polyphony dominated the European music school of the time in question. During this period, he created a number of operas (“Demetrius”, “Porus” and others), which, despite their imitation, brought him fame. Until 1751 he toured with 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 the 17th-18th centuries, opera was a magnificent musical spectacle with beautiful music. Much attention was paid not so much to content as to form.

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

Vienna period

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

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

Paris stage

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

The former defended the need to bring drama and semantic harmony to a musical performance, while the latter emphasized 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 Tauris”. This work was recognized as the best in the composer's work and strengthened his European fame.

Influence

In 1779, due to a serious illness, composer Christopher Gluck returned to Vienna. It is impossible to imagine the biography of this talented musician without mentioning his latest works. Even while seriously ill, he composed a number of odes and songs for piano. 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 of the work of L. Beethoven and R. Wagner. In addition, many other composers imitated him not only in composing operas, but also symphonies. Of the Russian composers, M. Glinka highly appreciated the work of Gluck.

Biography, life story of Gluck Christoph Willibald

GLUCK (Gluck) Christoph Willibald (1714-1787), German composer. 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 ​​subordinating music to the laws of poetry and drama greatly influenced musical theater in the 19th and 20th centuries. Operas (over 40): “Orpheus and Eurydice” (1762), “Alceste” (1767), “Paris and Helen” (1770), “Iphigenia in Aulis” (1774), “Armida” (1777), “Iphigenia in Tauride" (1779).

GLUCK (Gluck) Christoph Willibald (Cavalier Gluck, Ritter von Gluck) (July 2, 1714, Erasbach, Bavaria - November 15, 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 money 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 G. B. Sammartini (c. 1700-1775), one of the largest Italian representatives of early classicism.
In 1741, Gluck's first opera, Artaxerxes, was staged in Milan; this was followed by the premieres of several more operas in different cities of Italy. In 1845, Gluck received an order to compose two operas for London; in England he met G. F. Handel. In 1846-51 he worked in Hamburg, Dresden, Copenhagen, Naples, and Prague. In 1752 he settled in Vienna, where he took the position of accompanist, then bandmaster at the court of Prince J. Saxe-Hildburghausen. In addition, he composed French comic operas for the imperial court theater and Italian operas for palace entertainment. In 1759, Gluck received an official position in the court theater and was soon awarded a royal pension.

Fruitful collaboration
Around 1761, Gluck began collaborating with the poet R. Calzabigi and choreographer G. Angiolini (1731-1803). In their first joint work, the ballet Don Juan, they managed to achieve amazing artistic unity of all components of the performance. A year later, the opera “Orpheus and Eurydice” appeared (libretto by Calzabigi, dances choreographed by Angiolini) - the first and best of Gluck’s so-called reform operas. In 1764, Gluck composed the French comic opera An Unexpected Meeting, or Pilgrims from Mecca, and a year later two more ballets. In 1767, the success of “Orpheus” was consolidated by the opera “Alceste”, also with a libretto by Calzabigi, but with dances staged by another outstanding choreographer - J.-J. Noverra (1727-1810). The third reform opera, Paris and Helena (1770), had more modest success.

CONTINUED BELOW

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 strong place in the history of music. The principles of Gluck's reform are set out in his preface to the publication of the score of Alceste (written, probably with the participation of Calzabigi). They boil down to the following: music must express the content of the poetic text; orchestral ritornellos and, especially, vocal embellishments, 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 nature of the text; in recitatives the vocal-declamatory beginning should be emphasized, that is, the contrast between the recitative and the aria should not be excessive. Most of these principles are embodied in the opera "Orpheus", where recitatives with orchestral accompaniment, arioso and arias are not separated from each other by sharp boundaries, and individual episodes, including dances and choruses, are combined into large scenes with end-to-end dramatic development. Unlike the plots of the opera seria with their intricate intrigues, disguises and side lines, the plot of "Orpheus" appeals to simple human feelings. In terms of skill, Gluck was noticeably inferior to his contemporaries such as C. F. E. Bach and J. Haydn, but his technique, for all its limitations, fully met his goals. His music combines simplicity and monumentality, unstoppable energy (as in the “Dance of the Furies” from Orpheus), pathos and sublime lyrics.

GLITCH (Gluck) Christoph Willibald (1714-1787), German composer. 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 ​​subordinating music to the laws of poetry and drama greatly influenced musical theater in the 19th and 20th centuries. Operas (over 40): "Orpheus and Eurydice" (1762), "Alceste" (1767), "Paris and Helen" (1770), "Iphigenia in Aulis" (1774), "Armide" (1777), "Iphigenia in Taurida" (1779).

GLITCH(Gluck) Christoph Willibald (Cavalier Gluck, Ritter von Gluck) (July 2, 1714, Erasbach, Bavaria - November 15, 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 money 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 G. B. Sammartini (c. 1700-1775), one of the largest Italian representatives of early classicism.

In 1741, Gluck's first opera, Artaxerxes, was staged in Milan; this was followed by the premieres of several more operas in different cities of Italy. In 1845, Gluck received an order to compose two operas for London; in England he met G.F. In 1846-51 he worked in Hamburg, Dresden, Copenhagen, Naples, and Prague. In 1752 he settled in Vienna, where he took the position of accompanist, then bandmaster at the court of Prince J. Saxe-Hildburghausen. In addition, he composed French comic operas for the imperial court theater and Italian operas for palace entertainment. In 1759, Gluck received an official position in the court theater and was soon awarded a royal pension.

Fruitful collaboration

Around 1761, Gluck began collaborating with the poet R. Calzabigi and choreographer G. Angiolini (1731-1803). In their first joint work, the ballet "Don Juan", they managed to achieve amazing artistic unity of all components of the performance. A year later, the opera "Orpheus and Eurydice" appeared (libretto by Calzabigi, dances choreographed by Angiolini) - the first and best of Gluck's so-called reform operas. In 1764, Gluck composed the French comic opera "An Unexpected Meeting, or Pilgrims from Mecca", and a year later - two more ballets. In 1767, the success of "Orpheus" was consolidated by the opera "Alceste", also with a libretto by Calzabigi, but with dances staged by another outstanding choreographer - J.-J. Noverra (1727-1810). The third reform opera, Paris and Helena (1770), had more modest success.

In Paris

In the early 1770s, Gluck decided to apply his innovative ideas to French opera. In 1774, Iphigenia in Aulis and Orpheus, the French version of Orpheus and Eurydice, were staged in Paris. Both works received an enthusiastic reception. Gluck's series of Parisian successes was continued by the French edition of Alceste (1776) and Armide (1777). The last work gave rise to a fierce controversy between the “Gluckists” and supporters of traditional Italian and French opera, which was personified by the talented composer of the Neapolitan school N. Piccinni, who came to 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 Tauris” (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 Tauris and composed several songs. His last work was the psalm De profundis for choir and orchestra, which was performed under the direction of A. Salieri at Gluck’s funeral.

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 strong place in the history of music. The principles of Gluck's reform are set out in his preface to the publication of the score of Alceste (written, probably with the participation of Calzabigi). They boil down to the following: music must express the content of the poetic text; orchestral ritornellos and, especially, vocal embellishments, 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 nature of the text; in recitatives the vocal-declamatory beginning should be emphasized, that is, the contrast between the recitative and the aria should not be excessive. Most of these principles are embodied in the opera "Orpheus", where recitatives with orchestral accompaniment, arioso and arias are not separated from each other by sharp boundaries, and individual episodes, including dances and choruses, are combined into large scenes with end-to-end dramatic development. Unlike the plots of opera seria 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 his contemporaries such as C. F. E. Bach and J. Haydn, but his technique, for all its limitations, fully met his goals. His music combines simplicity and monumentality, unstoppable energy (as in the “Dance of the Furies” from Orpheus), pathos and sublime lyricism.