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Christoph Willibald Gluck

Christoph Willibald Gluck

Born: 2nd July 1714, Berching, Germany

Died: 15th November 1787, Vienna

Nationality: German

Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire at the time, he gained prominence at the Habsburg court in Vienna. There he brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices for which many intellectuals had been campaigning. With a series of radical new works in the 1760s, among them Orfeo ed Euridice and Alceste, he broke the stranglehold that Metastasian opera seria had enjoyed for much of the century. Gluck introduced more drama by using orchestral recitative and cutting the usually long da capo aria.

Further Reading: Gluck

  • Jakub Józef Orliński on Gluck's Orfeo

    4th Jul 2024by Katherine Cooper

    The Polish countertenor discusses recording 'one of the signature-roles' for his voice-type, how going to hell and back in two contrasting productions of the opera informed his interpretation in the studio, and why acting as co-artistic director on the recording taught him to 'read the room'...

  • Philippe Jaroussky sings Gluck's Orfeo

    25th May 2018by Katherine Cooper

    The French countertenor placates the Furies with singing of celestial purity on this world premiere recording of the 1774 Neapolitan version of Gluck's most popular opera.

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