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Gluck
Christoph Willibald ( Ritter von) Gluck (; ; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) 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. His later operas have half the length of a typical baroque opera. The strong influence of French opera encouraged Gluck to move to Paris in November 1773. Fusing the traditions of Italian opera and the French (with rich chorus) into a unique synthesis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orfeo Ed Euridice
(; French: '; English: ''Orpheus and Eurydice'') is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck, based on the myth of Orpheus and set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the '' azione teatrale'', meaning an opera on a mythological subject with choruses and dancing. The piece was first performed at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 5 October 1762, in the presence of Empress Maria Theresa. ''Orfeo ed Euridice'' is the first of Gluck's "reform" operas, in which he attempted to replace the abstruse plots and overly complex music of ''opera seria'' with a "noble simplicity" in both the music and the drama. The opera is the most popular of Gluck's works, and was one of the most influential on subsequent German operas. Variations on its plot—the underground rescue mission in which the hero must control, or conceal, his emotions—can be found in Mozart's ''The Magic Flute'', Beethoven's ''Fidelio'', and Wagner's ''Das Rheingold''. Though originally s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iphigénie En Tauride
''Iphigénie en Tauride'' (, ''Iphigenia in Tauris'') is a 1779 opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck in four acts. It was his fifth opera for the French stage. The libretto was written by Nicolas-François Guillard. With ''Iphigénie,'' Gluck took his operatic reform to its logical conclusion. The recitatives are shorter and they are ''récitatif accompagné'' (i.e. the strings and perhaps other instruments are playing, not just continuo accompaniment). The normal dance movements that one finds in the French ''tragédie en musique'' are almost entirely absent. The drama is ultimately based on the play '' Iphigenia in Tauris'' by the ancient Greek dramatist Euripides which deals with stories concerning the family of Agamemnon in the aftermath of the Trojan War. Performance history ''Iphigénie en Tauride'' was first performed on 18 May 1779 by the Paris Opéra at the second Salle du Palais-Royal and was a great success. Some think that the head of the Paris Opéra, Devismes, ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alceste (Gluck)
''Alceste'', Wq. 37 (the later French version is Wq. 44), is an opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck from 1767. The Italian libretto was written by Ranieri de' Calzabigi and based on the play '' Alcestis'' by Euripides. The premiere took place on 26 December 1767 at the Burgtheater in Vienna. The famous preface When Gluck published the score of ''Alceste'' in Vienna in 1769, he added a famous preface in Italian almost certainly written by Calzabigi, which set out their ideals for operatic reform, whose programmatic points follow those exposed by Francesco Algarotti in his ''Saggio sopra l'opera in musica'' (''Essay on opera in music'', 1755), namely: * no da capo arias, * no opportunity for vocal improvisation or virtuosic displays of vocal agility or power, * no long melismas, * a more predominantly syllabic setting of the text to make the words more intelligible, * far less repetition of text within an aria, * a blurring of the distinction between recitative and aria, decl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Opera
French opera is both the art of opera in France and opera in the French language. It is one of Europe's most important operatic traditions, containing works by composers of the stature of Rameau, Berlioz, Gounod, Bizet, Massenet, Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc and Messiaen. Many foreign-born composers have played a part in the French tradition, including Lully, Gluck, Salieri, Cherubini, Spontini, Meyerbeer, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi and Offenbach. French opera began at the court of Louis XIV with Jean-Baptiste Lully's (1673), although there had been various experiments with the form before that, most notably by Robert Cambert. Lully and his librettist Quinault created , a form in which dance music and choral writing were particularly prominent. Lully's most important successor was Rameau. After Rameau's death, Christoph Willibald Gluck was persuaded to produce six operas for the Paris Opera in the 1770s. They show the influence of Rameau, but simplified and with gre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Compositions By Christoph Willibald Gluck
This is a list of compositions by Christoph Willibald Gluck. Wq. Number by Alfred Wotquenne (1867-1939). Opera * Wq.1 – Artaserse (1741) * Wq.2 – Demetrio – or Cleonice (1742) * Wq.3 – Demofoonte (1743) * Wq.4 – Artemene (1743), 1st Version * – Il Tigrane (1743) * Wq.5 – La Sofonisba – Siface (1744) * Wq.6 – La finta schiava (1744) * Wq.7 – Ipermestra (1744) * Wq.8 – Poro (1744) * Wq.9 – Ippolito – Fedra (1745) * Wq.10 – La caduta de' giganti (1746) * Wq.11 – Artemene (1746), 2nd Version * Wq.12 – Le nozze d'Ercole e d'Ebe (1747) * Wq.13 – La Semiramide riconosciuta (1748) * Wq.14 – La contesa dei numi (1749) * Wq.15 – Ezio (1749), 1st Version; Revised in 1763 * Wq.16 – La clemenza di Tito (1752) * Wq.17 – Issipile (1751-1752) * Wq.18 – Le cinesi (1754) * Wq.19 – La danza (1755) * Wq.20 – L'innocenza giustificata (1755), Revised as ''La vestale'' (1768) * Wq.55 – Les amours champêtres (1755) * Wq.21 – Antig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opera
Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libretto, librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, Theatrical scenery, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conducting, conductor. Although musical theatre is closely related to opera, the two are considered to be distinct from one another. Opera is a key part of Western culture#Music, Western classical music, and Italian tradition in particular. Originally understood as an sung-through, entirely sung piece, in contrast to a play with songs, opera has come to include :Opera genres, numerous ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opera Seria
''Opera seria'' (; plural: ''opere serie''; usually called ''dramma per musica'' or ''melodramma serio'') is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to about 1770. The term itself was rarely used at the time and only attained common usage once ''opera seria'' was becoming unfashionable and beginning to be viewed as something of a historical genre. The popular rival to ''opera seria'' was ''opera buffa,'' the 'comic' opera that took its cue from the improvisatory commedia dell'arte. An opera seria had a historical or Biblical subject, whereas an opera buffa had a contemporary subject. Italian ''opera seria'' (invariably to Italian libretto, libretti) was produced not only in Italy but almost throughout Europe, and beyond (see Opera in Latin America, Opera in Cuba e. g.). Among the main centres in Europe were the Royal court, court operas based in Warsaw (since 1628), Bavarian State Opera, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Italian Opera
Italian opera is both the art of opera in Italy and opera in the Italian language. Opera was in Italy around the year 1600 and Italian opera has continued to play a dominant role in the history of the form until the present day. Many famous operas in Italian were written by foreign composers, including George Frideric Handel, Handel, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Gluck and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart. Works by native Italian composers of the 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Gioachino Rossini, Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, Donizetti, Giuseppe Verdi, Verdi and Giacomo Puccini, Puccini, are amongst the most famous operas ever written and today are performed in opera houses across the world. Origins ''Dafne'' by Jacopo Peri was the earliest composition considered opera, as understood today. Peri's works, however, did not arise out of a creative vacuum in the area of sung drama. An underlying prerequisite for the creation of opera proper was the prac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classical Period (music)
The Classical period was an era of classical music between roughly 1750 and 1820. The classical period falls between the Baroque music, Baroque and Romantic music, Romantic periods. It is mainly Homophony, homophonic, using a clear melody line over a subordinate chordal accompaniment,Friedrich Blume, Blume, Friedrich. ''Classic and Romantic Music: A Comprehensive Survey''. New York: W. W. Norton, 1970 but counterpoint was by no means forgotten, especially in liturgical vocal music and, later in the period, secular instrumental music. It also makes use of ''Galant music, style galant'' which emphasizes light elegance in place of the Baroque's dignified seriousness and impressive grandeur. Variety and contrast within a piece became more pronounced than before, and the orchestra increased in size, range, and power. The harpsichord declined as the main keyboard instrument and superseded by the piano (or fortepiano). Unlike the harpsichord, which plucks strings with quills, pianos s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erasbach
Berching () is a Town#Germany, town in the district of Neumarkt (district), Neumarkt in Bavaria, Germany. It is today one of only four towns in Germany that still have completely intact city walls, along with Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Nördlingen and Dinkelsbühl, all in Bavaria. Berching is a historical town with a fully preserved town wall and low streamlet. The first settlement was registered in 883, making it more than 1100 years old. Berching is located in the Neumarkt (district), district of Neumarkt in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, 20 km south of Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz. The old town or ''Altstadt'' is surrounded by a large wall interspaced with towers. One of the towers has been converted into a 6-story apartment. A small inn called ''Blaue Traube'' is located in the town center. Residents *Christoph Willibald Gluck, (1714-1787), composer, was born in Weidenwang, today a district of Berching * Claudia Brücken, (born 1963), sing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metastasio
Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi (3 January 1698 – 12 April 1782), better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio (), was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of ''opera seria'' libretti. Early life Metastasio was born in Rome, where his father, Felice Trapassi, a native of Assisi, had taken service in the Corsican regiment of the papal forces. Felice married a Bolognese woman, Francesca Galasti, and became a grocer in the ''Via dei Cappellari''. The couple had two sons and two daughters; Pietro was the younger son. Pietro, while still a child, is said to have attracted crowds by reciting impromptu verses on a given subject. On one such occasion in 1709, two men of distinction stopped to listen: Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina, famous for legal and literary erudition as well as his directorship of the Arcadian Academy, and Lorenzini, a critic of some note. Gravina was attracted by the boy's poetic talent and personal charm, and made Pietro h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
