Gluck, Christoph Willibald von
Revivals of Gluck’s operas are rare these days – the point is not so much to ask why but to make the case for reviving them. With Iphigénie en Tauride, partisans of Gluck have not found the case hard to make – they are almost unanimous that this late opera is, if not Gluck’s greatest, then close to it...
Three people with strong views about musical theatre came together – impresario Giacomo Durazzo engaged Gluck to compose French comedies with realistic characters, in contrast to the ‘cold’ and ‘sententious’ historical figures of Metastasian opera seria. The librettist Raniero de Calzabigi wanted to break the singers’ domination of opera and put naturally acted drama back into first place. Their innovations can be appreciated in Orpheus and Euridice...