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,Brown & Rushton 2001, Introduction and "1. Ancestry, early life and training."; Heartz 1988, pp. 517–526. Sources differ concerning Gluck's nationality: Kuhn 2000, p. 272, and Croll 1991, p. 308, said he was German, while Brown & Rushton 2001 and Howard 2003 (p. xi) gave Bohemian; Hayes et al. 1992, p. 453, Bohemian-Austrian; and Harewood & Peattie 1997, p. 261, Austrian; G. Banat, p. 144 recognized him as Bavarian. 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, Gluck wrote eight operas for the Parisian stage. Iphigénie en Tauride (1779) was a great success and is often considered to be his finest work. Though he was extremely popular and widely credited with bringing about a revolution in French opera, Gluck's mastery of the Parisian operatic scene was never absolute. After the poor reception of his Echo et Narcisse (1779), he left Paris in disgust and returned to Vienna to live out the remainder of his life.
Life and career Ancestry
Gluck's earliest known ancestor is his great-grandfather, Simon Gluckh von Rockenzahn, whose name is recorded in the marriage contract (1672) of his son, the forester Johann (Hans) Adam Gluck (c. 1649–1722) and grandfather of Christoph.Brown & Rushton 2001, "1. Ancestry, early life and training."Croll & Croll 2014, p. 13. 'Rockenzahn' is believed to be Rokycany, located in the central part of western Bohemia (about 70 km southwest of Prague and 16 km east of Pilsen).Heartz 1988, p. 517; Croll & Croll 2014, p. 13. The family name Gluck (also spelled Gluckh, Klugh, Kluch, etc.) likely comes from the Czech word for boy (kluk). In its various spellings, it is repeatedly found in the records of Rokycany. Around 1675 Hans Adam moved to Neustadt an der Waldnaab in the service of Prince Ferdinand August von Lobkowitz, who possessed extensive landholdings in Bohemia as well as the county of Störnstein-Neustadt in the Upper Palatinate.
Gluck's father, Alexander, was born in Neustadt an der Waldnaab on 28 October 1683,Prod'homme 1948 (1985), p. 17;Heartz 1988, p. 518; Brown & Rushton 2001; Croll2 & Croll 2014, p. 13. one of four sons of Hans Adam Gluck who became foresters or gamekeepers.Prod'homme 1948 (1985), p. 17; Brown & Rushton 2001. Alexander served in a contingent of about 50 soldiers under Philipp Hyazinth von Lobkowitz, the son of Ferdinand August von Lobkowitz, during the War of Spanish Succession,Brown & Rushton 2001; Heartz 1988, p. 518. and, according to Gluck family tradition, rose to the level of gunbearer to the great general of the imperial forces, Eugene of Savoy.Schmid 1854, p. 11; Prod'hommme 1948 (1985), p. 18; Heartz 1988, p. 518; Brown & Rushton 2001. In 1711 Alexander settled outside Berching as a forester and hunter in the service of the monastery Seligenporten, Plankstetten Abbey, and the mayors of Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz.Robl 2015. He took the vacant position of hunter in Erasbach in 1711 or 1712 (his predecessor had been found shot in the forest).Croll & Croll 2014, p. 14.
About Gluck's mother, Maria Walburga, almost nothing is known, including her surname, but she probably grew up in the same area as she was named after Saint Walburga, the sister of Saint Willibald, the first bishop of nearby Eichstätt. The couple probably married around 1711. In 1713 Alexander built a house in Erasbach and by 12 September had taken possession of it.Croll & Croll 2014, p. 15. In the cited document he is named as "Jäger Alexander Gluck zu Erasbach". According to Croll & Croll, a different house, located in Weidenwang, also designated by many as Gluck's birthplace is well documented and was built about ten years after his birth.
Birth Although there is no documentary record with Gluck's birthdate at the time of his birth, he himself gave it as 2 July 1714 on an official document requested by Paris that he signed in 1785 in Vienna in the presence of the French ambassador Emmanuel Marie Louis de Noailles. This has long been the commonly accepted date.Croll & Croll 2010, p. 12. Other sources giving this date include Einstein 1936, p. 3; Brown & Rushton 2001. The authenticity of the 1785 document has been disputed by Robl 2015, pp. 141–147. He was baptized Christophorus Willibaldus on 4 July 1714 in the village of Weidenwang,Croll & Croll 2014, p. 12. a parish that at that time also included Erasbach. Gluck himself never used the name Willibald. The church in Weidenwang was consecrated to Saint Willibald (as was the entire Eichstätt diocese to which it belonged), and the name Willibald is frequently found in the baptismal register, often as a second name. No documents contemporary with Gluck's life use the name Willibald. Only in the 19th century did scholars begin using it to distinguish the composer from his father's brother Johann Christoph, born in 1700, whose baptism had earlier been confused with that of the composer.See also Schmid 1854, p. 11.
In the year of Gluck's birth, the Treaty of Rastatt and the Treaty of Baden ended the War of Spanish Succession and brought Erasbach under Bavarian control.Croll & Croll 2014, p. 16; Heartz 1988, p. 518. Gluck's father had to reapply to retain his position and received no salary until after 1715, when he began receiving 20 gulden. He obtained additional employment in the vicinity of Weidenwang in 1715 as a forester in the service of Seligenporten Monastery, and after 1715, also with Plankstetten Abbey. In 1716 Alexander Gluck was cited for poor performance and warned he might be terminated.Croll & Croll 2014, p. 16. He sold his house in August 1717 and voluntarily left Erasbach near the end of September to take up employment as head forester in Reichstadt, serving the Duchess of Tuscany,Croll & Croll 2014, p. 17. the wealthy Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg, since 1708 separated from her husband Gian Gastone de' Medici, the last duke of Tuscany.During the Lauenburg war of succession (1690–1693) the Habsburg emperor banned Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg and her sister to Reichstadt and forced them to marry one of his generals in order to pay his debts to them. Franziska refused to marry Eugene of Savoy, accepted the next candidate Gian Gastone, who came to the conclusion Reichstadt was a boring place to live. She refused to follow him to Florence, being more interested in horses and hunting than in him.
On 1 April 1722 Alexander Gluck took a position as forest-master under Count Philipp Joseph von Kinsky in Böhmisch Kamnitz, where Kinsky had increased his domains.Prod'homme 1948 (1985), p. 20; Howard 1995, p. 1; Croll & Croll 2014, p. 18. The family moved to the forester's house in nearby Oberkreibitz.Croll & Croll 2014, p. 18; Brown & Rushton 2001.
In 1727 Alexander moved with his family to Eisenberg (Jezeří in Horní Jiřetín) to take his final post, head forester to Prince Philipp Hyazinth von Lobkowitz.Howard 1995, p. 1. It is unclear if Christoph was sent to the Jesuit college in Chomutov, 20 km southwest.Daniel Heartz relates that this assertion has been the subject of much debate. Gluck himself does not appear in the list of students, although one of his younger brothers does. All instruction was in Latin, and Gluck's failure to learn Latin, which he had to study later in life, argues against it (Heartz 1988, p. 520).
The Alsatian painter Johann Christian von Mannlich relates in his memoirs, published in 1810, that Gluck told him about his early life in 1774. He quotes Gluck as saying:
Early life In 1727 or 1728, when Gluck was 13 or 14, he went to Prague.Heartz 1988, p. 521. A childhood flight from home to Vienna is included in several contemporary accounts of Gluck's life, including Mannlich's.Howard 1995, pp. 2–3, provides commentary and an English translation of the entire excerpt from Mannlich. However, some scholars have cast doubt on Gluck's picturesque tales of earning food and shelter by his singing as he travelled. Most scholars now feel it is more likely that the object of Gluck's travels was not Vienna but Prague.Heartz 1988, p. 522; Brown & Rushton, 2001; Croll & Croll 2014, p. 24. Gluck's German biographer Hans Joachim Moser claimed in 1940 to have found documents showing Gluck matriculated in logic and mathematics at the University of Prague in 1731.Moser 1940, p. 24. Gerhard and Renate Croll find this astonishing,Croll & Croll 2014, p. 25. and other biographers have been unable to find any documents supporting Moser's claim.Howard 1995, p. 6; Heartz 1988, p. 522, citing Arnošt Mahler "Glucks Schulzeit. Zweifel und Widerspruche in den biographischen Daten," Die Musikforschung, vol. 27 (1974), . At the time the University of Prague boasted a flourishing musical scene that included performances of both Italian opera and oratorio. Gluck sang and played violin and cello, and also the organ at Týn Church.Howard 1995, p. 6.
Gluck eventually left Prague without taking a degree and vanishes from the historical record until 1737. Nevertheless, the memories of his family and indirect references to this period in later documents give good grounds for believing Gluck arrived in Vienna in 1734, where he likely was employed by the Lobkowitz family at their palace in the Minoritenplatz. Philipp Hyazinth Lobkowitz, Gluck's father's employer, died on 21 December 1734, and his successor, his brother Johann Georg Christian Lobkowicz, is thought to have been Gluck's employer in Vienna from 1735 to 1736. Two operas with texts Gluck himself was later to set were performed during this period: Antonio Caldara's La clemenza di Tito (1734) and Le cinesi (1735). It is likely that the Lobkowitz family introduced Gluck to the Milanese nobleman Prince Antonio Maria Melzi, who engaged Gluck to become a player in his orchestra in Milan. The 65-year-old prince married the 16-year-old Maria Renata, Countess of Harrach, on 3 January 1737, and not long after returned with Gluck to Milan.Howard 1995, pp. 8–9; Croll & Croll 2014, p. 27.
Question of Gluck's native language