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 Russian ones. Thanks to him, the opera acquired a more harmonious look and dramatic completeness. In addition, he worked on ballets and small musical compositions - sonatas and overtures, which are also of considerable interest to contemporary performers, who willingly include their excerpts in concert programs.
Youth years
Gluck's early biography is poorly known, although many scholars are actively investigating his childhood and adolescence. It is reliably known that he was born in 1714 in the Palatinate in the family of a forester and was educated at home. Also, almost all historians agree that already in childhood he showed outstanding 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 famous composer wanted to connect his life with music and therefore left home. In 1731 he settled in Prague, where he playedon violin and cello under the baton of the famous Czech composer and theorist B. Chernogorsky.
Italian period
Gluck's biography can be conditionally divided into several stages, choosing as a criterion the place 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 J. 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, which is characterized by the sound of one main theme, while the rest play a supporting role. Gluck's biography can be considered extremely rich, as he worked hard 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 creates a number of operas ("Demetrius", "Por" and others), which, despite their imitation, bring 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 XVII-XVIII centuries, the opera was a magnificent musical spectacle with beautiful music. great attentionattention was paid not so much to the content as to the form.
Composers often wrote exclusively for a specific voice, not caring about the plot and semantic load. Gluck strongly opposed this approach. In his operas, music was subordinated to the drama and 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 contemporaries.
Vienna period
One of the greatest composers of 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 genre of comic opera traditional for that time, he created a number of original operas in which he subordinated the music to poetic meaning. These include the work "Alceste", created after the tragedy of Euripides.
In this opera, the overture, which had an independent, almost entertaining meaning for other composers, acquired a great semantic load. Her melody was organically woven into the main plot and set the tone for the entire performance. This principle was followed by 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 brief description of his participation in the dispute that flared up in Parisian intellectual circles over what an opera should be like. The dispute was between supporters of the French and Italian schools.
The former advocated 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. The biography of this talented musician cannot be imagined without mentioning his latest works. Even when seriously ill, he composed a number of odes and songs for the piano. In 1787 he died. He had many followers. The composer himself considered A. Salieri his best student. The traditions laid down by Gluck became the basis for the work of L. Beethoven and R. Wagner. In addition, many other composers imitated him not only in composing operas, but also in symphonies. Of the Russian composers, M. Glinka highly appreciated the work of Gluck.
