Gluck

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 (now part of Germany) and raised in Bohemia, he gained prominence at the Habsburg court at Vienna, where he brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices that many intellectuals had been campaigning for over the years. 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.

The strong influence of French opera in these works encouraged Gluck to move to Paris, which he did in November 1773. Fusing the traditions of Italian opera and the French national genre into a new synthesis, Gluck wrote eight operas for the Parisian stages. One of the last of these, Iphigénie en Tauride, was a great success and is generally acknowledged 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, and after the poor reception of his Echo et Narcisse he left Paris in disgust and returned to Vienna to live out the remainder of his life.
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Gluck

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 (now part of Germany) and raised in Bohemia, he gained prominence at the Habsburg court at Vienna, where he brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices that many intellectuals had been campaigning for over the years. With a series of radical new ...
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8 albums
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BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5
DUKAS L’apprenti sorcier

Overtures and excerpts:
GLUCK Orfeo ed Eurydice
MENDELSSOHN A Midsummer Night’s Dream
ROSSINI Il barbiere di Siviglia
ROSSINI L’Italiana in Algeri
ROSSINI Semiramide
VERDI La traviata

Studio and Live recordings, 1926-36
Total duration:  2hr 24:19

Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York
New York Philharmonic Orchestra

conducted by Arturo Toscanini

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GLUCK Airs de Ballet
SAINT-SAËNS Ballet Divertissement from Henry VIII
RAVEL Mother Goose – Suite
Music by Bach, Fauré, Moszkowski, Pierné, Beethoven

Studio Recordings · 1927 and 1930
Total duration: 71:54

Walter Damrosch, conductor
National Symphony Orchestra
New York Symphony Orchestra