began his phenomenal series of nearly 80 operas, completed often with incredible rapidity, sometimes several in a year. This facility, however, was supported by abundant melodic inspiration, especially in the expression of sparkling humor, by a sure instinct for proportion and balance, by great ability in the organization of ensemble passages, and by fine orchestral resourcefulness. He almost immediately became a strong competitor of Paisiello, then at the height of his popularity, and ultimately surpassed him, rising close to Mozart's level. Until about 1781 he divided his time chiefly between Naples and Rome. In 1788 he was invited to St. Petersburg to succeed Paisiello, receiving princely honors in many cities on the way thither. In 1792, though in high favor among the Russian nobility, he moved to Vienna, where he was made imperial choirmaster at an enormous salary. Soon he was back in Italy, still the object of prodigious enthusiasm. In 1799, having displayed at Naples his sympathy with republican ideas, he was imprisoned and sentenced to death, but was finally only banished. Going to Venice, while working on a fresh opera, he suddenly died. Of his almost 80 operas, by universal consent Il matrimonio segreto (1792, Vienna) was counted the best, but many other fine ones might be named, such as La finta parigina (1773, Naples), Il fanatico per gli antichi Romani (1777, Naples), which is said to have been the first instance in which concerted numbers were used in the midst of the action, L'Italiana in Londra (1779, Rome), Cajo Mario (1780, Rome), L'Olimpiade (1784, Vicenza), La vergine del sole (1788, St. Petersburg), L'astuzie femminili (1794, Naples), etc. He also wrote 5 oratorios and some church music, besides overtures, other instrumental pieces and numerous cantatas and solos.
Rapid reference may be made to a few later writers. Luigi Caruso (d. 1822), choirmaster at Perugia, composed about 55 operas (1773-1810), besides sacred music. Pietro Carlo Guglielmi (d. 1827), son of Pietro above, imitated his father's style in some 40 operas (1791-1819), mostly for Naples. Giuseppe Farinelli (d. 1836), in later life choirmaster at Trieste, wrote over 50 operas (1791-1819), mostly comic, skillfully copying Cimarosa. Valentino Fioravanti (d. 1837), first an opera-writer (from 1784) at Naples, Turin and Lisbon, and from 1816 choirmaster at St. Peter's in Rome, brought out over 75 comic operas, the best-known being Le cantatrici villane (1803, Naples).
152. Gluck as a Reformer.—The career of Gluck belongs to
two periods in more than one sense. Chronologically it fell
partly within the period of Bach and partly within that of
Haydn. And in spirit and purpose it belonged at first to the
conventional class of Jommelli, Hasse, Piccinni and the rest,
while later it escaped into a wholly new class. Gluck is perhaps
the most brilliant illustration in music-history of a genius
that completely outgrew its original ambitions, so that it finally
entered upon creation of which at the start it did not dream.
His historic significance, however, lay not so much in the new
ideals that dawned upon him—for these were not absent from
