some other minds of his day—but in his ability to bring them to tangible embodiment in works so beautiful and powerful as to arrest the attention of the musical world. He was much more than a theoretical critic. As he caught sight of new paths, he himself broke the way into them, and to such purpose that the entrance could never again be closed. It is probable, however, that his ultimate triumph as a pioneer was facilitated by his long experience in following the fashions of the age, though from one point of view the first half of his life seems almost wasted.
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Christoph Willibald Gluck
Christoph Willibald Gluck (d. 1787) was born in 1714 near Nuremberg,
the son of a forester or game-keeper who moved from estate to estate. At 12
he was sent to a Jesuit school at Komotau,
where he learnt singing, violin,
'cello, clavier and organ. In 1732 he
removed to Prague, partially supporting
himself by giving lessons and making
music for rustic gatherings. At 22
(1736) he was taken up by Prince
Lobkowitz at Vienna, introduced to
the musical circle at court, and thus
thrown in the way of Count Melzi,
who took him to Milan for lessons from
Sammartini. Here he remained four
years.
In 1741 he brought out his first opera at Milan, which led to commissions there and elsewhere. In 1745 he was invited to London, but without much success, owing partly to Handel's popularity. After visiting Hamburg and giving a hasty work at Dresden, from 1748 he made his home at Vienna, having the entrée into the best society. He was immediately summoned to prepare an opera at court, La Semiramide, which was very successful, and in 1749 was called to Copenhagen on a similar errand. Thence he went to Rome and Naples, where his Telemacco was well received—a work showing signs of new ideas. In 1750 he married at Vienna the accomplished Marianne Pergin. In 1751 he was made conductor to Prince Frederick at Vienna, and in 1754 was officially attached to the Opera. In 1754, also, he gave two works at Rome, being made by the Pope Chevalier of the Golden Spur. Besides fulfilling other commissions, in 1756 he produced Il re pastore, with new tokens of growth, especially regarding the overture, and in 1761 filled an engagement at Bologna. Several of his larger works hitherto had been on librettos by Metastasio, but he had written many slighter ones, and now essayed some texts by Favart, the distinguished French librettist of light opera—as La rencontre imprévue (1764). While thus far skillfully adapting
