Born: 2 July 1714, Erasbach, Germany
Died: 15 November 1787, Vienna, Austria

Gluck, Christoph Willibald von

Gluck was a central opera composer. He wrote operas in the Italian style, until he opened his eyes to the fact that Italian operas were captured by star singers and their fans, and became a sheer display of virtuosity instead of artistic story-tellers, as opera was intended to be. He changed the face of opera when he placed music as the servant of text and not vice-versa, as was customary before.

His famous "Orpheus and Eurydice" ("Orfeo ed Euridice") emphasized this shift and swept the world of opera by giving free scope to dramatic effect. Handel scoffed, saying his knowledge of counterpoint is less than that of his cook, but Gluck changed opera thinking for all his successors.

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