GLUCK, CHRI-
STOPH WILLIBALD. - Operatic composer, b. at Weidenwang near Erbach, in Bavaria, 2 July 1714; d. at Vienna, 15 Nov. 1787. As a young man he was a member of the Schola cantorum of the Jesuit College at Komotau, where he studied singing, piano, and organ.
Having gone to Prague, he continued his studies, earning his living by begging in churches and playing the violin, in which he had perfected himself under Fr. Czernohorsky. In 1736 he went to Vienna, where he had the opportunity to win appreciation for the versatility of his musical talent. Prince di Melzi sent him to Milan to study under Sanmartini. In 1741 he composed Artuserse, an opera in a genuinely Italian style which enjoyed immense success. In the following years he travelled extensively, winning wide renown. In 1756 the Pope made him a Knight of the Golden Spur, an honour in which G. took great pride. With the help of the Italian poet Calzabigi, he conceived and carried out the reform of operatic theatre. In Paris he encountered formidable rivals in Lulli and Meul. Alceste and Ifigenia in Aulide remain, among his many other works, his masterpieces.
Of strictly sacred music, apart from a few youthful compositions, there remain a De profundis, a Miserere, a Mass, and several motets, which add nothing to his well-deserved fame as an eminent opera composer.
Ratisbona 1914; I. Pizzetti, Il teatro musicale in G., Firenze 1914. Of the greatest importance for knowledge of G. are the studies in the G.-Jahrbuch, Lipsia 1913-18; A. Einstein, G., Londra 1936, Italian trans., Milano 1946. Silverio Mattei