Posted by Eusebius on October 11, 19102 at 23:22:12:

In Reply to: Re: Gluck Opera posted by John Rasmussen on October 11, 19102 at 22:08:42:

His most popular and best known opera, Orfeo ed Euridice, is the source of these two well-known excerpts. But he wrote many operas, the most popular of which include Alceste, Iphigenie en Aulide, Iphigenie en Tauride, Le cinesi and Paride ed Elena. He also wrote sacred vocal works (including his fine De profundis of 1787, performed at his funeral). His instrumental music, little known, includes at least 18 symphonies as well as 6 trio sonatas in the Baroque vein published in London. In addition to that, he was a very unique person. He was very cultured, having come from a mixed Bohemian-German-Austrian background (his native tongue was Czech), and having worked throughout his life in England, Denmark, Austria, France, Bohemia, Germany and Italy. His operatic reforms are very significant, and they had an important influence on Mozart. Gluck is a composer not just for an age, but for all time. In his own words:

"Alceste can only displease when it is new. It has not yet had time. I say that it will please in two hundred years."

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