Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1902 edition. Excerpt: ... gluck, "father of german opera." 331 mouy, a more careful study of the orchestra, and that philosophical spirit which enabled him to lay the foundation of the distinctive German opera." 1 There follows accordingly a transition period of some twelve years, during which such works as " Teleruaeoo" and "ii Re Pastore" were produced with more or less success. Then came the meeting with Calzabigi, and Gliick, with this masterly librettoist for collaborator, emerged into his perfected style in "Orpheus and Eurydice" and "Alceste." In 1774 Gliick determined to go to Paris. The directors of the French opera urged him to come, and his former pupil, Marie Antoinette, now Dauphiness, was ready and eager to welcome and applaud him. Notwithstanding the pronounced and active rivalry of the Italian school, the six years Gliick spent in Paris were, on the whole, successful ones. He had some failures and disappointments, but he had likewise many trinmphs; and-when, in 1780, he determined to return and pass the remainder of his days in Vienna, he had made enough money to support him in comfort. ..". But he does not appear to have been happy in his old age. Nervous maladies, long kept off by dint of sheer excitement and incessant labor, seemed now to grow upon him rapidly. He had always been fond of wine, but at a time when his system Avas least able to bear it he began to substitute brandy. The 1 Gtiick and Haydn. H. R. Huweis. very thought of action, after his recent failure in Paris ' Echo and Narcissus/ which fell flat, filled him with disgust. He did nothing; but his inactivity was not repose, and the fire which had been a shining light for so many years, now, in its smouldering embers, seemed to waste and consume him inwardly. "His wife, who was ever...