CHRISTOPHER WILLIBALD VON, an eminent musical composer, born July 2, 1714, at Weidenwang near Neumarkt, in the Ober-Palatinate, where his father resided as a forester. He was placed, from his twelfth to his eighteenth year, in the Jesuit seminary at Komotau, where he acquired some practical knowledge of music. In Italy, whither he went in the service of a nobleman, he received instructions from Martini, and produced his first opera at Milan. He came to England in 1745. The rebellion having then just broken out, foreigners were regarded with jealousy, and the opera was on that account closed; but through the exertions of Lord Middlesex it was re-opened with a temporary political performance called La Caduta de' Giganti, the music of which Gluck was employed to compose. He afterwards brought out his Piramo e Tisbe, which was little else than an assemblage of favourite airs from his previous works. The cold reception this opera met with first convinced him that music to be effective must be strictly adapted to the spirit and character of the poetical subject. This consideration induced Gluck to lay down certain general principles, which are said to have influenced all his subsequent labours in composition. These were, first, to impart to music all the force and expression it is capable of producing, and which was best attained by uniting it to simple but animated poetry full of natural and well-defined ideas; secondly, to make the air follow the rhythm and accents of the words, and construct the accompaniments so as to invigorate the sentiment, or to contrast them with it. The system he adopted may be described as one entirely subservient to the effect of dramatic performance, where the music is never estranged from the scene and situations of the characters, and where the interest results from the perfect interfusion of sound with sense.
His unsuccessful attempts in England at length induced Gluck again to visit Italy, where, in pursuance of his new design, he applied to the study of the classical Italian poets. His great object now was to connect himself with some man of true poetic genius; and he was so fortunate as to find such a co-operator in Calsabigi, who undertook to write dramas exactly to his taste.
The opera of Orfeo was the first attempt of Gluck in the new course he had shaped out for himself. It was produced at Vienna, and at first excited astonishment, which, however, soon gave way to delight; and the opera was performed in all the principal cities of Italy with rapturous applause. The Italians were transported with a style at once so novel and chaste, so masculine and energetic. When the Orfeo afterwards came to be translated into French, Rousseau was so much charmed with it that he did not miss a single representation; and it is in allusion to this circumstance that he says—"If so much exalted pleasure can be enjoyed in the space of two hours, it serves to convince us that life is really good for something."
In 1774 Gluck came to Paris, where he composed his famous operas of Iphigénie en Aulide and Alceste, which Gluckstadt were received with a degree of enthusiasm unparalleled in the annals of music. By these successes Gluck came to be regarded as the national musician of France. The congeniality of his style with the standard favourites Lulli and Rameau called forth general admiration.
Gluck composed in 1774 his opera of Armide, which was followed by Iphigénie en Tauride, and some others; and after having completely revolutionized the music of France, he returned to Vienna, where he remained until his death, which took place in 1787.
Gluck has been well called the Michel Angelo of music. He was the originator of a school which has opened up great and various sources of enjoyment to taste, and mightily influenced the character of the whole art. His genius was of the highest order. His invention was unequalled, particularly in dramatic painting and theatrical effect. Some critics complain that he is defective in song; but an intimate acquaintance with his works disproves the assertion. It is true that we cannot perhaps cull from his compositions such melodious flowers as luxuriate in the chef-d'œuvre of Cimarosa, Mozart, and Rossini, and which gratify the sense frequently as much when detached as when blended in their original wreath. The melodies of Gluck will not, with a few exceptions, stand the test of such a partition. They are essentially musical phrases which belong to a great and expanded work of imagination. They are the links of a chain, the component elements of a comprehensive design, which must be judged of relatively, and with reference to combination. Thus it is that, when we criticise Gluck, we should not examine his operas in detail. We must consider them as we would a noble edifice, in the aggregate of its beauty. The same spirit that actuates us in reading the epics of Virgil and Tasso should exercise its dominion when we listen to the music of Gluck.
Whatever may be the opinion of some persons in regard to the general effect of the music of Gluck, all are agreed in assigning to him the palm of superiority in his treatment of classical subjects, and depicting scenes of deep and overpowering grief. "He is," says an anonymous author, "the only master capable of grappling with a classical subject; he could give us, better than any,
'Ariane passioning for Theseus' injury And ugliest flight.'
No lovers, tyrannically separated for ever, have the despair of his." "It is," says a writer in the Harmonicon, "in scenes of great distress, in which the human heart is rent by complicated misery, or in situations where it is torn by the tempestuous fury of unbridled passions, that Gluck, transported beyond the bounds of ordinary genius, shows such energy and colouring of passion, as to become at once poet, painter, and musician. It may be that his expression of passion is sometimes too strong for common hearers; but
'Il échappe souvent des sons à la douleur, Qui sont faux pour l'oreille, mais sont vrais pour le cœur.'
The operas of Gluck, much to the discredit of modern taste, are seldom heard in France or England; but in Germany they are frequently performed; and in Berlin, when any of his great operas are given, the theatres are crowded. The style of his airs is studied, and great attention bestowed on their effect; and there is a warmth and an intensity displayed by the performers in taking the recitative, and an energy in their action, which nothing but such music as Gluck's could inspire.
Gluck is described as having been of a frank and open character, although his temper was hasty and choleric. He was very rigid in exacting from performers the utmost purity and correctness of execution.
(A. H.)
GLÜCKSTADT, a town of Denmark, capital of the duchy of Holstein, on the right bank of the Elbe, where it receives the small river Rhin, 28 miles N.W. of Hamburg. This town was founded by Christian IV, in 1616, and fortified in 1620. In 1627-8 it was in vain besieged for fifteen weeks by Tilly. In 1815 its fortifications were demolished, and in 1830 it was made a free port. It is the seat of several courts, and has a gymnasium, navigation school, &c. Its arsenal is now used as a prison and workhouse. The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in trade and navigation. Glückstadt is connected by railway with Altona, Kiel, and Rendsburg. It is traversed by several canals, but is very deficient in water for culinary purposes, so that the rain has to be carefully preserved in cisterns. Pop. (1849) 6186.