His music is lapidary, elegance is not its goal, the simply sculpted melodies speak directly „to the heart“, titanic contrasts strike the senses (for example in Orpheus‘ conversation with chthonic forces!), the structure of the whole - flawlessly designed, and the transition from recitative to arioso so flexible that they are exemplary today. Orpheus and Eurydice is considered the first of Gluck‘s „reformist“ operas; here is evident the experience of his studies in Vienna, his work in Italy, his acquaintance with Handel in England. Gluck‘s reform is a quiet reform, like most real ones (Philippe de Vitry‘s small gloss on the division of the semibreve also seems inconspicuous), but its effect is lasting and in some sense saving for the opera. It is no coincidence that Knight Gluck deserves the admiration of Beethoven, Spontini, Cherubini, the exalted admiration of Hector Berlioz ... It is normal that Gluck‘s reform caused the so-called „opera wars“ of the 18th century, between the followers of Gluck and the followers of Piccini. These wars are long gone - unlike the music of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Knight of the papal Order of the Golden Spur.
-DRAGOMIR YOSIFOV
