Gluck and the opera : a study in musical history / by Ernest Newman.
| Author/creator | Newman, Ernest |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1976. |
| Description | xx, 300 pages ; 23 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Introduction. The comparative method in criticism ; Deficiencies of musical criticism in England ; Need of wider culture ; The development of musical form ; No form absolute ; Necessity of an historical view ; The influence of Wagner on criticism ; Weakness of the Wagnerian method ; Contrast between the metaphysical method to account for the changes in music ; The historical explanation the true one ; Correlation between the music and the general culture-conditions of any epoch ; The historical method as applied to the eighteenth-century opera ; Gluck and "nature" ; A new musical criticism wanted ; Histories of music should be physiological, not merely anatomical -- Part 1. Life. 1714-1746. Ancestry and birth of Gluck ; Early years ; Education at Kommotau and at Prague ; At Vienna ; At Milan under Sammartini ; The De Profundis ; Artaserse ; Demofoonte ; Demetrio, Ipermnestra ; Artamene ; Siface ; Fedra ; Alessandro dell' Indie ; In London ; La Caduata de' Giganti ; Relations with Handel ; Piramo e Tisbe ; The supposed awakening of Gluck -- 1746-1762. At Hamburg and Dresden ; Le Nozze de'Ercole e d'Ebe ; At Vienna ; La Semiramide riconosciuta ; At Copenhagen ; Tetide ; Rome ; Telemacco ; At Vienna again ; Marriage ; At Naples ; La Clemenza di Tito ; At Vienna ; Le Cinesi ; At Rome ; Il Trionfo di Camillo ; Antigono ; La Danza ; L'innocenza giustificata ; Il Re Pastore ; Tetide ; Don Juan ; At Bologna ; Il Trionfo de Clelia ; Durazzo and Favart ; Gluck's work in light opera ; L'arbre enchante -- 1762-1969. Gluck's intellectual life ; His studies ; Influence of the system of patronage upon eighteenth-century music ; Lack of esteem for musicians in the eighteenth century ; Gluck's early environment harmful ; Strength of nature required to rise above it ; Growing perception in Europe of the need for a reform in opera ; The deepening of Gluck's ideas ; His meeting with Calzabigi ; Their collaboration in Orfeo ed Euridice ; Gluck's probable share in the libretto ; The first performance ; The poem of Orfeo ; The music ; Ezio ; Les Pelerins de la Mecque ; The engraving of Orfeo ; Philidor and the aria of Gluck ; Il parnasso confuse ; La corona ; Short visit of Gluck to Paris ; Production of Alceste at Vienna ; The Italian and French forms of the opera ; The music of Alceste ; Paride ed Elena ; The dedicatory epistle ; Prologo delle Feste d'Apollo ; L'Atto di Bauci e Filemone ; L'Atto d'Aristeo ; Gluck's life at Vienna ; Burney's visit ; Klopstock's Oden ; The Hermannsschlacht -- 1769-1787. Gluck's desire for an opening in Paris ; Collaboration with Du Roullet ; Letter of Du Roullet to Dauvergne ; Gluck's letter ; Iphigenia in Aulis ; The story according to Euripides ; According to Racine ; Modifications by Du Roullet ; The opera ; Gluck's position in Paris ; His relations with Rousseau ; State of the opera in Paris at that time ; Gluck's conversations with Corancez ; Profits from Iphigenia in Aulis ; Production of Orfeo ; Changes necessitated in it ; L'arbe enchante ; Return to Vienna ; Meets Klopstock at Strasburg ; Specimen of Gluck's letter-writing ; Cythere assiegee ; Armida and Roland ; Intrigues at Paris ; Piccinni ; Gluck's letter to Du Roullet ; Journey to Paris ; Production of the French Alceste ; Gluck and Corancez ; Rousseau on Alceste ; "La soiree perdue a l'Opera" ; Gluck's explanations of his method ; Death of his niece ; Bust of him by Houdon ; Iphigenia in Aulis reproduced ; The literary war ; Arrival of Piccinni ; Armida ; Gluck and Piccinni at dinner ; At work on Iphigenia in Tauris ; Gluck's letter to Guillard ; Piccinni and the directors of the opera ; Production of Iphigenia in Tauris ; Its balance and proportion ; Echo et Narcisse ; The arrangements for Hypermnestra ; Gluck's enfeeblement ; Les Danaides ; Letter of Calzabigi to the "Mercure de France" ; Gluck's life in Vienna ; Visit of Klopstock ; Le Jugement dernier ; Death of Gluck ; Proposal of Piccinni to found an annual concert in his honour ; His portrait, physique and career -- Part II. Gluck's relations to the intellectual life of his epoch. Course of the opera in Italy. An outgrowth of the Renaissance ; The Florentine reformers ; Artificial from the beginning ; The "music of the Greeks" ; Imitation of the antique ; Evil influences of the Renaissance in Italy ; Declamation in the opera ; Mythological subjects ; Italy too weak to produce genuine drama ; Gorgeous decoration in the opera ; It passes from the courts to the public ; Growth of the lyrical element ; Rise of the singers ; The domination of the singers not wholly harmful ; Need for lyrical uplifting ; Absence of dramatic feeling in Italian audiences ; The Commedia dell'Arte and the opera buffa -- Course of the opera in Germany. Popularity at the courts ; Took root in Italian ; Intellectual condition of Germany at the end of the 17th century ; Absence of an indigenous literature ; Improvement in the 18th century ; Simultaneous awakening in music ; Emotional effect of the Thirty Years' War ; Gradual humanizing in Gluck ; Growth of the native German spirit in opera ; Kusser ; Keiser ; His seriousness of purpose ; Based on his airs on the Lied ; Wrote to German words ; His preface to Almira and Octavia ; Telemann ; Growth of the scenic element ; Encroachment of the Italians ; Steffani ; Zeno ; Metastasio ; Hasse, Graun and Naumann followed the Neapolitan school ; Growing vogue of pasticcio operas ; The strength of Germany up to this time in ecclesiastical rather than in operatic music -- Course of the opera in France. Development from the ballet ; Le ballet comique de la rayne (1581) ; Perrin and Cambert ; Lully in France ; The French opera restricted in purpose and method ; Comparative unimportance of music in it ; Lully's mode of working ; Absence of lyrism in his music ; His basis poetical and declamatory ; Prominence of the danse ; The ouverture ; Louis and Jean Louis Lully ; Colasse ; Marais improved the aria ; The French opera approaching the Italian ; Brought back by Rameau ; His advance on Lully ; Visit of the Bouffons ; The opera buffa a healthier and more natural growth than the opera seria ; Its influence on the French opera comique ; General European contempt for French music ; Opinion of Burney ; Evil condition of opera in Europe at the time Gluck's career began -- Gluck's ideas not of sudden origin ; National and physiological factors in music ; His development retarded by social conventions ; Aristocracy in art ; The patronage of music in the 18th century ; Gluck not alone in his demand for reform in opera ; Algarotti, Addison, Marcello, D'Alembert, La Bruyere, Boileau, Panard, St. Evremond, La Fontaine, Dryden ; Importance of Algarotti's book ; His main ideas ; Reform in the libretto ; The overture to anticipate the opera ; Recitative ; Trills and ornaments ; Pauses in the music ; Repetition of words ; Ritornelli ; Display of technique ; The aria ; Had Gluck seen Algarotti's essay? -- The preface to Alceste ; The music second to the poetry ; Banishment of abuses from the opera ; The overture to prepare the spectators for the coming action ; His main purpose "to seek a noble simplicity" ; His assistance from Calzabigi ; Gluck's other writings and conversations ; Contradictions in his ideas ; The attempted reconciliation of Marx futile ; Gluck's ideas varied at different times ; Necessity of judging his theories by the general aesthetic of his epoch ; Basis of his theory ; The appeal to "nature" ; General revolt against the artificiality of the stage ; Art and "imitation" in the 18th century ; Influence of Aristotle ; Confusion of artistic media ; "Reason" in philosophy and art ; Mistaken view of the function of the imagination ; Comparatively low stage of evolution of music ; The theory of the "imitation of nature" ; Diderot's advice to the artist ; The "nature" principle in Algarotti, Avison, Rameau and others ; Illustrations of 18th century aesthetic from Grimm and Rousseau ; D'Alembert on "painting" in music ; Harris on music ; Du Bos ; Attempts to make music an imitative art ; Its dependent position in the 18th century relatively to poetry paralleled in Greek culture ; Aristotle and Plato ; Chastellux ; Evidence from Gluck's own writings of the subordinate position of music ; Absence of appreciation of music for its own sake ; Rousseau ; Melody and harmony ; Form and colour ; Baumgarten ; Winckelmann ; Rousseau on vraisemblance in opera ; "Imitation of nature" in the ballet ; Noverre ; General drift of opinion in the 18th century as to the function and nature of music ; Beattie and Twining on music as a mimetic art ; Burney ; Gluck's ideas merely the ordinary aesthetic of his time -- |
| Contents | The practical working of Gluck's theory ; Subordination of music to poetry ; "Painting" in music ; His differentiation of character by "painting" depends mainly on the physical elements of music ; His theory fails of itself ; Is only efficient to define types, not characters ; The theory breaks down where strong passion comes into play ; Gluck's theory constantly contradicted by his practice ; Difference between Romantic and pre-Romantic art in their attitudes towards music and poetry ; Criticism of Berlioz ; The divergence of poetry and music in evolution ; The higher imaginative existence of music ; Herder's anticipation of modern musical aesthetic ; Foreshadowing of it in Rousseau ; Externality of Gluck's mind ; The opinion of Michael Kelly ; Marmontel disparages Gluck by comparing him with Shakespeare ; Neural differences between the 18th century and the 19th ; The correlation between art and physique ; Music no longer the handmaid of poetry in our day ; The real value of Gluck's achievement ; His immortality. |
| Abstract | A philosophical critical view of the opera of the 18th century in general and Gluck's work in particular, into line with the whole intellectual tendencies of the time from a cultural historical outlook. |
| General note | Reprint of the 1967 edition published by V. Gollancz, London. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| LCCN | 76007579 |
| ISBN | 0837188490 |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music | Music Stacks | ML410.G5 N3 1976 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |