Gluck, Christoph Willibald

Preface

Gluck, Christoph Willibald – Iphigénie en Aulide, Opera in 3 acts (Vocal Score with German & French libretto)

 

For more information about the piece read preface of the full score:

By the early 1770s Gluck was dissatisfied with the recognition accorded his newest operas in Vienna. He selected Paris—even though he was little known there—as a stage to display his work. But he had no intention of trying to take the city by storm. For over a year Gluck and his librettist, Francois Louis du Roullet, waged both a private and public campaign for its success.

Roullet, an attaché to the French Embassy, came to know Gluck in Vienna around 1770. By that time Gluck had completed three major reform operas: Orfeo ed Euridice (1762), Alceste (1767), and Paride ed Elena (1770). Their texts had been written by Ranieri Calzabigi with the intention of providing an alternative to the standard Italian opera of the day: operia seria. Opera seria was also known as dramma per musica, but in Calzabigi’s eyes there was little drama in it. Instead the focus had shifted to vocal display and musical convention with little concern for plot development or characterization. His reforms were presented in the preface for Alceste (signed by Gluck but generally acknowledged to have been written by Calzabigi). Music was to be the servant of poetry. Abuses such as extravagant vocal display were eliminated. The goal was the creation of a «beautiful simplicity.»

Gluck’s adoption of these new standards did not prevent him from continuing to compose some works in the old operia seria style. But in Iphigénie en Aulide (and the other operas he composed for Paris) he continued to put to use the principles elaborated by Calzabigi. Composing opera in French (and in the French style) was not new to Gluck. In the 1750s as director of the French component of the Viennese Burgtheater he had composed several opéras-comiques and ballets. He was also familiar with the French operatic tradition, and had studied the work of the most prominent composers of tragédie lyrique: Lully and Rameau.

Gluck’s collaboration with Roullet was a strategic one, and left little to chance. Selection of a suitable libretto was crucial. For his plot, Roullet drew upon both Euripides’ and Racine’s drama (1674) of the same name. The Greek story which served as its basis would have been well-known to his audience. Its central dilemma—a father sacrificing his daughter to appease the gods—Roullet resolved by having the gods decide to spare her. But despite the conventionality of the ending, Roullet’s text focused on the passionate intensity of the characters—providing ideal situations for music.

Little is known about Gluck’s day-to-day progress with Iphigénie en Aulide, but it is possible that the entire piece was complete in 1772. Work was then initiated to ensure performance in Paris. The Austrian ambassador to France, Count Mercy-Argenteau, helped to smooth the way. And in France the dauphine, Marie Antoinette (a former pupil of Gluck), provided support. Letters by Roullet and Gluck about the opera appeared in the leading journal of the day, the Mercure de France. Still, the administration of the Académie royale remained reluctant, and in order to gain performance of Iphigénie en Aulide Gluck was forced to agree to supply a set of six other French operas should the opera be successful.

Gluck arrived in Paris in November 1773. He worked diligently to make certain the performances did credit to the music: six months of rehearsal preceded the premiere on 19 April 1774. It was a success, but, in an attempt to adapt it more to French taste, Gluck made some revision. The goddess Diana was introduced at the end (as a deus ex machina) to announce that Iphigenia’s life was spared (in the original version a similar announcement had been made by the high priest, Calchas). And, with the exception of those in Act I, the divertissements (dances) were expanded. This revised version of 1775 is the one given prominence in the edition of Gluck’s complete works (1987), and it is often used in performance today. But the original setting—without its compromise to contemporary taste—is generally regarded as superior. The original version serves as the basis of this edition (with the revised appearance of Diana included in an appendix).

Iphigénie en Aulide was followed by Gluck’s revision of Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée [1774]). It was very well-received. The success of the French version of Alceste (1776), as well as new works such as Armide (1777) and Iphigénie en Tauride (1779), helped to establish Gluck’s international reputation. His French operas did much to accomplish his goal of removing «the ridiculous distinctions between national styles of music» (letter of Gluck in the Mercure de France, February 1773).

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