IV

CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK


Christoph Willibald Gluck has been called the "regenerator of the
opera" for he appeared just at the right moment to rescue opera
from the deplorable state into which it had fallen. At that time the
composers often yielded to the caprices of the singers and wrote to
suit them, while the singers themselves, through vanity and ignorance,
made such requirements that opera itself often became ridiculous.
Gluck desired "to restrict the art of music to its true object, that
of aiding the effect of poetry by giving greater expression to words
and scenes, without interrupting the action or the plot." He wrote
only operas, and some of his best works keep the stage to-day. They
are simple in design yet powerful in appeal: very original and stamped
with refinement and true feeling.

The boy Christoph, like many another lad who became a great musician,
had a sorrowful childhood, full of poverty and neglect. His home was
in the little town of Weissenwangen, on the borders of Bohemia, where
he was born July 2, 1714. As a little lad he early manifested a love
for music, but his parents were in very straitened circumstances and
could not afford to pay for musical instruction. He was sent to one of
the public schools. Fortunately the art of reading music from notes,
formation of scales and fundamentals, was taught along with general
school subjects.

While his father lived the boy was sure of sympathy and affection,