In 1710, fifteen
years after his early death, the giant Handel began to dominate musical
England, flooding the stage with operas of the Italian type and finally
ushering in the reign of the oratorio. The delicate plant of English
opera never took root.
Italian influence had almost caused the decline of French opera when
Christopher Willibald Gluck turned to Paris, in 1774, as its
regenerator. In Vienna, twelve years earlier, he had already produced
his "Orfeo," whose calm, classic grandeur seemed the embodiment of the
Greek art spirit. His choice of subjects indicates the enterprise on
which he had embarked. He sought simplicity, subjugation of music to
poetic sentiment, dramatic sincerity and organic unity. His operatic
version of Racine's "Iphigenie en Aulide" called forth unbounded
enthusiasm in the French metropolis directly after his arrival, and led
to the warfare with the brilliant Italian Piccini, which was as hot as
any Wagner controversy.
The homage of all time is due this man of genius for the splendid
courage with which he attacked shams.
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