In certain respects, Christoph Willibald Gluck could be considered the first “modern” composer, in that he was the first independent musician to have defended an aesthetic programme that asserted its independence from the dictates of patrons and audiences alike.
Clearly, such an assertion is somewhat extreme, since in the strict sense of the word, Gluck was never independent, composing as he did for the theatre, under the patronage of the nobility, as a means of earning his living.
That living he earned in what could be described as a series of musical lives. He never permanently associated himself with any one court or musical genre, and, in the autumn of his life, he was even able to afford the luxury of accepting (or inviting) only those offers that interested him.
However, it is not Gluck’s working conditions which earn him the epithet “modern”, but rather his artistic choices, and in particular the famous opera reform that he launched in the 1760s.
Once again, however, our assertions need to be qualified, both with regard to the term “reform” and, in particular, our understanding of Gluck’s musical career and production. |
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