C. W. von Gluck: Orfeo

Cambridge Opera Handbooks

by Patricia Howard

This book explains how and why Gluck's historically important and best-loved opera Orfeo came into existence, and shows why it has retained its popularity. The work is placed in its context of Gluck's 'reform of opera', an artistic movement involving actors, dancers, designers, writers and philosophers, as well as musicians and librettists. Patricia Howard and her fellow contributors describe how the opera has been reinterpreted throughout the past two hundred years from its first performance. Differing twentieth-century views based on practical experience of the work are put forward by the conductors John Eliot Gardiner and Sir Charles Mackerras, the singer Kevin Smith and the English National Opera music consultant Tom Hammond.

156 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Mod?]

An interesting overview of the piece, and a particularly fascinating glimpse of the state of its reception 40 years ago. I should note that the sheer misogyny in some of the takes (Tom Hammond's contribution in particular) is simply staggering.