antique and created his last opera, "Iphigénie in Tauris," which takes
first rank among his masterpieces. If in "Armide" he had dealt rather
too much with externalities, in "Iphigénie in Tauris" he kept even
more strictly than before within the prescribed limits of the drama,
scorning that embellishment which had been added to the opera in order
to distinguish it from the drama. His co-worker, in this case, was the
young poet Guillard, who had framed the text of this his initial work
after the tragedy of Guimond de la Touche, adding nothing, but on the
contrary, discarding, with dramatic _savoir faire_, all which was not
suitable to set to music. The opera does not begin with an overture, but
with a short orchestral prelude which describes at first the peaceful,
then the stormy sea. When the curtain rises we see the ship sail by,
which bears Orestes and Pylades. After the storm--which is a masterly
piece of orchestration--has subsided, Iphigenia tells her dream to her
companions. In her father's palace she has seen her mother murdered by
the hand of her brother Orestes, while by a supernatural power she seems
compelled to murder him. Sorely oppressed by the remembrance of this
dream she beseeches Diana with the touching words "O, toi, qui prolongeas
mes jours" that she who once saved her life may now take back her gift.
In the meantime the Scythian inhabitants of Tauris have imprisoned the
Greeks cast upon the shore, and Thoas, the ruler of the land, condemns
them to be offered upon the altar of Diana, and Iphigenia the priestess
of the gods, to perform the sacrifice.
[Illustration: GLUCK'S MONUMENT IN WEIDENWANG.]
In the second act we see the two friends as prisoners in the temple. To
Orestes' outbursts of despair Pylades replies in the touching aria "Unis
dès la plus tendre enfance." In vain! He is powerless to banish the
frightful memories of Orestes, who is plunged again into despair at the
separation from his friend. His words, "Le calme rentre dans mon cœur,"
are only a self-delusion, his real state of mind being betrayed by the
feverish movement in sixteenths of the bass-viol. Not even in sleep can
he find peace, for scarcely has he closed his eyes when the Eumenides
appear and terrify the murderer with their cries of revenge,--and here,
for the first time, the trombones are introduced. After their frightful
song "Vengeons et la nature et les dieux en courroux" and the succeeding
words "Il a tué sa mère," given pianissimo by the entire chorus and the
orchestra, Iphigenia appears, questions the stranger and learns from him
the terrible fate of her parent, and that Orestes himself is no longer
among the living. The second act closes with a funeral celebration in
honor of her brother's memory, during which the priestess mourns her loss
in the aria, "O, malheureuse Iphigénie!"
One of the most beautiful and ennobling scenes of the opera is that
of the third act, in which the friends contend as to which shall be
sacrificed for the other, for to only one of the prisoners does the cruel
Thoas, moved by Iphigenia's prayers, grant life and the permission to
return to Greece. As Orestes threatens to take his own life in case he is
not made the victim, Pylades yields, only with the intention of effecting
his friend's release, however, immediately upon his own deliverance.
This aria in praise of friendship, "Divinité des grandes âmes, amitié,"
is characterized at first by sweet simplicity, but at the words "Je vais
sauver Oreste," the music becomes so grand--especially at the sudden
introduction of the kettle-drums and trumpets, which have not been used
in the entire act--as to produce an irresistible effect upon the audience.
In the fourth act Iphigenia entreats Diana, in the words "Je t'implore
et je tremble, Déesse implacable," to spare her the frightful task of
sacrificing the young stranger, but her supplications are unheeded. As
she seizes the sacrificial knife with which she is to stab Orestes to the
heart, the latter half-involuntarily exclaims: "Ainsi tu péris en Aulide,
Iphigénie, o, ma sœur!" The ensuing scene of recognition in which all the
composer's depth of feeling, all the passion of his heart are embodied,
is of most intense theatrical effect. Now follow, one after another, the
most thrilling scenes. The brother and sister resolve to escape, but
are surprised by Thoas, who insists upon the sacrifice--when Pylades
appears with his faithful Greeks, slays the barbarian, and amid songs of
rejoicing the curtain falls for the last time.
We have already stated that "Iphigénie in Tauris" was the only one of
Gluck's operas which was fully appreciated by the public at its first
representation. How is this remarkable fact to be explained? First of
all we should say, without hesitation, by the impressive force of the
material which is qualified to move and thrill the hearts of men in all
ages, and to which has been given a form exactly suited to the operatic
stage. Secondly, by the music, in which Gluck has adhered more strictly
than in his previous works to his principle of according the first place
to the libretto, for its very subordination to the text heightens rather
than lessens the effect. Concerning the general character of this music,
it is noticeable that the lyric element, which in the course of his
reform Gluck sacrificed more and more to the dramatic, appears again in
the sad "Iphigénie." In the choruses as well as in the arias, some of
which, as we have seen, date from his Italian period, the lyric element
is undeniable, while in the recitatives Gluck the dramatist is revealed
in all his power. This beautiful symmetry of the forces governing
the drama, the well-balanced alternation of the passive mood and the
excitement called forth by the action, together give that solemnity to
the music of "Iphigénie in Tauris" which fills the soul of the listener,
even to the present time, and have given it the precedence of Gluck's
creations.
Applause, honors and material reward for his work fell to Gluck's lot in
richer measure than to any musician of his time. On the other hand he
endured all those affronts seldom spared the pioneer artist who is true
to his convictions. It must have grieved him especially to encounter only
ill-will and crude misconception from the majority of his countrymen.
Nearly all North Germany refused to recognize his works, following the
example of Berlin, which, thanks to Frederick the Great, had now achieved
a leading position in artistic and scientific matters. Frederick the
Great himself saw in the Dresden kapellmeister, Hasse, the foremost
representative of the opera, and asserted that Gluck knew nothing of
singing and understood nothing of great operatic style. His sister,
Princess Amelia, who had made a thorough study of composition under
Kirnberger, upon becoming familiar with the "Iphigénie in Aulis" sent the
following verdict to her teacher: "Herr Gluck, according to my opinion,
will never rank as a skilled composer. In the first place, he has no
inventive faculty, secondly his melody is miserable, and thirdly there is
no accent, no expression, everything has a tiresome sameness. Finally and
in general the whole opera is very poor, but it is the latest craze and
has numerous supporters."
[Illustration: Portrait of Gluck, made during his stay in Paris by Aug.
de St. Aubin. From a delicate engraving on copper.]
Professor Forkel, one of the first musical authorities of North Germany,
pronounced an even harsher and more unjust judgment on the master. As
late as 1778, when the latter was about to attain the highest point
of his activity with the "Iphigénie in Tauris," Forkel published in
his "Critical Musical Library" a criticism of 157 pages on the works
of Gluck, in which he exerted all his energy and made use of all his
musical knowledge in order to prove their worthlessness. The professor
took special exception to the passage in the preface to "Alceste" in
which Gluck says he was trying to attain to a noble simplicity. "What
the Chevalier is pleased to call 'noble simplicity,'" says Forkel, "is,
in our opinion, nothing more than a miserable, empty, or, to speak more
clearly, an ignoble stupidity arising from a lack of skill and knowledge;
it is like the stupid simplicity of common people compared with the
noble simplicity in the conduct and conversation of those of culture
and refinement. In the one case all is awkward, faulty and defective,
in the other graceful, true and perfect. In short, Gluck's kind of
noble simplicity resembles the style of our bar-room artists, which
has simplicity enough, it is true, but, at the same time, much that is
repulsive."
Similar expressions of professional prejudice--not to say
stupidity--might be cited by the dozen; but the reader may prefer, in
conclusion, to hear the voices of the noblest, most enlightened of his
countrymen, which amply indemnify the master for the injustice done him
by the "Leckmessern" of his time. _Goethe_ expressed his reverence for
Gluck in the beautiful verses which accompanied the copy of "Iphigénie in
Tauris" which he sent the singer Milder:
"Dies unschuldvolle, fromme Spiel
Das edlen Beifall sich errungen,
Erreichte doch ein höheres Ziel
Von _Gluck_ betont, von _dir_ gesungen."
(This noble drama, from corruption free
Won the unfeigned applause of thoughtful men,
But reached a still more lofty purpose, when
To music set by Gluck, and sung by thee!)
Just as sincerely did Wieland, the great master of poetry, pay homage to
music and its great exponent. "I have moments," he wrote on July 13th,
1776, "in which I long inexpressibly for the ability to produce a lyric
work worthy to receive life and immortality through Gluck. And oh! that
we might once be fortunate enough to see and hear him in our midst! That
I might see the man face to face and in his presence give some slight
expression to the emotions kindled by the little I have heard (and very
poorly rendered) of his splendid works!" The year before, Wieland had
spoken still more specifically in regard to the Gluck reform; in 1775, he
wrote in the "German Mercury": "At last we have lived to see the epoch
in which the mighty genius of a Gluck has undertaken the great work of
a musical reform. The success of his 'Orpheus' and 'Iphigénie' would
lead us to hope everything, if, in those capitals of Europe where the
Fine Arts have their chief centre, innumerable obstacles did not oppose
his undertaking. To restore their original dignity to those arts which
the populace have been accustomed to regard as the tools of sensual
enjoyment, and to seat Nature firmly on a throne which has been long
usurped by the arbitrary power of fashion, luxury and voluptuousness, is
a great and daring venture. Gluck has shown us what might be done by
music, if in our day there were an Athens anywhere in Europe, and if, in
this Athens should appear a Pericles who should do for the opera what he
did for the tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides."
Words of this kind were not spoken in vain; their power, together with
Gluck's music, could not but succeed in breaking down the opposition of
even the strictest adherents to the old régime, and before the beginning
of another century all the master's enemies had left the field. From that
time to the present day, there has been no serious-minded lover of music
who has not cheerfully agreed with the motto to be found upon the bust of
Gluck in the Grand Opera in Paris:
"Il préféra les Muses aux Sirènes."
(He preferred the Muses to the Sirens.)
[Illustration: W. Langhans.]
[Illustration: FRESCO IN VIENNA OPERA HOUSE REPRESENTING GLUCK'S "ARMIDE."
From a photograph.]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 4: According to Fürstenau ("History of Music and the Theatre
at the Court of Dresden," II., 249), it is not improbable that Gluck
conducted the opera at Hamburg from Nov. 15-27, 1747.]
[Footnote 5: At the twentieth double representation Gluck's work brought
3115 livres, that of Piccini, but 1483 livres. It goes without saying
that the number of people in the audience can never be a criterion for
the intrinsic value of a work of art, unless the author has made no
concession to the taste of the masses. But as Gluck, since his "Orpheus,"
had absolutely refused to do this, the applause of the general public has
all the more weight.]
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| Transcriber notes: |
| |
| Please note: text with _surrounding_ it are italics |
| P. 3. 'Van Quickleberg' changed to 'Van Quickelberg'. |
| P. 21. 'rythmically' changed to 'rhythmically'. |
| P. 28. 'of the the work', taken out one 'the'. |
| P. 35. 'having disapeared', changed 'disapeared' to disappeared'. |
| P. 39. 'He died Oct. 24, 1825', the year is '1725', changed. |
| P. 47. 'is probab y' changed to 'is probably'. |
| P. 154. 'Neapolitan musican', changed 'musican' to 'musician'. |
| P. 158. 'best musican', changed 'musican' to 'musician'. |
| P. 159. 'Sonzogno competion', changed 'competion' to 'competition'. |
| P. 164. 'ecclesiastial music', changed to 'ecclesiastical music'. |
| P. 184. 'extented organ', changed 'extented' to 'extended'. |
| P. 220. 'musicial activity', changed 'musicial' to 'musical'. |
| P. 223. Illustration, 'CHRISTOPH WILIBALD GLUCK' should be |
| 'CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK', changed. |
| P. 234. 'is dangerrously ill', changed 'dangerrously' to |
| dangerously'. |
| Corrected various punctuation. |
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