Christoph Willibald Gluck Essentials

This opera composer traveled the 18th-century classical circuit, taking up posts in Vienna and London. But the style Gluck loved most was the stately, old-school French tradition of tragédie lyrique, which he brought back into vogue with powerful works like Iphigénie en Tauride. The modern practice of employing countertenors to sing roles originally created for castrati has allowed new generations of listeners to luxuriate in the grave drama of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice. Listen to conductors such as John Eliot Gardiner and singers on the level of Franco Fagioli interpret the composer.