Antigono by Christoph Willibald Gluck

Antigono is a three act opera seria composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck. It premiered February 9, 1756, at the Teatro Argentina in Rome. The Italian libretto was written by Pietro Metastasio, who was considered to be the most important opera seria librettist. Antigono was the only opera that Gluck ever premiered in Rome. This allowed him to reuse several arias and an entire introduction from some of his other operas, L'innocenza giustificata, Le cinesi, and La danza. Gluck came to Rome from Vienna after Christmas in 1755. He worked quickly, since Antigono premiered only two months later. The premier of the opera was sold out and the audience seemed to have enjoyed it; several arias and a duet were encored at the end of the show. After the premier of the opera, Pope Benedict XIV awarded Gluck with the title of Cavalier of the Order of the Golden Spur. This was an important honor for Gluck, which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had received previously. During Gluck's time in Rome, he was under the protection of Cardinal Albani. Because the authorities in Rome had strict rules against women performing on the stage, the entire cast of Antigono was made up of men, including castrati. The opera was written for four sopranos, one contralto, and one tenor, who played the protagonist Antigono.

Text from the Wikipedia article "Antigono (Gluck)", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the Composer

Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck (; German: [ˈkʁɪstɔf ˈvɪlɪbalt ˈɡlʊk]; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire at the time, he gained prominence at the Habsburg court in Vienna. There he brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices for which many intellectuals had been campaigning. With a series of radical new works in the 1760s, among them Orfeo ed Euridice and Alceste, he broke the stranglehold that Metastasian opera seria had enjoyed for much of the century. Gluck introduced more drama by using orchestral…

Text from the Wikipedia article "Christoph Willibald Gluck", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Read the full biography →

Other Operas by Christoph Willibald Gluck

Most Featured Composers