Alceste (Gluck)
When Gluck published the score of Alceste in Vienna in 1769, he added a famous preface in Italian almost certainly written by Calzabigi, which set out their ideals for operatic reform,[1] whose programmatic points follow those exposed by Francesco Algarotti in his Saggio sopra l'opera in musica (Essay on opera in music, 1755), namely: Alceste also has no role for the castrato voice, although Gluck would return to using a castrato in his next opera, Paride ed Elena, and even rewrite the tenor role of Admetus for the soprano castrato Giuseppe Millico, in the 1770 revival of Alceste in Vienna.
[2] Gluck recomposed and lengthened Alceste to a French libretto by François-Louis Gand Le Bland Du Roullet for performances at the Paris Opera, retaining the three-act structure.
[citation needed] Gluck fought several efforts to make the new version of Alceste conform to French tastes, resisting pressure to end the opera with an extended ballet.
[4][5] The first British performance, which was sung in Italian, took place at the King's Theatre, London on 30 April 1795, starring Brigida Banti.
[6] The work was given in French during the Coronation Season of 1937 at the Royal Opera House, conducted by Philippe Gaubert with Germaine Lubin as Alceste.
[7] Subsequent productions there were conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni (1972) and Riccardo Muti (1987) with the title role sung by Leyla Gencer and Rosalind Plowright, respectively.
[10] In 2015 the opera was given for the first time by the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi, in its unabridged Italian version, also including the parts that Gluck himself had cut at the Vienna premiere out of practical necessities.
[12] Lyric Opera of Chicago opened its 1990 season with performances conducted by Gary Bertini with Jessye Norman as Alceste.
In Don Giovanni, written in 1787, twenty years after Alceste and the year Gluck died Mozart used a similar chord progression, as well as texture and orchestration, for the Commendatore speaking to Don Giovanni in the garden scene that Gluck used for the line of the High Priest when saying that Alceste will die if no one takes her place.
[18] Original version in Italian[26] A herald announces to the people of Thessaly that King Admeto is gravely ill and that there is little hope.
In a dense forest dedicated to the gods of the underworld, Ismene asks Alceste why she is leaving her husband and children.
The choir propels much of the action in the first two acts, and Gluck's vocal settings are particularly elegant, taking advantage of the French language's smooth rhythms, although the writing is rather static in its sad dignity.
Admetus does not realize that Alceste has volunteered to die in his place, and his wife won't give herself up until the record is set straight.
Apollo arrives, promises Hercules immortality, and leaves Admetus and Alceste in a world that seems devoid of death.
