Daniel Heartz, Garrick to Gluck

8/9/2019 Daniel Heartz, Garrick to Gluck

1/18

From Garrickto Gluck: The Reform of Theatre andOpera in the Mid-Eighteenth Century

Author(s): Daniel HeartzSource: Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association, 94th Sess. (1967 - 1968), pp. 111-127Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.on behalf of the Royal Musical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/765880.

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2/18

From

Garrick

to

Gluck:

theReform fTheatreand Operain

the

mid-Eighteenth

entury

DANIEL

HEARTZ

La

po~sie

veut

uelque

chose

'6norme,

de

barbare t de

sauvage.

(Diderot,

De

la

Poisie

dramatique,

758)

SEVERAL

ttempts

orenovate

he

tage

ook

lace

towardshe

middle f

the

eighteenth

entury.

oldoniwas

substituting

writtenomedies

fcharacter

or

he

mprovised

nd

stereo-

typed

oles f

he

Commedia

ell'Arte.

iderot nd

Lessing

ere

introducing

erious

ontemporary

ubjects

which

perforce

affected

cting,

etting

nd costume.

ahusac,

Noverre

nd

Angiolini

ere

working,y

precept

r

example,

o

create

moredramatic allet.On English tagesGarrickwasper-

fecting

style

f

acting

hatbroke

harply

ith he

tately

declamation

nd movement

f

the

past.

All

these

nd

other

'reforms'

ame o

head n

the

decade

fter

750. propose

o

considerome f

hem

with view

o the

ight heymay

hed

on

the

celebrated

eformf

pera.x

David Garrick

made his

debut s

a

youth

f

23

in

1741,

playing

ichard II.

Charles

Macklin

had earlier

hown"

he

waytoa more aturalcting tylewith isShylock.rofiting

thereby,

arrick

ade

rapid

onquest

f

he

London

tage,

played

eighteen

haracters

n

six

months,

nd

elicited he

remarkrom

ope:

that

oung

mannever

ad

his

qual

as an

actor,

and

will

never

have

a

rival'. From

the

reigning

tragedian

ames

uinn,

n

the

ther

and,

ame

he

bserva-

tion

intended

o be

devastating):

If this

young

ellow

e

right,

hen

we have ll

been

wrong'.

art

of

the

ndignation

may

be

explained

y

the ssociation

f more

atural

cting

style ith omedy,hen onsideredlower ormf ndeavour

and

kept uite

eparate.

he

practice

n

tragedy

ad been

o

advancewith

eremony

o the

ront

f

he

tage,

trike

pose,

1

This

paper

is

a

sequel

to

'Opera

and

the

Periodization

of

I8th-century

Music',

read

at the Tenth

Congress

of the

International

Musicological

Society,

Ljubljana,

1967,

and

forms

art

of a

wider

nvestigation

f the

eighteenth-century

usical

theatre.

III

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/18

I

2

FROM

GARRICK TO

GLUCK

then

emain mmobilewhile

declaiming.

s

n

thearia

opera

of

Metastasio,

he

typical

tage

picture

onsisted f one

or

more

figures ooted front nd centre tage. Perhapsthe sing-song

declamation

n

tragedy

ame

closer

o

recitative han

we

now

realize. In

dress

herewas no

distinction etween

poken

nd

sung

tragedy,

he same conventional ostumes

erving

both,

regardless

of

the

subject.

Garrick

broke

away

in

several

respects,

y using

manyparts

of

the

tage,

by

speaking or

not

speaking)

while

continuing

o

act,

by varying

costume n

keeping

with the

role.

A

critic,

writing

f him

in

1742,

first

praisedhis walk and the expressive angeof his voice, then

said:

When hree r four

re on

the

tage

with

im,

e

s

attentiveo

what-

ever s

spoke,

nd never

rops

his

character

hen

e

has

finished

speech,

by

either

ooking

ontemptibly

n

an

inferior

erformer,

unnecessarily

pitting,

r

suffering

is

eyes

to

wander

hrough

he

whole

ircle

f

pectators.

is

action

orresponds

ith

he

voice,

nd

both

with he haractere

s to

play.2

In other

words e conceived

is

part

s

a

whole,

ustained

t

throughout,nd tried omaintain ramaticllusion, hich

was

evidently

nusual

n

a theatre here

he

pectators

till

passed

emarks ith he

performers.

arrick as novel

bove

all in

his

powerful

nd

varied

se of

gesture,

n

ability

hat

particularly

truck

Continental

dmirers.When

Garrick

reached aris

nhis

irst

rip

n

1751

he

soon

ell nwith ll

the

prominent

heatre

eople.

Charles

Coll records dinner

party

in

his

Journal

or

13

July

1751

I dinedyesterday,he

2th

withGarrick,heEnglishctor.He gaveus

a

scene rom ne

of

Shakespeare's

ragedies,

n

whichwe

could

easily

perceive

hatthe

great eputation

hich

he

enjoys

s

by

no

means

unjustified.

e

gave

us

a sketch

f

that

cene

where

Macbeth

hinks

he

sees a

dagger

n

the

air

leading

him

to theroom

wherehe

is

to

murder

he

King.

He

filled

s

with

error;

t s

impossible

o

paint

situation

etter,

o render

t with

morewarmth

f

feeling,

nd at the

sametime

o

remainmore

master

f

oneself.

is face

xpresses

ll

the

passions

ne after

he

other,

nd

that

without

ny

grimace,lthough

that cene s

full

of terrible

nd

tumultuous

ovements. hat he

played efore swas a kind f ragicantomimeitalicsmine], nd from

that ne

piece

would

ot

ear o ssert

hat hat

ctor

s

excellent

n

his

art.

As

to

ours,

econsiders

hem ll

bad,

fromhe

highest

o

the

owest,

and on

that

oint

we

fully greed

with

im.s

Garrick

began

his

long

tenure

s

manager-director

f

2

For

the

original

ources fthe

quotations

ee Carola

Oman,

David

Garrick,

London,

1958,

pp.

4Iff.

3

Frank

A.

Hedgcock,

A

Cosmopolitan

ctor:

David Garrick nd

His

French

Friends, ondon,

1912, pp. 109-10.



4/18

FROM

GARIICK

TO

GLUCK

113

Drury

Lane in

1747.

He

continued

to act

frequently

nd

played

no fewer

than seventeen

Shakespearean

parts.

The

impossibly igh tandards e set himself ere mparted o the

rest of

his

company.'

A

one-time

pupil,

Thomas

Davies,

described he

goal

in his Memoirs

f

the

ife

of

David

Garrick

(1780),

writing

as follows

in the

chapter

entitled

'Stage

Reformation':

To

render the

pleasure

of theatrical

representation

omplete,

the

delusionmustbe

uniformly

upported

n

everything

hich

pertains

o

a

play.

Tis

not

sufficient

hat the author writeswith

knowledge,

nd

the

commedian acts with propriety;everythingmust contribute o the

general

deception;

dress must

mark out the

country

nd

rank

of

the

person,

he

scenery oint

out the

place

of

action,

nd the

musick

correspond

ith

he

passions

f

he haractersnd the

ncidents

f he

drama;

n short

very

ecoration ust

ontributeo throw

ight

pon

the

fable.

Without

his

niversalonsent f

he

parts,

he

pleasure

ill

be

imperfect,

nd the

spectacle eprived

f

an

essential

equisite.

To achieve

uch verisimilitude

n

production

as

a

long

struggle.

art

f

he

udience

at on

the

tage

t

Drury

ane

until hehousewasenlargedn 1762.Lightingnd scenerywere

poor

before arrick ade

mprovements

long

he ines

ofContinental

ractice.

hereas e had scorned

hedeclama-

tory

tyle

f

cting

t

the

Com6die

rangaise,

cenery,

taging

and

lighting

t

the

Opera

had

favourablympressed

im.

Fromhis

friend

he

heatre-manager

ean

Monnet e

ordered

reflector

il

amps

uch

s

he had seenused n

Castor

t

Pollux,

as well

s

scenic

esigns. eturning

o

Drury

ane after

tour

abroad n

1765-6

he

produced

he

magic

pera

Cymon

ith

splendidcenic ffects.oraceWalpoledescribednother f

his

howpieces,ing

rthur,

emarking

f

ome

f

ts

cenes-a

rustic

ridge,

Gothic hurchwith

tained

lass

window-

that

Garrick as

attempting

o

compete

ith

heParis

pera.

Whatever

arrick's

ebt

to

Continental

taging,

e

became

identifiedn

the

Continent

uring

is ifetime

ith

style

f

acting

nd

staging

f

unprecedented

ealism.

e

also

became

inseparably

dentified

ith

hakespeare.

In

mid-century

aris

he

eading laywright

as

Voltaire,whose

ragedies

ere onsidered

uperior

o those fCorneille

With

what success

is a

major

point

of

discussion

n

Kalman

Birnum,

David

Garrick, irector,

ittsburgh,

1961.

On the

crucial

question

of

lighting

t

Drury

Lane,

Birnum

ites

Ralph

G.

Allen,

The

Stage

pectacles

of

Philip

James

de

Loutherberg,

npublished

Ph.D.

Dissertation,

Yale

University,

g6o.

Loutherberg,

who

worked for

Garrick from

1772,

experimented

with

transparencies

nd was

in

the

vanguard

of

the

Continental

movement

owards

he

realistic reatment

f

stage pace.

He

was a

disciple

of Diderot.



5/18

I

14

FROM

GARRICK TO

GLUCK

and

equal

to

Racine's.s

Following

he

model

of

these

French

classics

he

wrote

five-act

ragedies,

sing

the

same

elevated

languageand rhymedouplets, bservingheunities, nd the

'liaison des scenes'. One

of

the new

elements n

his

plays

was

the

strong

urrent

f

sensibilite'.

Audiences

wept

for

Zaire

and for the

impassioned Merope,

as

created

by

Mlle.

Dumesnil,

not to

purge

theiremotions

o

much as

to

enjoy

them.

Voltaire

sought

also to

introducemore

action

into

tragedy.

He

had

spent

three

years

n

England

(1726-9),

and

was

moved

by

what

he saw on theLondon

stage

no lessthan

by

English ibertyfthought. e had evenwritten hefirst ct of

his Brutus n

English

prose, prior

to

casting

t in

French

Alexandrines.

His

appeal

for more

stage

action

and less

recitationwas

untiring.

The action

must

be

simple

and

'vraisemblable',

he

says,

but

it must

also be

virile and

unhampered

by

the

excessive

delicacy

of

French

audiences

with

egard

o the bienseances'.

n

pursuit

f

verisimilitude

e

gave

up

author's

profits

t the

premiere

f his

Orphelin

e

la

Chine n

1755

so

that the

principals,

Mlle.

Clairon and

Le

Kain, could abandon the traditionalstage costume for

something

more

appropriate

o

the exotic

subject.

He

pro-

tested t the seats on

the

stage

of the

Comidie

frangaise,

n

abuse

finally

abolished

in

1759.

Otherwise,

the

signs

of

increasingly

rapid

change

after

1750

often

found him

unsympathetic.

What

set Voltaire

apart

from

the

younger

spirits

f he

mid-century

ay

be

summarised

n a

single

word:

Shakespeare.

He

had

rendered

his

dictum

in the

Lettres

philosophiquesu Lettresur esAnglais1734):

Shakespeare

..

had

a

genius

full

of

force

nd

fecundity,

f natural

simplicity,

f sublime

feeling,

without

he east

spark

of

good

taste or

the smallest

knowledge

f

the rules.

To

this Abbe

Prevost,

the

creator

of

Manon Lescaut and

another

nthusiastic

isitor

o

England,

gave

reply

n

1738:

Knowledge

of

the

ancients

would

have

helped

make

Shakespeare

more

correct,

but

it

may

also

be

believed

that

the

regularity

o

which

he

would

have tried

to

constrain

himself

would have caused him to

lose

something fthatwarmth, fthat mpetuosity,nd ofthatadmirable

delirium

hat hines

forth

n

his

smallest

productions.

What

was

at issue

was

no

less

than

the entire

rationalist

"

For this

summary

view of

Voltaire's

position

I

am indebted to

Jack

Vrooman,

who allowed

me

to

study

his

manuscript,

Voltaire's

Theatre:

Theory

and

Practice

from

Oedipe

o

Mirope',

which

s

in course

of

pub-

lication.As themost

nfluential ontinental

laywright

f

he

mid-century,

Voltaire

has

an

importance

or

opera

that

requires

a

study

n its own

right.



6/18

FROM

GARRICK

TO

GLUCK

I 15

aesthetics-the

rinitarian

ogma

of

order,

larity

nd

correct-

ness.

Set aside

the

ast,

put

Shakespeare

nd

feeling

eyond

he

rules, ndyouhaveeffectivelylacedVoltaire, s hewasquick

to

realize,

n

the

position

f

a

James

Quinn.

Taste versus

enius

was

an

issue

that

agitated

ome

mighty

pens

around

I750,

a time

when

the

Encyclopidie

as

taking

shape

under

the

direction

f

D'Alembert

and

Diderot.

To

the

latter

s ascribed

n

article

on 'Genie' in

the

seventh

olume

(x757),

of which short

xcerpt

ollows:

Taste

is often

istinct

rom

enius.

Genius

s a

pure

gift

f

nature:

what

itproduces s the workofan instant;taste s theproductofstudy nd

time

and

depends

upon

the

knowledge

of a

multitude

f

rules,

either

established

r

supposed.

n

order

for

omething

o be

beautiful

ccord-

ing

to the

rules f

taste t mustbe

elegant,

finished nd

studied,

without

appearing

to

be

so.

To be

genial,

t

s

necessary

ometimes hat he

work

be

rough,craggy

nd

savage.

Genius

and

the

sublime

hine

forth

ike

lightning

n

a

dark

night

n

Shakespeare,

and

Racine is

always

beau;

Homer is

full

of

genius,

and

Virgil

of

elegance.

The rules

and

laws

of

taste

mpose

fetters

pon

the

genius.

He breaks

them to

fly

owards

the

sublime,

the

pathetic

and the

grand.

Love of the

eternal

beauty

of

nature and

the

passion

for

creating

his works fter n

indefinable

image

withinhimself hatformshis ideas of

beauty

and

expression-

these are the

ways

of

the man

of

genius.

An

augury

f

the

Romantic

view of artistic

reation,

his

key

article

represents significant eparture

from he

aesthetics

of

mitation.

he

inspiration

f

nature

s

stressed,

o

be

sure,

but

the

artist oes morethan

merely

mitate

nature:he

draws

from within

himself.

Art is

the creation

of

the

individual

imagination.

The

view is

one that Diderot was

to

expand

and refine hroughout is life,along with the idea of the

uniqueness

of the

individual

work of

art.6

Like

Voltaire,

Diderot

had

been nurtured

ery

argely

n

Englishthought.

Although

he

neverwitnessed

nglish

theatre,

xcept

n

the

person

of

Garrick,

he

read

widely,

specially

English

novels.

In

Richardson,

Fielding

and Sterne

he

divined an

art of

truth

nd

feeling

hat

could break the fetters

f

routine.He

discovered

he

superior

ruth f

the real

worldall

about

one,

and

something

till

more

mportant.

n

the

Eloge

de

Richardson

he callsPamela, larissand Grandisonhree

reat

dramas and

recommends

hem s

a

schoolof llusion or

oets, ainters

nd

musicians.

To

take

account

of such modern

ensibilities

nd

bring

them

to

bear

upon

the theatre

he

triedhis

hand

at a

domestic

tragedy

n

prose,

Le

Fils

naturel,

n

1756.

It was

published

n

February

757,

with hree

ppended

Entretiens',

*

Wladyslaw

Folkierski,

ntre

e

classicismet

e

romantisme.tude

ur

'esthitique

et

les esthiticiens

u

XVIIIe

sitcle,

racow

and

Paris,

1925,

p.

407.



7/18

I

6

FROM

GARRICK O

GLUCK

subtitledDorval et Moi.

The

conversations

urn

upon

the

future

f the

arts,

with

Dorval,

the bold

and

melancholy

ero

oftheplaysustaininghe criticismsfMoi', hismorecautious

interlocutor.

ccording

o Dorval the

stage

must

be

enriched

by

a

great ariety

f

new

subjects,

nd

by

taking

ull

dvantage

ofwhat

s

uniquely

heatrical.Much

ofthe

debate

hinges

pon

the difference

etween

he

tableau,

meaning

gesture

aised to

the evel

of

the

whole

stage

action,

and

the

old-fashioned

oup

de

thidtre

'

la

Crebillon,

decried

as

trite

nd too

obviously

contrived. he

plastic

hould

often

elieve he

verbal,

we are

told. And if modelsare to be taken, et us return to the

ancient

playwrights-not

or heir

upposed

ules,

ut

for

heir

spirit

f

simplicity,

orce

nd

grandeur.

Ballet

and

opera

need

regeneration

rom the

same source. The

formermust

be

conceived

s a

poem

and

carried

out in

mime

(a

scenario s

given

n

illustration).

he latterfurnishes

he

subject

for

the

climactic

part

of

the thirddebate.

It

begins

with

a

query,

Dorval

asking,

Do

you

still

believe

that the

previous

entury

left

nothing

orus

to do?'

The

question

s

really

directed o

Voltaire,whorepeatedlymaintained hat hegreatmenof the

seventeenth

entury

eftthose

who followed

nly

the sterile

glory

of

imitation.

On the

contrary,

ays

Dorval,

citing

the

followingmong

other

asks

o be

accomplished:

omestic nd

bourgeois tragedy

o be

created;

pantomime

to be

closely

linked

with

dramatic

ction;

scenery,

ostume

nd

acting

o

be

liberatedfrom

ymmetry

nd

stiffness;

allet

to

be

rendered

dramatic;

the

operatic

tage

to be

provided

withreal

tragedy.

'Whichkindoftragedywouldyou establish pon the yric

stage

' 'The

old

kind.'

Why

not

domestic

ragedy

'

'Because

tragedy,

nd

in

general

ny

work

that s to

be

sung,

mustbe

rhymed,

nd

domestic

ragedy

eems

to

excludeversification.'

'But will

the

old

tragedy ive

the

musician

ll the

resources

necessary

o

his

art?' Dorval

answers

with

question:

What

would

you say

f

gave

you

a

specimen,

ot

going

outside

ur

older

dramatic

poets,

upon

which

the

composer

ould

deploy

as

much

energy

nd richness

s

he chose?'

He then cites

the

scene from Racine's Iphiginie V.4) where Clytemnestra

imagines

he

sees

the sacrificial

nife

aised

to her

daughter's

breast.

At this ision

he cries

ut: Oh mare

infortunde

.

.

"

After

uoting

he

speech

Dorval

continues:

7

For

the entire

passage,

see

J.-G.

Prod'homme,

Diderot

et

la

Musique',

Zeitschrift

er

nternationalenusikgesellschaft,

v

(1913-I4), I6o-62.

The

English

translation

here is

mine,

after

Diderot,

Oeuvres

sthitiques,

d.

Paul

Verni&re,

aris,

I959.



8/18

FROM

GARRICK TO

GLUCK

117

I

find

no verses more

lyrical,

no situationbetter

suited

to

music,

in

Quinault

r

any

other

oet.

The

plight

f

Clytemnestra

ust

ear

thecry fnature rom ervery ntrails;ndthe omposer illbring

it

to

my

ars n all tsnuances. fhe

composes

t n

simple

tyle,

e

will

fillhimself

ith

he

suffering,

he

despair

f

Clytemnestra;

e

will

begin

o elaborate

nly

when

he

terrible

mages

hat bsess er

tart

pressing

n

upon

him.What

subject

or n

obbligato

ecitative,

hose

first

erses

ow

well

one

could

divide

hem

y

a

plaintive

itornello

An

example

ollows o

this

ffect.

nother hows

how the

words

f

the

speech

end

themselveso

the

multiple

rans-

positions

nd

repetitions

hat

music

equires.

Give hese

erses

to Mlle.Dumesnilnd there, r I amverymistaken,s the

disorder

hat hewould

pread.'

orval

magines

nother

ay

the

composer ight

ork,

elying

ess

upon

the

rchestra

or

expression,

n

support

f

declamatory

oice-part,

nd

more

upon

the

power

f

the

voice o

hurl

bolts

f

ightning.

till

third

possibility

ccurs to

him,

offering

convincing

demonstrationhat

for

Dorval-Diderot

herewas

no

single

way

to artistic

ruth.

Musical

ragedy

as

something

y

nature

ery

tylized.

t

required hyme,ndwas to continueo seekmodelsn the

classics,

s

well s

nspiration

n

the

delivery

f

reat

ctors.

y

admitting

hisDiderotwas

saying

hat

French

opera,

as

founded

y

Lully

nd

continued

y

Rameau,

emained

iable.

It

needed

only

to

be

freed

rom

n

over-reliance

n the

'merveilleux',

endered

ore

uman,

eturned

o

high

iterary

standard,

nd

blessed

y

the adventof

a

musical

genius.

Here

t

s

notVoltairewith

whom ebate s

oined

but

Jean-

JacquesRousseau. n

1749,

after ameaurefusedowrite hearticlesnmusic orhe

ncyclopidie,

ousseauook nthe ask

at

the

behest

f

Diderot,

nder

whose

ntellectual

pell

he,

like

so

many

others,

ad

come.

The

Encyclopedist

ilieu

provided

he

encouragement

or

him

to

writehis

Devin u

Village

n

1752,

showing

he

way

to

a

new

pastoral

indof

opdra

comique.

With

the

polemics

of the

Guerredes

Bouffons,

Rousseau and

Diderot

began

to

part company.

Along

with

Grimm,

Rousseau

had

used the

success of an

Italian

buffo

company s an occasion o attack ragidieyrique,otheoutrage

of

the

traditionalists,

ho returned the

fire.

The

genres

compared

are

too

disparate,

nterjected

Diderot,

who was

one

of

the fewto see

beyond

party.8

he

battle

of

pamphlets

8

AlfredRichard

Oliver

(The

Encyclopedists

s Critics

f

Music,

New

York,

1947,

P-

93) says

that

Diderot

was

'the

only

critic

who

saw

that both

camps

were

fumbling

n

the

dark'.

Jean

Thomas shows

that

D'Alembert

was

equally

perspicacious:

'Diderot,

les

encyclop6distes

t

le

grand

Rameau',

Revue e

Synthise,

ouvelle

Sdrie,

xxviii

(195i),

46-67.



9/18

I

8

FROM

GARRICK TO

GLUCK

seemed to

be

subsiding

when Rousseau

took the

extreme

position

fhisLettre

ur

a

Musiquefranqaise

n

November,

753:

theFrench anguagewas insusceptiblefmusical etting,nd

vocal music

based on

it

of

necessity

acked

melody;

ergo,

French

opera

was

a

logical impossibility.

he

argument

was

hyperbolic

nd

inconsistent-Rousseau

would later

abandon

its

tenets-but

the furore

t

raised

at the

time,

nd for

long

time

thereafter,

robably ustified

t

to his

mind.9

Diderot's

affirmationf the

possibilities

n

Iphiginie

must be read as

a

retort,

f

not

a refutation. is vision

was confirmedn

any

case,

as Rousseauadmittedwhenhe toldGluck t theParistriumph

of

Iphiginie

n

Aulide

modelled

after

he same

Racine

play):

'You have realizedwhat I

held to be

impossible

o

this

very

day'.

Another

andmark

n the

way

towards

new

dramaturgy

was

passed

in

1758

with

Diderot's second

play,

Le

Pbrede

Famille,

ccompanied by

a

wide-ranging

ssay,

De la

Poisie

dramatique.

n

22

chapters

f sustained

nd

brilliant

xposition,

the

philosopher

onsiders

verything

rom

oetic ubject

down

tomaterial onditionsnthetheatre. he poetmustbanish ll

petty ntrigue,

retty

peeches,

useless

secondary

haracters,

and

otherRococo accretions.

et

the

main

charactersmeet

each other

n

direct

onfrontation,

et

them

peak

simply,

n

situations

charged

with

strong

emotion. What

critics

of

Metastasian

pera

had

begun

to

express

imidly

r

obliquely

assumes

ere

the

proportions

f

manifesto,

ffering

boldness,

a

radical

spirit

f

reform,

thorough-going

lan

to modernize

thestageand ridit ofthelastpatchesand shreds fpseudo-

Aristotelian riticism'.10

he

attack

was

not ad

hominem,

ut

upon

the earlier

eighteenth

entury's

pallid

and

debased

copies

of classical

ragedy.

et how

can

we miss

he

relevance

of

this,

not

only

o

Rameau's

poets,

but

to

Metastasio,

ven

to

Voltaire himself?

iderot

wanted

to

go

much

farther

han

Voltairehad

led,

by

renewing

he

tarknessf ncient

ragedy,

and

incorporating

ith t a more

realistic

tage

treatment.

n

the

chapter

On

Costume'

we

read:

9

On

Rousseau's

changing

deas

see

Hugo

Goldschmidt,

ie Musikdsthetik

des

r8.

Jahrhunderts,uirich

nd

Leipzig,

I915,

Chapter 5,

which

shows

that

Rousseau

could not achieve

a

consistent

position

at

any

time,

because

he had so

many

prejudices

that had

to be

rationalized.

10

R.

Loyalty

Cru,

Diderot s

a

Disciple

fEnglish

Thought,

ew

York,

1913,

p.

316.

The

ambiguous

positions

with

regard

to Metastasio of

Algarotti,

Calzabigi

and Ortes

during

the

I75os

are

discussed

by

Remo

Giazotto,

Poesia Melodrammatica

Pensiero

ritico

el

Settecento,

ilan,

1952, Chapters

5

and 6.



10/18

FROM

GARRICK

TO GLUCK

119

the

more

serious he

genre

the

more

severity

s

required

n

dress

..

a

few

simple

draperies,

f a

plain

colour,

that

s

what s

needed,

not

all

yourbrocade and gaudyshow. Consult thepainterson thisscore. Is

there

n

artist

mong

us

so

bizarre

as

to

put

on

canvas the

meretricious

finery

we

have

seen

upon

the

stage

The

chapter

On

Scenery'

puts

this

question:

Would

you

bring

your

poets

back to

the

true

in

the

conduct

and

dialogue

of

their

pieces,

and

your

players

back

to natural

acting

and

real

declamation? Then

raise

your

voices and ask

only

that

you

be

shown

the

setting

s

it should

be.

The

penultimate

hapter,

On

Pantomime',

rings ogether

s

exemplary

models

antique

legend

and

the

English

novel

Of

a

Richardsonian

haracter

Diderot

writes,

whether

he

talksor

not,

see

him,

nd

his actions ffectme

more

than

his

words'.

So

visual

an

emphasis

annot

surprise

n

a

man

who

was the

age's

finest

rt critic.

His tastes

ran

to

the

bourgeois

realism

of

Chardin and

Greuze but

did

not

stop

there;

hungering

or

the

lost

sublimity

f

the

grand

manner,

he

undertook quarter-centuryampaigntopromote ruth nd

depth

in

historical

ainting,

which was

answered

finally y

the

appearance

of

David in the

Salon

of

1781.11

In

1760,

a

year

that

may

be

regarded

n

many respects

s

crucial,

Lessing

ranslated nd

published

both

Diderot

plays,

with

their

ccompanying

ssays,

nd a

prefatory

ncomium

saying

that

no

more

philosophical

head had dealt

with

the

theatre

ince

Aristotle.

essing

took

this s an

opportunity

o

berate

ProfessorGottsched, whose tragedies resembled

Metastasio's in

their

Arcadian

Neoclassicism. Le

Pire de

Famille

nd Le

Fils

naturelad small

uccess

n the

tage

oftheir

native

country;

as

Der

Hausvater

nd

Der

natiirlicher

ohn,

however,

hey

were

avidly

taken

up by

German

companies

and

played

often

rom

760

onwards,

not

only

in

Lessing's

Hamburg,

but

in

Frankfurt,

Nuremberg,

and at

the

xx ee Jean Seznec, Diderotand Historical Painting',Aspects ftheEight-

eenth

Century,

d.

Earl

W.

Wasserman,

Baltimore,

I965,

I29-42.

In

summary

eznec

quotes

Diderot as

saying,

If

only

a

sacrifice,

battle,

a

triumph,

public

scene

could

be

renderedwith

the

same

truth

n all

its

details

as

a domestic

cene

by

Greuze or

Chardin ' He

then

concludes:

'And

Diderot

dreams of

the

ways

of

bringing

ome

prosaic

solidity

nto

poetic

artifice.

his is

of

course

what

he

himself as

been

trying

o achieve

with

his drame

ourgeois:

o

stuff

he

emptynobility

f

classical

tragedy

with

the

ubstantial

implicity

f

everyday

ife.There we

detectone of

the

many

inkswhich

connecthis

art

criticism

withhis

attempts

t

renovating

literary

orms.'



11/18

120

FROM GARRICK TO

GLUCK

Burgtheater

n

Vienna.*1

hey

wereoften

redited,

r

blamed,

for

openingup

the

path

to

the

Sturm

nd

Drang

theatre

f

the

1770s.

Also

falling

n

I760

was

the

publication

f

Noverre's

Lettresur

a

Danse

t

es

Ballets,

t

Lyons

nd

Stuttgart.

hese

delightfulpistles,

illed ith

ignettes

bservedt

the

opera,

are

probably

amiliar o most

and

need be but

briefly

recalled.1s

n

eloquent

lea

for ealism

n

staging,

ostume

and

setting,

hey

we

much o

the

reatises

f

1757-8.

Again

we

are

told hat he

great ainters rovided

he

xample

hat

could iberatehe tage romymmetryndfrippery;gain

that

gesture

nd

poetic ubjects

were

the meansof

trans-

forming

allet

from

decorative

o a

dramatic rt.

Tragic

pantomime

as Noverre's hief

nterest,

nd,

like

Diderot,

he

associated

t

with

lassical

ntiquity.

wo other ources

Noverre

cknowledged

ere

Cahusac,

whose heoreticalork

La

Danse

ncienne

tmoderne

as

published

n

1754,

nd

Garrick,

for

whom

he worked

t

Drury

Lane in

I755.

The

ninth etter

proposesways

of

forming

he

new breed

of

pantomimists:

Mr.

Garrick,

he celebrated

nglish

ctor,

s the

model

wish o

put

forward

..

He was so

natural,

is

expression

o

lifelike,

is

gestures,

features

nd

glances

ere

o

eloquent

nd

so

convincing,

hat

e

made

the actionclear

even

to those

who

did

not understand

word

of

English.

t

was

easy

ofollow is

meaning;

is

pathos

was

touching;

n

tragedy

e

terrified

ith

the successive

movements

ith

which

he

represented

he

most iolent

assions

..

he lacerated

he

pectator's

feelings,

ore

his

heart,

ierced

is

soul,

nd

made him

hed

tears f

blood.

In his astLetter overrencludesnappreciationfDiderot:

this

hilosopher

nd

friendf

nature,

hat

s to

ay

of

imple

ruth

nd

beauty,

who

would ubstitute

antomime

or

ffectation,

natural

voicefor he

tilted

iction

r

art,

imple

ress

or alse

uxury,

ruth

for

fable,

wit

and common

ense

for

nvolved

ialogue

nd

for

ll

ill-painted

ortraits

hich

aricature

nd

distortature.

12

Roland

Mortier,

Diderot

n

Allemagne,

aris,

1954,

P.

59-

J.

G. Robertson

shows

that

Lessing

was emboldened

by

the

treatises

fDiderot

to

disparage

Voltaire,but thathe was, as a playwright, eholdento both (Lessing's

Dramatic

Theory,

ambridge,

1939,

p.

2o6).

13

The

Letters

ere

translated

y

Cyril

Beaumont

from

he revised

dition

t

Saint

Petersburg

n

1803,

which

English

version

London,

i930)

is

quoted

here.

The

original

edition

of

1760

served

as

the basis for the

modem

edition

of Andr6 Levinson

(Paris,

1927).

There

are

many discrepancies

between

the

various

ditions;

n

the

original

Lettre

III,

for

xample,

we

read

that

Mlle.

Clairon

would

be

the first

ragic

actress

of the

universe

were

it

not

for

des

rares

et

sublimes

talents

de Mlle.

Dumesnil,

qui

remuera

infailliblement

es

coeurs

sensibles

aux accents

et au cri de

la

nature'.

The

comparison

s

lacking

n

later

editions.



12/18

FROM

GARRICK

TO

GLUCK

121

Towards

the

conclusion

fthe

Letter

he invents

conversation

with an

actor,

who

claims that

Diderot's

plays

defied

performance:

It

would

be hard

to

find

nyone

capable

of

acting

them;

these

simultaneous cenes would

be awkward

to

render,

the

pantomimic

actionwould be

the rock

on whichthe

majority

f

actors

would

founder;

mimed scene

is the

real

difficulty-it

s

the

touch-stone

f

the true actor.

Those

unfinished

entences,

hose

sighs,

those

hardly

uttered

ounds,

demand

a

truthfulness,

oul,

expression

nd

intelligence

which few

possess;

that

simplicity

of dress

depriving

the

actor

of

embellishmentllows

him

o

be seen

s he s.

Noverre eplies: I agreethatsimplicityn anystyledemands

the

greatest

erfection

..'

While Noverre

was

putting

his ideas

into

practice

at

the

Stuttgart

pera,

reformist

orks

were

emerging

n

other

centres,

ne

of the most vital of which

was

Parma.

There,

under the brilliant

ministry

f

Du

Tillot,

a

French

troupe

for

ballet and

comic

opera

had been

working

ince

755.

Goldoni,

called to

Parma in

1756, provided

among

other

works

the

libretto fLa Buona igluola based on hisplayafter henovel

Pamela

nd

set

by

Duni),

an

epochal

work n the

way

towards

a

new sentimental

train n

opera

buffa.

As such it

is

closely

related to

the

fast-evolving

ituation

n

Paris,

where

from

1757

onwards

disciples

of Diderot

such as

Anseaume

and

Sedaine

began

providing

masterly

oems

for he

comic

operas

of

Duni,

Monsigny

nd

Philidor.

Parma also

saw

bold

experi-

ments

with erious

pera.

Starting

n

1759,

Du

Tillot

set

about

combining

Ramellian

tragidie yrique

nd

opera

eria,

to which

end heemployedhepoetFrugoni nd thecomposer ra&tta."'

Algarotti

was

directly

nvolved

with

the Parmesan

reform.

Historians

have

largely

gnored

this n

attempts

o

connect

him

with

reform

estined

o

become

morefamous.

Vienna

acquired

a

French

repertory

ompany

n

1752

and

for

twenty

years

without

interruption

witnessed

Moliere,

Racine

and

Voltaire

sharing

the

stage

with

the

latest

operas

comiques

nd ballets

from

Paris.

There was

no

permanent

companyfor talian opera between I752 and I765. Count

Durazzo

became sole

ntendant

n

1754-

With

the

encourage-

ment

of

the

all-powerful

hancellor,

Prince

Kaunitz,

he

began

to

encourage riginal

fforts

rom

he

company.

Gluck

was

engaged

from

1755

as musical

arranger

for

the

operas

14

urnishing

he

ubject

f

nother

ecture,

Operatic

nnovation

t Parma:

the

Rameau

daptations

f

Frugoni

nd

Tra&tta',

eliveredt the

Con-

vegno

ul Settecento

armense

el

20

Centenario

ella

Morte i Carlo

Innocenzo

rugoni,

ay 1967.



13/18

122

FROM

GARRICK TO

GLUCK

comiques,

nd

given

an ever

freer

hand to

compose

his own

music.On to

the

Viennese

cene

during

he

winter

f

1760-61

droppedRanieriCalzabigi,fresh rom heoperaticwarsofa

decade

spent

n

Paris.15

he

first

rtistic vent

nvolving

his

presence

was the dramatic ballet

Le Festin

e Pierre u

Don

Juan

put

on

by

the French

troupe

n

October

1761,

with

ets

by

Giovanni

Maria

Quaglio,

choreography

by

Gasparo

Angiolini

an

emulator nd rival

of

Noverre)

and

music

by

Gluck;

Calzabigi

wrote he

programme.

year

ater

he ame

forces

rought

orth

rfeo

d

Euridice.

he

date

was

5

October.

It was, by somecharming oincidenceoffate,thebirthday

of Denis

Diderot.

As

miraculous

masterpiece

s

Orfeo

may

seem,

all

its

elements

had been

prepared-indeed,

prescribed.

French

theatre

rovided

he

ground-swell

nd the

necessary

limate

f

earnestness.

alzabigi

makes

this

clear when

upbraiding

he

Bolognese

public

for

failing

o

respond

o

the

new

conditions

demandedof

audiences:

If I made somefew ttempts t truetragedynVienna, I did itbecause

the

public

of

that

city

s

infinitely

ore

educated and

enlightened

han

ours,

and

because

when

I

put

on

Orfeo

nd

Alceste

he

public

had

been

accustomed

to French

drama

for

2o

years,

and

prized

truth,

ogic,

naturalness,

assion,

entiment,

error,

nd

compassion

o

highly

hat

in the course

of

50 performances

f

Alceste

here

was never

any

noise,

except

an

occasional

sigh,

and

handkerchiefs

ere

always

in

evidence

at this

or that

touching

cene

...

From

a

theatre

where

he

audience

sat

on

display

o

a

theatre

where

the

stage

became

all,

the

way

was

long.

A

considerable

distancewas

travelled,

n

regard

to the lyric stage, by the

Viennese

public

in

1762.

As

to

the musical

constituents

f

Orfeo,

hey

eflect

he whole

of

Gluck's

career.

Some

elements

derive

from

Italian

opera-the

language,

castrato

hero,

Sinfonia

nd

the

great

obbligato

recitative,

Che

puro

ciel'

(which

s

adapted

from

he

composer's

zio

of

1750).

More

depend

upon

what Gluck

acquired

while

working

for

15

Robert

Haas,

Gluck

nd

urazzo

im

BurgtheaterDie

Opira

Comique

n

Wien),

Leipzig, I925. The best ccountofthebackground ftheViennesereform

remains

that of

Hertha

Michel,

'Ranieri

Calzabigi

als Dichter

von

Musikdramen

und

als

Kritiker',Gluck-Jahrbuch,

v

(1918),

99-171.

She

points

out

that

Calzabigi

to

the

end

of his

life

quotes

Diderot

almost

word for

word,

while

being

careful

never

to

mention

his

name

(p.

149).

16

Corrado

Ricci,

I Teatri

i

Bologna,

ologna,

I88o,

p.

636.

The

translation

is

that of Edward

O.

D.

Downes,

The

Operas

f

ohann

Christian

achas

a

Reflection

f

he

ominant

rends

n

opera

eria,

75o-1780,

unpublished

h.D.

Dissertation,

arvard

University,

958,

.

Io4.

I

am

indebted

o the

work

of

Downes

for

timulating

everal

lines

of

investigation

hat led

to

the

present

ffort.



14/18

FROM

GARRICK

TO

GLUCK

123

Durazzo's

French

company-composite

scenes with

chorus

and

ballet,

nstrumental

ances,

Rondeau

structures,

olk-like

'Airsnouveaux' and thevaudeville finale.But the workowes

mostof all

to

a

new

theatrical

ision,

one

which

ees

beyond

any

single

rt

to thefusion

f

the

pictorial,

estic,

erbal,

nd

musical.

Subordinating

ll

parts

of

opera

to

a

single

poetic

idea

had

been

demanded

many

times

n

the

literature,

nd

notably

n

Noverre's

loquent

LetterVIII.

It had

hardly

een

achieved

n

practice,

with

regard

to

a

serious

ubject,

before

Orfeo.

Critics

at the

time remarkedon

the

work's

organic

unity, nd in particular, heweddingofmusic to gesture.17

Like

the

very

irst

peras,

Orfeo

elebrates

he

power

of

ntique

art,

nd

in

this ense

ts

ubject

s

one

with

ts

nspiration.

or

the

work

is unthinkable

part

from

the new and

intense

scrutiny

of classical

antiquity

taking place

around

1750.18

Choice

of

the fabulous

subject

also

marks

a

return

to

seventeenth-centuryperatic

ideals

(those

still

defended,

belatedly,

y

the

proponents

f

tragidie

yrique).

o

extremely

simple

treatment

f

the

ubject

an

have had

but

few

ources

of nspiration. enuded of ntriguend secondary haracters,

denuded

of

nearly

ll

ornamental

anguage,

Orfeo

d

Euridice

seems

to

have

been

constructed

s

if n

answer

o

the

pleas

of

Diderot.

Be

that

as

it

may,

there

was

at

the time

no

msthetic

theory

more

revealing

f

the

opera

than

that

expounded

n

De

la

Poisie

dramatique.

17

As

early

as

the first

erformance

critic

praised Angiolini's

novel feat

of

'uniting horeography iththechoruses nd thestorynsuch a wayas to

give

the

performance

n

appearance

no less

splendid

than

exemplary'

(Gluck-Jahrbuch,

i

(1915),

107).

Subsequent

criticism

was

apt

to

give

the

music

credit

for

making

his

possible.

La

Harpe

called the

opera

the

first

'ofi

a

musique

ne

se

s6parait

amais

de

l'action'.

Gretry

went

even

further: c'6tait

la

musique

elle-meme

qui

6tait

devenue

l'action'.

See

Lionel

de

la

Laurencie,

Orphie

de

Gluck.Etudeet

Analyse,

aris,

1934,

PP- 97,

110o.

18

Most

commentators,

ontent to

follow each other's

example,

name

Winckelmann's

Gedanken

iber

ie

Nachahmung

er

griechischen

erke

n der

Malerei

und

Bildhauerkunst,

resden,

755,

in this

regard,forgetting

hat

priority

n

the

archaeological

pproach

lies elsewhere.Visual

experiences

such as thoseprovidedbytheRecueil 'antiquitisfCaylus (Paris,1752-67)

musthave had a

greater

mpact

upon

the theatre

han

any essay.

Dramas

in the

antique

stylebegan

duringCalzabigi's

period

of

residence

n Paris

with

Guymond

de la

Touche's

Iphiginie

n

Tauride

see

the

criticisms

f

Grimm and

Diderot in

the

Correspondance

ittiraire,

i

[1755-60], 52

i

f.).

It

should

be

recalledthat

Calzabigi

himself

as an

antiquary,

nd thathe

contributed

'Dissertazione

opra

due

marmi

figurati

ell'antica

citta

d'Ercolano'

to

the

Saggi

of

the

Etruscan

Academy

of

Cortona,

vol.

vii,

Rome,

1758.

He

was also a

connoisseur

f

English

etters nd translator

of

Milton,

Thomas

Gray,

Thomson

and Ossian

(Michel,

Ranieri

alzabigi,

p.

IIo).



15/18

124

FROM

GARRICK

TO

GLUCK

There

was

another

personality

nvolved

n

the

creation

of

Orfeo

ho

should

be

credited,

long

withthe

producer,

oet,

composer, horeographernd designer.As far s solo singing

goes,

the

opera

s

very

nearly

one-man

how,

nd

that

man

was

originally

Gaetano

Guadagni.

Although castrato,

he

began

his career

n

comic

opera,

a fact

of

ome

nterest

n

the

light

f

repeated

ssertions

y

Algarotti,

rtes

nd

others

hat

only

n

opera uffa

ere here

talian

singers

who

could

also

act.

Burney

n

his

History

f

Music

gives

a

detailed

description

f

Guadagni:

As an actor he had no equal on any stage in Europe: his figurewas

uncommonly legant

nd

noble;

his

countenance

replete

with

beauty,

intelligence,

nd

dignity;

and

his

attitudes

nd

gestures

were

so

full

of

grace

and

propriety,

hat

they

would

have been excellent tudies

or

statuary.

But

though

his manner

of

singing

was

perfectly

elicate,

polished,

and

refined,

is voice

seemed,

at

first,

o

disappoint

every

hearer

.. The music

he

sung

was

of

the

most

imple

maginable;

a few

notes,

with

frequent

auses,

and

opportunities

f

being

iberatedfrom

the

composer

and the band were

all

he wanted.

And in

these

extemporaneous

ffusions e

proved

the inherent

power

of

melody

divorced from harmony, and unassisted even by unisonous

accompaniment.'

Burney

ad encountered

uadagni

t

Padua in

1770

and at

Munich n

1772. Writing

n his travel

diarieshe

further

confirmshe

mpression,

hich

uite

baffled

im,

f

singer

whowas

at once

ntelligent,

imple

nd dramatic. e

recalled

later

(in

the

History)

he

young

Guadagni

n

London

(1748-55),

inging

orHandel

among

thers;

elevant

o his

appearance

s

Lysander

n The

airies

t

Drury

ane

in

I755

Burneyays hat is deas f ctingwereearned rom arrick,

'who

took

reat

leasure

n

forming

im'.

In

177o

Guadagni

eturned

o

London

o

sing

Orpheus

t

the

Haymarket

heatre.

e

failed

o

please, ays Burney,

because

..

with

his determined

pirit

of

supporting

he

dignity

nd

propriety

f

his

dramatic

character,

by

not

bowing

acknowledgement,

when

applauded,

or

destroying

ll theatrical

llusion

by

returning

o

repeat

an

air...

he so much offendedndividuals,and the opera audience

in

general,

that,

at

length,

he never

appeared

without

being

hissed.

In.

Guadagni's

nsistence

pon

ustaining

ramatic

llusion

e

recognize

he

pupil

f

Garrick.

he anecdote

hows

lso

that

10

Domenico

Corri,

n

A Select ollection

f

heMost

Admired

ongs Edinburgh,

1788],

.

38-43,gives

hree

xcerpts

rom

Orfeo

ith

he ndication

sung

by

Sigr. Guadagni'.

The vocal

line

is indeed

remarkably

free of

added

ornamentation,

xcept

for

brief allies

at the

cadences,

n line

withwhat

Burney ays.



16/18

FROM

GARRICK

TO GLUCK

125

while some

English

audiences

may

have been induced

into

pretending

hat

the

only

reality

was

on the

tage,

t the

opera

suchreformistotions ad made littleheadway.The scoreof

the

London

production,

s

printed

by

Bremner,

eveals

t

to

have been

a

pasticcio,

with

added

music

by

Christian

Bach

and

Guglielmi

on

texts

by

Bottarelli

in order to make

the

Performance

f

a

necessary

ength

for

n

evening's

ntertain-

ment'.

It

was not

simply

padding

that was added

to

the

original.

Guadagni

replaced

section fthe underworld

cene

with

his own music-the

central

cene of the

work,

with

ts

savage furies nd unprecedenteduse of dramatic chorus

Or,

if

there

were

any precedent,

t

is

perhaps

n the

fourth

ct

of

Hippolyte

t

Aricie,

hen

the chorus

reacts

to the

terrifying

storm

hat

envelops

Hippolyte,

henrelates he action

orrow-

fully

n

dialogue

with he

questioning

hadre.

The

interaction

of

suppliant

nd chorus

s more ntense n

Orfeo

nd

carried

out

to

greater

engths,

s

the

nitial

truculence

f

the

furies

s

slowly

worn

away

in

a

graduated

seriesof

responses,

while

moving

mperceptibly

rom

C

minor

to

F minor.

Guadagni

saw fit o rewrite isfinalplea, 'Men tiranne', ubstituting

pretty

ittle une

n

F

major,

omewhat

eminiscentf

Cerco

il

mio ben'

in Act

I.

What thisdoes

to the

drama can

readily

be

imagined.

Gluck

avoided F

major

throughout

he

underworld

scene

n

order

o

save

it

for he

radiant

experience

f

Elysium

greeting ye

and ear

with the

Dance

of the Blessed

Spirits.

The

'improvement'

llustrates

emarkably,

n a

negative

way,

the extent of

Gluck's

new

sense

of

time.20

What

work,

prior

to

Orfeo,had delineated differentandscapes so effectively?

Had

sustained

the

mood-painting

ver

such

long

periods?

Of

precedents

hatGluck

would have

known

here re

again

very

few,

but

Rameau

may

have

been

suggestive

n

Castor

et

Pollux,

by

playing

ff he strident

major

of the D6mons

against

the

sweet-murmuring'

lutes

n

a

G-minor

lysium.21

The

menuet-like

ir

by

Guadagni

mattered ittle

in

a

production

hat

was

mutilatedand ruined

anyway.

t

was

veryplain

(but

with

lourished

lose)

compared

with

heother

additions.The singer an hardlybe blamedfor ivinghimself

20

F.

W.

Sternfeld,

Expression

nd Revision in Gluck's

Orfeo

nd

Alceste',

Essays resented

o

Egon

Wellesz,

d.

SirJack

Westrup,

Oxford,

966,

p.

I

8:

'It is the

size

of

Gluck's

canvas

that is the

vital element.

Concertato,

tonality,

rhythm,

exture,

ffectnot

one

but

ten

numbers;

the

scena

comprises

he

first

alf

of

an

entire act.'

st

La

Laurencie,

Orphie

de

Gluck,

assembles several

eighteenth-century

assessments f

Gluck's

ndebtedness

o Rameau

(pp.

59,

91-92,

Ioi),

and

agrees

with

Abert

about

one

direct thematicresemblance

between the

two

infernal

cenes

(pp.

262-3).



17/18

126

FROM GARRICK

TO

GLUCK

the

opportunity

or ne

more

yric

effusion',

specially

ince

t

was similar

o

other

mall

airs

in

Orfeo,

lbeit

in

the

wrong

place.

But thisraisesa

question

of some

subtlety.

o what

extent

did Gluck

originally

hape

his music

n

order

to

take

advantage

of

what

might

be

called

the

Guadagni style?

The

precise

ircumstances

urrounding

he

origins

f the

opera

still

need much clarification.

hat

Guadagni participated

arly

n

during

ts

creation

s certain.

On

8

July

1762

Zinzendorf

recorded

n

his

diary

hathe

was

at

a dinnerwith

Durazzo

and

Calzabigi

where

Guadagni

sang

Orpheus

to the

accompani-

ment ofGluck, who rendered the

furies.22

The scene described

is

suggestive.

learly,

Orfeo

ould

not have

turned ut

exactly

as

it

did

were

t not

for

he

acting

abilities

f Garrick's

upil.

The same

may

be

trueof

his vocal

peculiarities.

When

Burney

eached

Vienna

ten

years

fter he

premitre

of

Orfeo

e

sought

ut

Gluck,

who

accorded

him

what

would

now

be

called

an interview.

As

set

down

in

writing

n

The

Present

tate

of

Music

in

Germany

1773),

the

portrait

f

the

composer

s one

of

the

earliest

and most

authentic.After

praising

Gluck's

unequalled

inventionin dramatic

painting,

and

theatrical

ffects',

urney

ays:

he studies

poem

a

long

timebefore

he thinks

f

etting

t. He

considers

well the

relation

which each

part

bears

to

the

whole;

the

general

cast

of

each

character,

and

aspires

more

at

satisfying

he

mind,

than

flattering

he

ear. This

is not

only

being

a friend

o

poetry,

ut

a

poet

himself...

It seldom

happens

that a

single

air

of his

operas

can

be

taken

out

of ts niche

and

sung

singly,

withmuch

effect;

he whole

s

a

chain,

of which

a

single

detached

link

s butof small

importance.

The

concepts

come

straight

rom

Gluck-similar

language

flows rom

is own

pen.23

t

is

important

o

establish

urney's

credibility

t this

point,

ecause

what

follows

as been

subject

to

dispute.

Burney

reminds

Gluck

of his London

season

in

1745-6,

then

reports:

He

told

me

that

he owed

entirely

o

England

the

study

of

nature

in

his

dramatic

compositions'

(note

that

he does

not

say

to

English

music'

or

'to music

n

England').

The

passage

has

been

a

source

of

puzzlement

o

22

Haas,

Gluck

und

Durazzo

im

Burgtheater,

.

61.

23

For

example,

n

a

letter

f

1776:

'I

have

striven

o be

...

more

painter

and

poet

than

musician'

The

Collected

orrespondence

nd

Papers

fChristoph

Willibald

luck,

d.

H.

and

E.

H.

Mueller

von

Asow,

London,

1962,

p.

84).

Compare

a

subsequent

passage

of

Burney's

Music

in

Germany

i.

269):

'But

though

M.

Gluck

studies

imple

nature

so

much

in

his

cantilena,

r

voice-part;

yet

n

his

accompaniments,

e is

not

only

often

earned,

but

elaborate;

and

in

this

particular,

e

is

even

more

than

a

poet

nd

musician,

he

is

an

excellent

ainter;

is nstruments

requently

elineate

he

situation

of the

actor,

and

give

a

high

colouring

to

passion'

(Burney's

talics).



18/18

FROM

GARRICK

TO

GLUCK

127

historians."After

mentioning

a caduta ei

Giganti

ith

which

Gluck had

only

moderate

uccess

n

London,

Burney

ontinues

bysaying:

He

then

studied

the

English

taste,

remarked

particularly

what the

audience

seemed

most

to

feel,

nd

finding

hat

plainness

nd

simplicity

had the

greatest

ffect

pon

them,

he

has,

since that

time,

ndeavored

to

write

or

he

voice

more

n the natural tones f thehuman

affections

and

passions

..

Gluck

certainly

did

not mean

London

opera

audiences,

notorious

or

their

ddictionto

the

opposite

of

plainness

nd

simplicity.He mightwell, on the otherhand, have been

speaking

of

English

theatre

n

general,

or

the

acting

of

its

foremost

xponent.25

To

a

Continental

ntellectual f

the

mid-eighteenth

entury

s sensitive

s

Gluck,

the

'English

taste'

meant

something

much wider

than

any single

art. It

meant

those

currents

manating

from

England,

often

by

intermediary

f

the

philosophes,

hat started

ransforming

ll

the

arts

around

1750.

It meant

Shakespeare

nd the

novel,

Romantic realism

and

the

sentimental

implicity

f Greek

Revival as well as

'English

gardens'.

Precisely

ecause Gluck

was

so

sensitive o

such modern

currents

f

thought

and

feeling

ould

he take

the

elements

f

older

opera,

and

make

worksthat

spoke

to

his time

as

did

hardly

any

other,

nd

which still

speak eloquently

today.

The

lecture

was concluded

by

several visual llustrations

f

changing

modes

of

operatic production

during

the

course

of

the

eighteenth

entury.

24Ernest Newman

discredits

Gluck's

statement s

mere

flattery

f

Burney

(Gluck

nd

the

Opera,

ondon,

1895, p. 27).

Rudolf

Gerberreads

the

same

as an arcane

reference

o

Handel's 'influence'

Christoph

illibald

Gluck,

Potsdam, 1930, p. 36). Alfred Einsteinrejectsboth explanations,but

offers

o alternative

Gluck,

ondon,

1936, p. 27).

25

Garrick

returned

o

London

from

season

in Dublin

on

Io

May

1746.

Between

x

and

27 June

he

appeared

as

Lear, Hamlet,

Richard

III,

Othello

and

Macbeth.

The

operatic company

t the

King's

Theatre,

for

which Gluck

was

engaged

as

musical

director,

xtended

ts

season

until

24 June.

The

prima

ballerina

who made

her debut

in

Gluck's

Artamene

(Mlle.

Violette,

alias

Eva

Weigl,

from

Vienna)

was soon

to

become

Mrs. Garrick.

For casts

of

operas

and

plays day

by

day

see The

London

Stage

z660o-8oo,

Part

3:

1729-1747,

d. Arthur

H.

Scouten,

Carbondale,

Illinois,

I96I.

Daniel Heartz, Garrick to Gluck

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