GLUCK GLUE. 



487 



\vlio was anxious to shine in particular scenes and 

 airs, at the expense of the whole. The operas A 1- 

 ceste, Orpheus, and Helena and Paris, which Gluck 

 composed in Vienna, between the years 1762 and 69, 

 and which were there published, produced an over- 

 whelming effect, by their boldness and originality, 

 and served, together with the later ones, Armida 

 and the two Iphigenias, to establish the fame of their 

 author. Even in Italy, where the taste of the peo- 

 ple had long been perverted, the severe and lofty 

 muse of the German artist was received with enthusi- 

 asm, and the theatres of Rome, Parma, Naples, Mi- 

 lan and Venice, hastened to give his Helen and Or- 

 pheus. Alceste was not, at that time, attempted in 

 Italy, as Gluck himself says, on account of the diffi- 

 culty of the execution. So popular were these ope- 

 ras, that the theatre in Bologna alone took 900,000 

 lire (about 180,000 dollars) in one winter, and by 

 one play (Orpheus) . Still greater was the triumph 

 of the later works, above mentioned. Durollet, 

 who, during his residence in Vienna, had become ac- 

 quainted with Gluck, undertook to convert Racine's 

 Iphigenia into an opera, and offered his friend the 

 text for composition, an offer which Gluck more 

 readily accepted, as lie was impressed with the. idea 

 that the French language was better adapted to the 

 expression of strong, deep, and manly feeling, even 

 in music, than the Italian an opinion which, as far 

 as it regarded music, was directly contrary to Rous- 

 seau's, and which, notwithstanding the popularity of 

 G luck's music on the French stage, time has not con- 

 firmed. With a degree of care which he had never 

 before given, Gluck now began his task. Instead 

 of the two or three weeks which he had formerly oc- 

 cupied in the composition of an opera, a whole year 

 was given to the completion of the masterpiece which 

 he designed for Paris. But here the German artist 

 met with almost insuperable obstacles, thrown in his 

 way by national vanity and deep rooted prejudice. 

 As soon as it was known that a work of his pen was 

 to be offered to the great Parisian opera, the whole 

 host of professional musicians and amateurs exclaim- 

 ed against it ; and he would never have attained his 

 object, had not his former pupil and subsequent patro- 

 ness, the queen Maria Antoinette, commanded his 

 piece to be received. In the beginning of the year 

 1774, Gluck himself, now sixty years old, arrived in 

 Paris ; and at length, on the 19th April, the long pro- 

 mised opera was represented for the first time. The 

 house was filled to overflowing with spectators from 

 all classes, and the impression which the whole pro- 

 duced was immense. At the very outset (a thing 

 unparalleled in the musical annals of France), the 

 overture was encored^ and, with each part, the enthusi- 

 asm increased. In the two first years, this piece 

 was performed 170 times. Soon after, the Orpheus, 

 the words of which were translated into French, was 

 brought upon the stage, and received with equal ap- 

 plause. Two other operas UArbre enchante, and La 

 Cythere assiegee), which were performed hi the fol- 

 lowing year, were unsuccessful. Not so, however, 

 the celebrated Alceste ; in which, as in the choruses 

 of furies in Orpheus, the hearer seems to be surround- 

 ed with the horrors of Tartarus. Armida (in 1777) 

 met still greater applause ; though formerly, when 

 represented with Lully's effeminate music, it had not 

 been popular. This great opera was repeated thirty 

 times in succession, and the reputation which it pro- 

 cured its author was only exceeded by that of his two 

 last great masterpieces, Iphigenia in Tauris (1779), 

 and Echo and Narcissus. Two other operas (Roland 

 and the Danaides) were not completed. Gluck threw 

 the rough sketch of the former into the fire, having 

 heard that his rival in music, Piccini, had undertak- 

 en to compose the same subject: and death pre- 



vented the completion of the latter. (It has since 

 been finished, with tolerable success, by Salieri,) 

 In 1784, Gluck returned to Germany, with a large 

 fortune, and died in Vienna, on the 15th November, 

 of the same year. We must here notice the contest 

 that arose between the admirers of Gluck, whose 

 compositions, by their high and finished style, pro- 

 duced a reformation in the music of France, and the 

 followers of the old Italian and French school, at 

 whose head stood Piccini, unquestionably a man of 

 genius. All Paris took sides ; and for a long time 

 the Gluckists and Piccinists contended with the same 

 bitterness, as did formerly the Jansenists and Jesuits, 

 and, more lately, the Royalists and Jacobins. Gluck 

 and Piccini themselves to their honour be it said 

 shared this feeling but for a short time, and, in con 

 sequence of the mutual esteem which, notwithstand- 

 ing the difference of their opinions, they could not 

 but entertain for each other, had long become recon- 

 ciled, while their blind disciples still maintained the 

 warfare. It ought to be mentioned, that, in this mu- 

 sical contest, J. J. Rousseau, Arnaud, and Suard, 

 sided with Gluck, and Laharpe and Marmontel with 

 Piccini. It was natural that the victory should fall 

 to those who attached themselves to the reformer. 

 The essays which appeared on this occasion, under 

 the names of the above mentioned authors, are pre- 

 served in an interesting collection, called Memoires 

 pour servir a I'Histoire de la Revolution operee dans 

 la Musiquepar M. le Chevalier Gluck. A year after 

 Gluck 's death, the marble bust of the great artist, 

 made by Houdon, by subscription, was placed in the 

 foyer of the opera house, by command of Louis XVI. 

 In dramatic music, Gluck stands unrivalled m his 

 art ; and it is impossible to describe in words the 

 depth and truth of expression which he knew how to 

 give to the most overpowering, as well as the gentlest 

 scenes, without any of the vulgar embellishments of 

 trills, cadences, &c. Contrary to the custom of most 

 composers, Gluck strictly adhered to the genius of 

 the language, and never allowed himself improperly 

 to lengthen or shorten words, in favour of any parti- 

 cular passage. In the dedication of his A Iceste to 

 Leopold, grand duke of Tuscany, his excellent views 

 of dramatic music are beautifully and simply ex- 

 pressed. He introduced the trombone into the 

 French orchestra, and the rare and judicious use of 

 that instrument then served to heighten the effect of 

 his great music pieces, as much as the ridiculous 

 abuse of it at the present time, in many compositions, 

 entirely destroys the grandeur of effect intended to 

 be produced. 



GLUCKSTADT ; chief place of the duchy of 

 Holstein, seat of the supreme court of the duchy, and 

 of Lauenburg ; about sixteen leagues north-west of 

 Hamburg, and 68 south-west of Copenhagen. Lat. 

 53 47' 42" N. ; Ion. 9 27' 10" E. Population, 

 5176. The inhabitants are largely concerned in the 

 Greenland whale fishery. The harbour is not com- 

 modious. 



GLUE, among artificers ; a tenacious, viscid mat- 

 ter, which serves as a cement. Glues are of differ- 

 ent kinds, according to the various uses they are de- 

 signed for, as the common glue, glove glue, parch- 

 ment glue, isinglass glue, &c. The common or strong 

 glue is made ot the skins of animals ; as oxen, cows, 

 calves, sheep, &c. ; and the older the creature is, 

 the better is the glue made of its hide. Indeed, 

 whole skins are rarely used for this purpose, but onlj 

 the shavings, parings, or scraps of them ; or the feet, 

 sinews, &c. Those who make glue of parings, first 

 steep them two or three days in water ; then wash 

 them well out, boil them to the consistence of a thick 

 jelly, which they pass, while hot, through osier bas- 

 kets, to separate the impurities from it, and then let 



