The Wanderer

Donald Macleod unravels Gluck’s multifarious travels in Europe in the mid 18th century - including a trip to London and a meeting with the great George Frideric Handel.

Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) arguably did more to transform opera than any composer of his generation: thinking deeply about how text and music should work together, and trying to strip away fripperies to ensure it was urgent, powerful and arresting. His radical approaches made him one of the most influential composers in history - and yet today, he’s known in the concert hall almost exclusively for one work: his masterpiece “Orpheus and Eurydice”. This week, Donald Macleod puts that right: showcasing Gluck’s dazzling and enchanting music from across his life - whilst also showing off his most famous work across the week in its many fascinating versions.

Gluck led a highly itinerant life in the 1740s, writing operas wherever he went and trying to curry favour with courts across Europe: from Vienna, to Milan, to Paris…to London. He chose a difficult moment to visit England - a Jacobite rebellion was raging in the North - but had a series of memorable encounters with both the royal family and the most famous composer in the land, Handel (who later snarkily commented that Gluck “knew no more about counterpoint than his cook did”).

The Velvet Underground: Venus In Furs (excerpt)

Qual ira intempestiva … Oggi per me non sudi; Oggi per me sudi (La Contesa de'numi, Wq 14)
Daniel Behle, tenor
Armonia Atenea, conductor George Petrou

Trio Sonata no I in C Major (1st mvt)
Musica Antiqua Köln, director Reinhard Goebel

Ciascun siegua il suo stile...Maggior follia non v'e (La Semiramide riconosciuta, Wq 13)
Cecilia Bartoli, soprano (Ircano)
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, conductor Bernhard Forck

Orfeo ed Euridice, Wq. (1774 Naples version) (end of scene 1; scenes 2-3)
Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor (Orfeo)
Amanda Forsythe, soprano (Euridice)
Emőke Baráth, soprano (Amore)
I Barocchisti, Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera, conductor Diego Fasolis

Misera, dove son…; Ah! non son io (Ezio, Wq 15)
Joyce DiDonato, soprano (Fulvia)
Il Pomo d’Oro, condutor Maxim Emelyanychev

Produced by Steven Rajam for BBC Audio Wales & West