Will i bald

Ritter von, compr b. We i den wang, near Neumarkt, in Upper Palatinate, July 2, 1714; d. Vienna, Nov. 15, 1787. Father was gamekeeper on estates of Prince Lobkowitz at Eisenberg, where G. was taught in village school, at 12 sent to Jesuit School at Kommotau he learned vln., harpsichord, org., and singing; 1732 at Prague studied under Czemohorsky, learned 'cello, supporting himself by singing in church, playing vln. at village dances and concerts; 1736 at Vienna met Prince Melzi, who, as his patron, sent him to Italy, where he studied 4 years under Sam martin i; 1741- 45 produced nine operas m different Italian cities with such succe that in 1745 he was invited to London as compr. for Hay market; the failure there of two operas and pasticcio and scorn of Handel for ms ignorance of counterpoint are said to nave led G. to examine his own faults; observation of Rameau's operas in Paris, subsequent study of aesthetics after visit to Dresden and Hamburg led to di atisfaction with Italian opera; 1749-67 he produced in Vienna many operas, the only imortant one being Orfeo ed Eundice?762; with Alceste 1767, and Paride ed Elena 1770, he definitely broke with old traditions according to well thought-out theories which he made clear in prefaces to published scores (1769-70); unappreciated at home, encouraged by Bailly du Rollet of French emba y (librettist of Iphi^ g ), went to Paris to produce Iphtg en Avlide; only the influence of Marie Antoinette, former pupil 109 GOBBAERTS of G’s, seems to have enabled him to withstand violent opposition, succe ful performance revolutionized at one blow opera; Orpk 1774, and Alceste 1776, rearrangements of earlier works, continued succe ; Armide 1777 showed power m tender as well as tragic «tvle«: partisans of Piccinm and old 7r.il kip music attacked G. by pamphlets and m other ways until the “war” actually divided French society; G. continued, with Iphig en Taunde 1779, and Echo et Nara e 1779; forced by ill health to retire to Vienna 1780 Newman says, in Gluck and the “ Opera, that his theories of subordinating music entirely to poetry were really neither new nor practical But to have insisted on the nece ity for making the verbal basis sound and sane; to have repre ed the vanity and egotism of singers and to have galvanized the orchestra to life; to nave struck away all the pernicious excrescences that disfigured the aiia and to have made it a genuine expie ion of pa ion, to have made the overture elucidatory of coming drama, and given unity to what had before been a mere pasticcio was no small labor.” Gobbaerts, Jean Louis, compr. b Antwerp, Sept. 28, 1835, d. Saint- Gilles, near Bru els, May 5, 18S6 Pupil of Bru els Cons.; under pseudonyms Stieabbog, Ludovic, and Levi produced some 1200 pf pieces, some very popular.