Christoph Willibald Gluck

1 8.9

A German composer from the 1700s who changed how operas tell stories

proper noun

: Cristoph Willibald Gluck

Many scholars consider Christoph Willibald Gluck a pioneer of dramatic opera reform in the 18th century.

Examples

Christoph Willibald Gluck's operas played a key role in the development of classical music.
Christoph Willibald Gluck was born in 1714.
The Paris premier of a new Christoph Willibald Gluck opera drew considerable attention from the press.
Many consider Christoph Willibald Gluck to be a pioneer of opera.
Christoph Willibald Gluck's reforms to opera seria significantly changed the landscape of 18th-century music.
In the 1760s, Christoph Willibald Gluck introduced new ideas that transformed opera into a more dramatic art form.
The music of Christoph Willibald Gluck is celebrated for bridging the gap between Baroque and Classical styles.

Synonyms

Christoph Willibald von Gluck

vsChristoph Willibald Gluck

1 9.9

A German composer who changed opera in the 1700s

is the same composer named without the noble particle

Surface Forms

Christoph Willibald Gluck main

Morphology

Christoph + Willibald + Gluck

This is a proper name made of personal name components; knowing the individual tokens 'Christoph', 'Willibald', and 'Gluck' does not allow a learner to infer that the phrase refers to a specific 18th-century German composer. Proper names are essentially arbitrary referents across languages, so the referential meaning cannot be derived from the constituents.

Etymology

Christoph Willibald Gluck was a composer who changed opera in the 1700s by making the music serve the story. He cut away long, showy singing so the drama and the singers' feelings came first, so his name is linked to 'reforming opera' and making opera more natural.