Ch. W. Gluck, Iphigénie en Aulide

Gluck, (1714-1787) is most known for his operas in both the Italian and French language. He was born in Germany and earned recognition at the Habsburg court at Vienna were he created the new genre of reform opera with the release of his 1760's version of Orfeo ed Euridice. The strong French influence in these works inspired Gluck to move to Paris. Gluck wrote many operas in France combining practices from both French and Italian styles. Gluck is said to have mastered this style of Opera with his work Iphigénie en Tauride. Later he returned to Vienna where he remained for the rest of his life.

Gluck was contracted for six operas in Paris. His first of Six, Iphigénie en Aulide, sparked a huge controversy within the city. Gluck's competitors brought in Niccolò Piccinni, which created a two sided argument within paris between "Piccinnists and Gluckists".

Iphigénie en Aulide was written and preformed 1779, and consists of four acts. In the reform opera style, Glucks’ goal is to create simplicity in opera. This is that is should be truthful and natural. Most importantly it should get back to its original ideology of telling poetry in a more lyrical style, specifically stories from the Ancient Greek culture. Just like his version of Euridice the recitatives are shorter and they are not companied by solely basso continuo, but by other instruments as well. In traditional Gluck fashion, this opera is based on an Ancient Greek story. This specific opera deals with stories from the Agamemnon family during the aftermath of the Trojan War. In this story Iphigenia is reminded of the sacrifice of her brother Agamemnon. Iphigenia is out to save Orestes from being sacrificed by Agamemnon. She is then sent on a journey with Orestes in search of a statue. After confrontation between Iphigenia, Orestes and Thoas, the temple king, in the temple after they had stolen the statue, Orestes visited by Athena and is thus saved from being sacrificed.

Piccinni also wrote his own version of this opera but did not receive the popularity that Glucks did. It was the fifth of his operas written and preformed in France. During the rehearsals for his sixth opera, Echo Et Narcisse, Gluck suffered a stroke. Echo was not very successful and the series of event caused Gluck to move back to Vienna.