ABSTRACT
Christoph Willibald Gluck's position in the history of music is somewhat anomalous. Gluck, in fact, has been set by recent musical historians upon a throne to which he is scarcely entitled. The history of opera from the first has been the tale of a struggle between two opposing forces, dramatic and lyrical expression. The history of opera, as has already been observed, is a continual struggle between two opposing forces of dramatic and lyrical expression, and Gluck's career is to a certain extent a miniature reproduction of the same struggle. Gluck's theory as to the raison d'etre of opera led him into strange passes, but his natural instinct was sound. In "Armide," the second of his great works written for Paris, Gluck's instinct took its revenge upon his reason. His instinct led him to lyrical expression, but his theories on opera compelled him to pay due respect to dramatic truth.
