ABSTRACT
It is usually considered that the earliest of Gluck's works with 'reform' tendencies was the festa teatrale 'L'innocenza giustificata', performed at Vienna in 1755 and edited by Einstein for the 'Denk-maler der Tonkunst in Osterreich'. Azione teatrale was, however, a broader and more non-committal term than festa teatrale, and it was sometimes used even to describe works which marked state occasions, as feste always did. Long choral sequences were an ingredient of the festa teatrale, and so were ballets. In these respects the azione resembled it only irregularly. The festa teatrale plot used an allegorical and moralistic theme, with mythical or historical characters, as a vehicle for musical and visual splendour. An admirable festa teatrale for comparison with Gluck's work is Mozart's 'Ascanio in Alba', commissioned by the Viennese court in 1771. This is a little too late, however; and its composer was to become a greater 'reformer' than Gluck himself.
