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- Gluck, Christoph Willibald
Duration: 4 minutes
Description: Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) composed the opera IPHEGENIA EN AULIDE, Wq. 40, in 1774, when it was premiered on April 19 at the Paris Opéra. Following the unpopular short 1774 run, Gluck made some revisions the following year, including the introduction of the goddess Diana at the very end as a deus ex machina. The story focuses on the King of Mycenae, Agamemnon, who is instructed by the Goddess Diana to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia to guarantee his soldiers a safe sea journey to Troy to fight the war there. Agamemnon struggles with this, but decides to lure his daughter to the place of sacrifice by telling her he has promised her hand in marriage to Achilles. When he finally decides against it, his own soldiers demand he go through with the sacrifice to protect their lives. Only the appearance of Diana at the end to relent on her demand resolves the situation. The aria “Brillant auteur de la lumière” (“Brilliant author of light”) is sung by Agamemnon at the beginning of Act I, as he prays to the god Apollo to help convince his sister Diana to find another victim to sacrifice other than Agamemnon’s own daughter. Instrumentation: 0.0.0.2: 0.0.0.0: Str (4.4.3.3.3 in set): Solo Bar. Reprint edition.