Christoph Willibald Gluck was born in Erasbach, Germany on July 2, 1714.  He was interested in music from an early age and studied the violin, cello, and singing.  But with his father strongly opposed to his pursuit of music as a profession, Gluck ran away to Prague in his early teens.  He earned his living making music in the Bohemian capital, though largely self-taught, and was organist at the Tyn Church before he went to Vienna as chamber musician for Prince Lobkowitz.

In 1737 Gluck was engaged to go to Milan and play in the orchestra of Prince Melzi.  While in Milan, Gluck came into contact with G.B. Sammartini, one of the most important figures in Italian music at the time.  Sammartini’s musical influence was evident in Gluck’s early music, including his first opera, Artaserse, which had its premiere in Milan in 1741.  The opera was a great success and was followed by commissions for seven more operas throughout Italy, which included Cleonice (originally called Demetrio), Demofoonte, Tigrane, and Ippolito.  In 1745, at the invitation of Lord Middlesex, Gluck accompanied Prince Lobkowitz to England, where he was commissioned to write two operas for King’s Theatre in London, though they were not very well received. 

For the next six years Gluck’s travels and commissions took him to the likes of Dresden, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Prague, Munich, and Naples, until he finally settled in Vienna in 1752 at the age of 38.  He married Maria Anna Bergin, the daughter of a wealthy Viennese merchant with important connections to the imperial court, and was appointed Konzertmeister, and then later Kapellmeister, of the Prince of Saxe-Hildburghausen's orchestra.  His duties included directing performances and concerts that often included his own music, and in 1754 he wrote the one-act opera Le cinesi which led to further commissions including La danza and L’innocenza giustificata.

In the early 1750s a new artistic era began in Vienna when the imperial chancellor brought a French drama company to perform opéras comiques, which were simply French operas that contained spoken dialogue.  These became so popular that they began to be imported from Paris on a regular basis and Gluck would adapt them for the Viennese stage, replacing some of the music with his own.  In 1758 Gluck composed all of the music for the opéra comique entitled La fausse esclave, which had a very successful premiere and led to seven more operas of the genre, the most successful of which was La rencontre imprévue in 1764.

In 1761 Gluck was introduced to Ranieri de’ Calzabigi who, among other things, was a poet and librettist.  The two collaborated, with Calzabigi providing the subjects and librettos, for what would be Gluck’s three greatest operas.  Frustrated by over-ornamentation and other tendencies which he believed obstructed the dramatic line of a piece, Gluck was determined to revitalize opera by seeking simple beauty and clarity in his work.  The result was Orfeo ed Euridice, the first of his three operas now commonly referred to as the reform operas, which premiered in 1762 to great success.  It was followed by their other collaborations: Alceste in 1767 and Paride ed Elena in 1770.

Gluck then set his sights on French opera and went to Paris to try to impart his new ideals.  He arrived in Paris in 1774 to begin rehearsing Iphigénie en Aulide, which despite a triumphant premiere in April of that year, had a shortened run due to the death of Louis XV which shut down all of the theaters.  With the theaters closed, Gluck took the time to revise Orfeo ed Euridice into a French version with a translation of the text by Pierre Louis Moline.  This new version of Orphée et Eurydice had its incredibly successful premiere in 1774, and Gluck dedicated the opera to Marie Antoinette, his former singing pupil and longtime supporter. 

For the next several years Gluck traveled back and forth presenting new operas in Paris, doing most of his writing in Vienna and then making the trip to Paris to work with the librettists and supervise rehearsals.  He created a French version of Alceste and premiered Armide in 1777 and Iphigénie en Tauride in 1779.  With declining health, and after suffering multiple strokes, Gluck died in Vienna on November 15, 1787 leaving around 35 completed operas, as well as several ballets and instrumental works.