Armide (Gluck)

From Freepedia

For other works by the same name, see Armide.

Armide is an opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck. The libretto was written by Philippe Quinault, based on Torquato Tasso's La Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem Delivered).

It was first performed in Paris at the Academie Royale on September 23, 1777. Gluck seemed at ease in facing French traditions head-on when he composed Armide. By utilizing this drama Gluck challenged the long-standing and apparently inviolable ideals of French practice, and in the process he revealed these values capable of renewal through "modern" compositional sensitivities. Critical response and resultant polemic resulted in one of those grand imbroglios common to French intellectual life. Gluck struck a nerve in French sensitivities, and whereas Armide was not one of his more popular works, it remained a critical touchstone for aesthetic and cultural concerns of French opera.

Armide is part of the standard operatic repertoire. There are several recordings of it, and it is occasionally performed.