The title character of an opera by this composer resolves to sacrifice herself to save her husband in the aria “Divinités du Styx” (“dee-vee-nee-TAY doo STEEKS”). For 10 points each:
[10m] Name this composer of Alceste, whose Italian version was published with a preface that decried da capo arias and secco recitatives.
ANSWER: Christoph Willibald Gluck [or Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck]
[10h] The French version of Gluck’s Alceste addressed this critic’s complaint that the Italian version was monotonous and put all the best arias in Act I. This composer and critic argued that the French language was too harsh to be used in opera during the War of the Buffoons.
ANSWER: Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Better known for other work.)
[10e] Gluck added the “Dance of the Blessed Spirits” to the 1774 French version of a 1762 opera partially titled for this man. A Monteverdi opera titled for this mythological figure is the oldest to be regularly performed.
ANSWER: Orpheus [or Orfeo; or Orphée; accept Orfeo ed Euridice or Orphée et Eurydice; accept L’Orfeo]
<FW, Other Fine Arts>