Gluck

"Mr. Cooper's book approaches Gluck from the angle of modern research and criticism. Before discussing Gluck's reforms, he sets out to give his reader a clear and sane account of Gluck's predecessors and his early musical environment. He has made use of much recent investigation that is at present not accessible in English. He wastes no time over the wordy journalistic squabbles of Gluck's contemporary critics, but prefers to analyse his methods of composition and to point out the inward significance of them. The reader will find that he not only throws new light on the interpretation of the well-known operas, such as Orpheus and Iphigenia in Tauris, but also illuminates Alceste, Paris and Helen, and Armida in such a way as to make us long to see these works once more placed adequately on the stage in this country." --Preface.