Editing Christoph Willibald Gluck (section)

=== Early life ===
In 1727 or 1728, when Gluck was 13 or 14, he went to [[Prague]].<ref>Heartz 1988, p. 521.</ref> A childhood flight from home to Vienna is included in several contemporary accounts of Gluck's life, including Mannlich's.<ref>Howard 1995, pp. 2–3, provides commentary and an English translation of the entire excerpt from Mannlich.</ref> However, some scholars have cast doubt on Gluck's picturesque tales of earning food and shelter by his singing as he travelled. Most scholars now feel it is more likely that the object of Gluck's travels was not Vienna but Prague.<ref>Heartz 1988, p. 522; Brown & Rushton, 2001; Croll & Croll 2014, p. 24.</ref> Gluck's German biographer Hans Joachim Moser claimed in 1940 to have found documents showing Gluck matriculated in logic and mathematics at the [[Charles University in Prague|University of Prague]] in 1731.<ref>Moser 1940, p. 24.</ref> [[Gerhard Croll|Gerhard]] and Renate Croll find this astonishing,<ref>Croll & Croll 2014, p. 25.</ref> and other biographers have been unable to find any documents supporting Moser's claim.<ref>Howard 1995, p. 6; Heartz 1988, p. 522, citing Arnošt Mahler "Glucks Schulzeit. Zweifel und Widerspruche in den biographischen Daten," ''[[Die Musikforschung]]'', vol. 27 (1974), {{pp.|457|460}}.</ref> At the time the University of Prague boasted a flourishing musical scene that included performances of both Italian opera and [[oratorio]].<ref name="Brown & Rushton 2001 Early Life"/> Gluck sang and played violin and cello, and also the organ at [[Týn Church]].<ref>Howard 1995, p. 6.</ref>

Gluck eventually left Prague without taking a degree and vanishes from the historical record until 1737.<ref name="Brown & Rushton 2001 Early Life"/> Nevertheless, the memories of his family and indirect references to this period in later documents give good grounds for believing Gluck arrived in Vienna in 1734, where he likely was employed by the Lobkowitz family at their palace in the [[Minoritenplatz]]. Philipp Hyazinth Lobkowitz, Gluck's father's employer, died on 21 December 1734, and his successor, his brother [[Johann Georg Christian, Prince of Lobkowicz|Johann Georg Christian Lobkowicz]], is thought to have been Gluck's employer in Vienna from 1735 to 1736. Two operas with texts Gluck himself was later to set were performed during this period: [[Antonio Caldara]]'s ''[[La clemenza di Tito (Caldara)|La clemenza di Tito]]'' (1734) and ''Le cinesi'' (1735). It is likely that the Lobkowitz family introduced Gluck to the Milanese nobleman Prince Antonio Maria Melzi, who engaged Gluck to become a player in his orchestra in Milan. The 65-year-old prince married the 16-year-old Maria Renata, Countess of Harrach, on 3 January 1737, and not long after returned with Gluck to Milan.<ref>Howard 1995, pp. 8–9; Croll & Croll 2014, p. 27.</ref>

====Question of Gluck's native language====
According to the music historian [[Daniel Heartz]], there has been considerable controversy concerning Gluck's native language. Gluck's protégé in Vienna, the Italian-born [[Antonio Salieri]], wrote in his memoirs (translated into German by [[Ignaz von Mosel]]), that "Gluck, whose native tongue was [[Czech language|Czech]], expressed himself in German only with effort, and still more so in French and Italian."<ref>Quoted and translated by Heartz 1988, pp. 524–525, citing [https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/view/bsb10600260?page=97 Mosel 1827, p. 93]: "Gluck, dessen Muttersprache die böhmisch war, drückte sich in der deutschen, und noch mehr in der französischen und italienischen, nur mit Mühe aus...&nbsp;."</ref> Salieri also mentions that Gluck mixed several languages when speaking: German, Italian and French, like Salieri himself.<ref>Mosel 1827, p. 93.</ref> Gluck's first biographer, {{ill|Anton Franz Schmid|de}}, wrote that Gluck grew up in a German-speaking area, and that Gluck learned to speak Czech, but did not need it in Prague and in his later life.<ref>Schmid 1854, [https://books.google.com/books?id=fURAAAAAYAAJ&vq=salieri&pg=PA389 pp. 389–390]; cited by Heartz 1988, p. 525.</ref> Heartz writes: "More devious manoeuvres have been attempted by Gluck's German biographers of this [the 20th] century, while the French ones have, without exception, taken Salieri at his word. His German biographer Max Arend objected that not a single letter written in Czech can be found, to which [[Jacques-Gabriel Prod'homme]] countered that "no letters written by [[Franz Liszt|Liszt]] in Hungarian were known either, but does this make him a German?"<ref>Heartz 1988, p. 525; Arend 1920, [http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015007877767?urlappend=%3Bseq=22 p. 20]; Prod'homme 1948, chapter 1.</ref> Hans Joachim Moser wanted a lyric work in Czech as proof.<ref>Moser 1940, pp. 20–21, cited by Heartz 1988, p. 525.</ref> In fact, the music theorist Laurent Garcin, writing in 1770 (published 1772) before Gluck arrived in Paris, included Gluck in a list of several composers of Czech ''[[opéras-comiques]]'' (although such a work by Gluck has yet to be documented).<ref>Garcin 1772, [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1087678/f145.image p. 115]; reproduced by Heartz 1988, p. 527; cited by Brown & Rushton 2001.</ref> A presentation by Irene Brandenburg classifying Gluck as a Bohemian composer was considered controversial by her German colleagues.<ref>[https://gluck-gesellschaft.org/assets/Uploads/2jul97.pdf Mitteilungen der Internationalen Gluck-Gesellschaft] Nr. 2, July 1997 {{in lang|de}}</ref>