Question: What style of opera created around the year 1600 was Christoph Willibald Gluck a composer of?

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Christoph Willibald Gluck: Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (] ; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period.  Born in the Upper Palatinate (now part of Germany) and raised in Bohemia, he gained prominence at the Habsburg court at Vienna, where he brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices that many intellectuals had been campaigning for over the years.  With a series of radical new works in the 1760s, among them "Orfeo ed Euridice" and "Alceste", he broke the stranglehold that Metastasian "opera seria" had enjoyed for much of the century.

Gluck (crater): Gluck is a crater on Mercury.  It has a diameter of 105 kilometers.  Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1979.  Gluck is named for the Austrian composer Christoph Willibald Gluck, who lived from 1714 to 1787.

Ipermestra: Ipermestra ("Hypermnestra") is an opera by the composer Christoph Willibald Gluck.  It takes the form of an opera seria in three acts.  The Italian-language libretto is by Pietro Metastasio.  The opera premiered on 21 November 1744 at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo in Venice.  "Ipermestra" is the first of Gluck's operas to survive complete.

Orfeo ed Euridice discography: The following discography for Gluck's opera "Orfeo ed Euridice" is mainly based on the research of Giuseppe Rossi, which appeared in the programme notes to the performance of the work at the 70th Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in 2007, under the title "Discografia – Christoph Willibald Gluck – Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Eurydice)".  Rossi's data has been checked against the sources referenced in the notes.

Armida (Salieri): Salieri's opera was first performed at the Vienna Burgtheater on 2 June 1771, and his composition was much influenced by the aesthetics of Christoph Willibald Gluck, who attempted to reform "opera seria" by tying the drama more closely to the music.  Salieri's overture follows the principles set out by Gluck in the preface to "Alceste".  Other Gluckian influences display themselves in the frequent interplay of soloist and chorus, and the heavy use of chorus overall.

L'arbre enchanté: L’arbre enchanté, ou Le tuteur dupé ("The Magic Tree, or, the Tutor Duped"), Wq 42, is a one-act opéra comique by Christoph Willibald Gluck to a libretto based on the 1752 opéra-comique "Le poirier" ("The Peartree") with a text by Jean-Joseph Vadé.  Vadé's libretto was based on a tale from Boccaccio's "Decameron", as retold by Jean de La Fontaine.  Gluck's opera was written for the nameday of Emperor Francis Stephan, premiering at the Schönbrunn palace in Vienna on the evening of October 3, 1759, anniversary of the death of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Étienne-Joseph Floquet: Étienne-Joseph Floquet (23 November 174810 May 1785) was a French composer, mainly of operas.  He was born in Aix-en-Provence and began his career by writing church music, before moving to Paris in 1767.  There, Floquet made a name for himself with the requiem he wrote for the funeral of the composer Jean-Joseph de Mondonville in 1772.  Floquet's first work for the Paris Opéra, the "ballet héroïque" "L'union de l'amour et les arts," was a triumph, enjoying 60 performances between its premiere in September 1773 and January 1774.  The audience at the premiere was so enthusiastic that the performance had to be stopped several times because of the applause and, at the final curtain, Floquet was presented on stage, the first composer in the history of the Paris Opéra to enjoy such an honour.  However, the arrival of the German composer Christoph Willibald Gluck in Paris later that year changed French musical taste and Floquet's style became unfashionable.  After the failure of his next opera, "Azolan", Floquet decided to travel to Italy to perfect his musical education.  There he studied composition under Nicola Sala in Naples and counterpoint under Padre Martini in Bologna, where he turned momentarily back to church music composing a "Te deum".

Italian opera: Italian opera is both the art of opera in Italy and opera in the Italian language.  Opera was born in Italy around the year 1600 and Italian opera has continued to play a dominant role in the history of the form until the present day.  Many famous operas in Italian were written by foreign composers, including Handel, Gluck and Mozart.  Works by native Italian composers of the 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini, are amongst the most famous operas ever written and today are performed in opera houses across the world.

Paride ed Elena: Paride ed Elena (] ; "Paris and Helen") is an opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck.  It is the third of Gluck's so-called reform operas for Vienna, following "Alceste" and "Orfeo ed Euridice", and the least often performed of the three.  Like its predecessors, the libretto was written by Ranieri de' Calzabigi.  The opera tells the story of the events between the Judgment of Paris and the flight of Paris and Helen to Troy.  It was premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 3 November 1770.

Orfeo ed Euridice: Orfeo ed Euridice (French version: Orphée et Eurydice ; English: "Orpheus and Eurydice") is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck based on the myth of Orpheus, set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi.  It belongs to the genre of the "azione teatrale", meaning an opera on a mythological subject with choruses and dancing.  The piece was first performed at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 5 October 1762 in the presence of Empress Maria Theresa.  "Orfeo ed Euridice" is the first of Gluck's "reform" operas, in which he attempted to replace the abstruse plots and overly complex music of "opera seria" with a "noble simplicity" in both the music and the drama.

Supporting paragraphs: Christoph Willibald Gluck Italian opera
Answer: Italian