Iphigénie en Aulide

Christoph Willibald Gluck’s *Iphigénie en Aulide* is a three-act opera and the first piece he composed for the Paris stage. Its libretto, by François-Louis Gand Le Bland Du Roullet, draws on Jean Racine’s tragedy *Iphigénie*, which itself adapts Euripides’ *Iphigenia in Aulis*. The work premiered on 19 April 1774 at the Paris Opéra in the second Salle du Palais-Royal, and a lightly revised version was staged the following year. In 1847, Richard Wagner created a German adaptation with major changes.

Initial reception was lukewarm, though the overture earned strong applause. After its premiere, the opera was scheduled for three performances in April 1774, but the run was cut short by a six-week theatre closure following the death of Louis XV. It returned on 10 January 1775 and was revived nearly every year from 1776 to 1824. Over that half-century, it was performed more than 400 times in Paris, eventually becoming Gluck’s most frequently staged opera there. For the 1775 revival, Gluck revised the work by adding the goddess Diana as a *dea ex machina* and expanding the divertissements. Broadly, two versions exist, but the differences are less significant than those between Gluck’s Italian and French *Alceste* or his *Orfeo ed Euridice* and *Orphée et Euridice*.

Wagner’s 1847 German version, *Iphigenia in Aulis*, presented at the Dresden court, involved heavy editing, rescoring, and new passages, including a different ending. This version was recorded on Eichhorn’s 1972 LP with Anna Moffo and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and revived at the 1984 Waterloo Festival with Alessandra Marc. Wagner’s finale, translated back into French, was also used in La Scala’s 2002/2003 production conducted by Riccardo Muti. The first U.S. performance of Gluck’s original French opera took place on 22 February 1935 at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music, staged by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Alexander Smallens, directed by Herbert Graf with sets by Norman Bel Geddes, and featuring Georges Baklanoff, Cyrena van Gordon, Rosa Tentoni, Joseph Bentonelli, and Leonard Treash.

The story centers on King Agamemnon, who must decide whether to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia to satisfy the goddess Diana and secure fair winds for the Greek fleet sailing to Troy.