Christoph Willibald (von) Gluck (July 2, 1714 - November 15, 1787) was a German composer, one of the most important opera composers of the Classical music era, particularly remembered for Orfeo ed Euridice. He is also remembered as the music teacher of Marie Antoinette who as Queen of France promoted Gluck and was his patron. Some regard him as the father of the Rococo and Classical age of music---at least in Opera. Gluck's operatic reforms, eliminating all that was undramatic, were a turning point in the history of the medium.
