Alceste also has no role for the castrato voice, although Gluck would return to using a castrato in his next opera, Paride ed Elena, and even rewrite the tenor role of Admetus for the soprano castrato Giuseppe Millico, in the 1770 revival of Alceste in Vienna. In 1774, while travelling through Paris, he was also called upon to perform in private the French version of Orphée et Eurydice (with Gluck himself at the harpsichord) before it was premiered at the Opéra.

Librettist Raniero de Calzabigi (based on the play Alcestis by Euripides)
Premiered 1767, December 26th (Burgtheater) in Vienna, Austria
Type Opera
Catalogue Wq. 37
Spoken language Italian
Instruments Orchestra
Chorus/Choir
Voice (Soprano) - Alceste (Alcestis), Queen of Pherae in Thessaly
Voice (Tenor) - Admeto (Admetus), her husband
2x Voice (Treble) - ; Eumelo and Aspasia, their children
Voice (Tenor) - Evandro (Evander), a confidant of Admetus
Voice (Soprano) - Ismene, a confidante of Alcestis
Voice (Baritone) - High Priest of Apollo
Voice (Baritone) - Apollo
Voice (Bass) - Infernal deity
Voice (Bass) - Oracle
Voice (Baritone) - Herald
Links
Autotranslations beta Christoph Willibald Gluck: Alceste, Wq. 37
Christoph Willibald Gluck: Alceste, Wq. 37
Christoph Willibald Gluck: Alceste, Wq. 37