Styled a festa teatrale, Le feste d'Apollo consists of a prologue and three self-contained acts on the model of French opéra-ballet (the court of Parma was passionately interested in French culture). Gluck knew the Archduchess Maria Amalia well as she had sung in two of his operas, Il Parnaso confuso and La corona, in Vienna. The composer recycled a lot of music from his earlier operas in the score of Le feste. In fact, the whole of the third act, Orfeo, is a shorter reworking of his most famous piece, Orfeo ed Euridice (1762). The overture to the prologue is taken from Telemaco. Gluck later reused some of the choruses in two of the operas he wrote for Paris, Iphigénie en Aulide and Iphigénie en Tauride.

Original Name Le feste d’Apollo
Librettist Carlo Gastone della Torre di Rezzonico; Giuseppe Maria Pagnini; Giuseppe Pezzana; Ranieri de' Calzabigi
Date of composition 1769
Premiered 1769, August 24th (Teatrino della Corte) in Parma, Province of Parma, Italy
Type Opera
Catalogue Wq. 38
Spoken language Italian
Instruments Voice (Tenor) - Sacerdote d'Apollo (Priest of Apollo)
Orchestra
Chorus/Choir
Voice (Castrato) - Anfrisio
Voice (Soprano) - Arcinia
Voice (Soprano) - Bauci (Baucis)
Voice (Castrato) - Filemone (Philemon)
Voice (Tenor) - Giove (Jupiter)
Voice (Castrato) - Aristeo (Aristaeus)
Voice (Tenor) - Ati
Voice (Soprano) - Cirene (Cyrene)
Voice (Soprano) - Cidippe (Cydippe)
Voice (Castrato) - Orfeo (Orpheus)
Voice (Soprano) - Euridice (Eurydice)
Voice (Soprano) - Amore (Cupid)
Autotranslations beta Christoph Willibald Gluck: The Festivals of Apollo, Wq. 38
Christoph Willibald Gluck: The Festivals of Apollo, Wq. 38
Christoph Willibald Gluck: The Festivals of Apollo, Wq. 38