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 François Gand-Leblanc du Roullet (d’après Ranieri de’ Calzabigi)
Date of composition 1776
Premiered 1776, April 23rd (Theatre of the Palais-Royal) in Paris, France
Type Opera
Catalogue Wq. 44
Spoken language Italian
Instruments Chorus/Choir
Orchestra
Voice (Soprano) - Alceste, Queen of Thessaly
Voice (Tenor) - Admète, her husband
2x Voice (Treble) - ; Their two children (silent characters)
Voice (Tenor) - Evandre, leader of the Pherae people
Voice (Baritone) - High Priest
Voice (Baritone) - Hercule (Hercules)
Voice (Baritone) - Apollon (Apollo), protector of the house of Admetus
Voice (Bass) - Thanathos, an infernal deity
Voice (Bass) - Oracle
Voice (Baritone) - Herald
Chorus/Choir - Choryphaei (chorus leaders)- soprano, contralto, baritone, bass
Links
Autotranslations beta Christoph Willibald Gluck: Alceste, Wq. 44
Christoph Willibald Gluck: Alceste, Wq. 44
Christoph Willibald Gluck: Alceste, Wq. 44