Gluck

Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) was (born in what is modern-day Germany) a composer who gained most of his prominence at the Habsburg court in Vienna, bringing in a reform in opera with works such as Orpheo ed Euridice and Alceste. The strong influence of French opera brought him to Paris in 1773 where he fused French and Italian styles into a unique synthesis. He influenced Mozart who followed him at the Court in Vienna, as well as Weber and Wagner.