GLUCK, Christoph Willibald (1714-1787). Deed of sale signed (‘Christopf v. Gluck), Vienna, 9 June [1]787.

GLUCK, Christoph Willibald (1714-1787). Deed of sale signed (‘Christopf v. Gluck), Vienna, 9 June [1]787.

In German. One page, 351 x 225mm, bifolium, integral blank. Provenance: Stargardt, 12 March 1993.

Five months before his death, Gluck sells his house and gardens at Perchtoldsdorf. Gluck confirms that he has received 6,200 gulden from Baroness Antonia von Gudenus, via her attorney, in return for the purchase of his house and garden at 'Partholdstorf [Perchtoldsdorf] in the Knappenstrasse number 175 [...] together with the furniture and fittings therein'. The signatures of witnesses 'Joseph v. Strohlendorf' and 'Johann David Schmid' are appended beneath Gluck's.

Gluck acquired his house in Perchtoldsdorf in 1781, shortly after his return to Austria under a cloud, disgusted by Paris and her music critics. He spent his summer months with his wife in the comfortable residence surrounded by large gardens, returning to Vienna for the winters. With some prescience, Gluck sold the Perchtoldsdorf house at the end of what was to be his final summer: he died in Vienna of heart arrhythmia in November 1787, after becoming ill while lunching with friends.

Published in Collected Correspondence and Papers, ed. Hedwig and E. H. Mueller von Asow (1962), p.208.