A German musical composer and reformer of the opera; made his first appearance in Vienna; studied afterwards for some years under San-Martini of Milan, and brought out his first opera "Artaxerxes," followed by seven others in the Italian style; invited to London, he studied Handel, attained a loftier ideal, and returned to the Continent, where, especially at Vienna and Paris, he achieved his triumphs, becoming founder of a new era in operatic music; in Paris he had a rival in Piccini, and the public opinion was for a time divided, but the production by him of "Iphigénie en Aulide" established his superiority, and he carried off the palm (1714-1787).