The fact that “ opéra  comique ”, rooted in the folk art of the French vaudeville,  was brought to its  high-point by Gluck, a German composer working in Italian, clearly demonstrates  the close  relationships and interconnections made in European musical life in the mid-18th  century. With  “ L’Ile  de Merlin  ou  Le  monde   renversé ” Gluck created an  enchanting buffo work  which draws its  charm not only from its colourful music with appealing  details of  instrumentation and  characterisation but also from the juxtaposition of real, mythological and  fairy-tale figures as well  as from the critical social undertones in the libretto.<br>
The new edition is based on the Gluck Complete  Edition, Series IV,  volume 1, edited by  Günter   Haußwald .<br>