RAMEAU’S Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)

 was one of the most important French composers of the late period  was best known today for his music, operas, and works in other theatrical genres but in his lifetime also famous as a music theorist  practically unknown before the age of 40  in his fifties and sixties, he wrote the operas and ballets that made him famous  from his father, an organist, he received his first and, as far as we know, only formal musical instruction  his Traite de l’harmonie (Treatise on Harmony), published in 1722, quickly won him renown as a theorist Major Works

 Les Boreades

 And six other operas , and six -ballets , 7 ballets, harpsichord, trio sonatas, , and motets. Hippolyte et Aricie (October 1, 1733)

 took the traditional form of tragedie en musique with an allegorical prologue followed by five acts

by Simon-Joseph Pellegrin

 Rameau’s first opera at age 50

 was produced in

 premiered to great controversy by the Academie Royale de Musique at its theatre in the Palais-Royal

 established Rameau’s reputation as a composer

 caused vehement confrontations on the street of Paris CASTOR ET POLLUX (October 24, 1737)

 libretto by Pierre-Joseph Bernard

 took the form tragedie en musique in a prologue and five acts

 instrumentation: voices, mixed chorus, and

 contained grand divertissement in each act

 used ballet, shimmering homophonic choruses, dei ex machina, and mythological and magical characters

 premiered at in Palais-Royal, Paris

 was the brilliant success of the Paris Opera in 1754

 was often considered his masterpiece

DardaNUs (November 19, 1739)

 libretto by Charles-Antoine Le Clerc de La Bruere

 took the form tragedie en musique in a prologue and five acts

 instrumentation: 2 piccolos, 2 , 2 , 2 , 2 , and other percussion, strings (with divided ), harpsichord

 premiered at Paris Opera in Palais-Royal, Paris

 caused a public controversy at the time of its premiere

 was a less-than-spectacular success at its premiere, and underwent at least two excessive revisions Zoroastre (December 5, 1749)

 libretto by Louis de Cahusac  instrumentation: orchestra, chorus, and soloists  premiered at Paris Opera in Palais-Royal, Paris  was the fourth of Rameau’s tragedies en musique to be staged and the last to appear during the composer’s own lifetime  Seven years after its premiere had met a lukewarm reception, it was in a heavily revised version in which, on January 19, 1756, the work was a great success and this is the version generally heard today

Les Boreades

 libretto by Louis de Cahusac  instrumentation: voices and orchestra  Rameau composed this dramatic work in the early 1760s, probably completing it in 1763  composed when he was nearly eighty, but there’s no known date of a performance in Rameau’s lifetime  it is now believed that this work was probably designed for private performance in 1763  was finally staged for the first time more than two centuries after Rameau’s death  world premiere was given at the festival in Aix-en Provence in July 1982, in a version conducted by

Rameau’s Impact