1.
Jean-Philippe Rameau
–
Jean-Philippe Rameau was one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the Baroque era. He replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera and is considered the leading French composer for the harpsichord of his time. He was almost 50 before he embarked on the career on which his reputation chiefly rests today. His debut, Hippolyte et Aricie, caused a stir and was fiercely attacked by the supporters of Lullys style of music for its revolutionary use of harmony. Rameaus music had gone out of fashion by the end of the 18th century, today, he enjoys renewed appreciation with performances and recordings of his music ever more frequent. The details of Rameaus life are obscure, especially concerning his first forty years. He was a man, and even his wife knew nothing of his early life. Rameaus early years are particularly obscure and he was born on 25 September 1683 in Dijon, and baptised the same day. His father, Jean, worked as an organist in churches around Dijon. The couple had children, of whom Jean-Philippe was the seventh. Rameau was taught music before he could read or write and he was educated at the Jesuit college at Godrans, but he was not a good pupil and disrupted classes with his singing, later claiming that his passion for opera had begun at the age of twelve. Initially intended for the law, Rameau decided he wanted to be a musician, and his father sent him to Italy, on his return, he worked as a violinist in travelling companies and then as an organist in provincial cathedrals before moving to Paris for the first time. Here, in 1706, he published his earliest known compositions, the works that make up his first book of Pièces de clavecin. In 1709, he moved back to Dijon to take over his fathers job as organist in the main church, the contract was for six years, but Rameau left before then and took up similar posts in Lyon and Clermont. During this period, he composed motets for church performance as well as secular cantatas, in 1722, he returned to Paris for good, and here he published his most important work of music theory, Traité de lharmonie. This soon won him a reputation, and it was followed in 1726 by his Nouveau système de musique théorique. In 1724 and 1729, he published two more collections of harpsichord pieces. Rameau took his first tentative steps into composing music when the writer Alexis Piron asked him to provide songs for his popular comic plays written for the Paris Fairs
2.
Hippolyte et Aricie
–
Hippolyte et Aricie was the first opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau. It was premiered to great controversy by the Académie Royale de Musique at its theatre in the Palais-Royal in Paris on October 1,1733, the French libretto, by Abbé Simon-Joseph Pellegrin, is based on Racines tragedy Phèdre. The opera takes the form of a tragédie en musique with an allegorical prologue followed by five acts. Early audiences found little else conventional about the work, I have been a follower of the stage since I was 12 years old. I only began work on an opera when I was 50, I still didnt think I was capable, I tried my hand, I was lucky, I continued. Rameau was almost 50 when he wrote Hippolyte et Aricie and there was little in his life to suggest he was about to embark on a new career as an opera composer. He was famous for his works on music theory as well as books of harpsichord pieces, the closest he had come to writing dramatic music was composing a few secular cantatas and some popular pieces for the Paris fairs for his friend Alexis Piron. Yet Rameaus eagerness to write an opera is shown by a letter he wrote in October 1727 to Antoine Houdar de La Motte asking for a libretto, the turning point finally came in 1732. In February that year, Michel Montéclairs tragédie en musique Jephté premiered at the Paris Opéra, Rameau was said to be so impressed by the opera that he approached its librettist, Pellegrin, for a tragédie en musique of his own. The result was Hippolyte et Aricie, in spring 1733, the new opera was given a run-through either at the house of Rameaus patron, La Pouplinière, or at that of the Prince de Carignan. It went into rehearsal at the Opéra in July, even at this stage there were problems and Rameau had to cut the second Trio des Parques in the second act because the performers found it too hard to play. This was just a foretaste of the difficulties to come when Hippolyte et Aricie received its premiere on 1 October, Tragédie en musique had been invented as a genre by Lully and his librettist Quinault in the 1670s and 1680s. Their works had held the stage ever since and come to be regarded as a French national institution, when Hippolyte et Aricie made its debut, many in the audience were delighted, praising Rameau as the Orpheus of our century. André Campra was struck by the richness of invention, There is enough music in this opera to make ten of them, others, however, felt the music was bizarre and dissonant. They saw Rameaus work as an assault on Lullian opera and French musical tradition, then suddenly the Ramellian aesthetic played havoc with the confidence of the French in their patrimony, assaulted their national opera that they hoped was unchangeable. Structurally, Hippolyte followed the established by Lully, a French overture followed by a prologue and five acts, each with its own divertissement containing dances, solos. Musically, however, it was different, especially the orchestration. Rameau had rethought everything apart from the recitative and petits airs, the dominant feeling among those hostile to the opera was that there was an excess of music, too much accompaniment, too many symphonies and too many notes
3.
Les Indes galantes
–
Les Indes galantes is a ballet héroïque by Jean-Philippe Rameau with libretto by Louis Fuzelier. The ballets Premier Menuet was used in the soundtrack of the 2006 film Marie Antoinette, in 1725, French settlers in Illinois sent Chief Agapit Chicagou of the Mitchigamea and five other chiefs to Paris. On 25 November 1725, they met with King Louis XV, Chicagou had a letter read pledging allegiance to the crown. They later danced three kinds of dances in the Théâtre-Italien, inspiring Rameau to compose his rondeau Les Sauvages, the premiere met with a lukewarm reception from the audience and, at the third performance, a new entrée was added under the title Les Fleurs. However, this caused further discontent because it showed the hero disguised as a woman, as a result, it was revised for the first time and this version was staged on 11 September. Nevertheless, when it was mounted again on 10 March 1736, now in something approaching a definitive form, the opera enjoyed six performances in March and was then mounted again as of 27 December. Further revivals were held in 1743-1744,1751 and 1761 for a total of 185 billings. The prologue, Les Incas and Les Sauvages were last given respectively in 1771,1772 and 1773, in the 1st Entrée, Jacqueline Brumaire sang Emilie, Jean Giraudeau was Valère and Hugo Santana was Osman, the dancers were Mlle Bourgeois and M Legrand. In the 2nd Entrée, Marisa Ferrer was Phani, Georges Noré was don Carlos, the 3rd Entrée, had Janine Micheau as Fatima, side by side with Denise Duval as Zaïre. Giraudeau was Tacmas and Jacques Jansen, the famous Pelléas, was Ali, with Mlle Bardin dancing as the Rose, Mlle Dayde as the Butterfly, Ritz as Zéphir and Renault as a Persian. The 4th Entrée, had Mme Géori Boué, as Zima, with José Luccioni as Adario, Raoul Jobin as Damon, the dancing for this act was executed by Mlles Darsonval, Lafon and Guillot and Messieurs Kalioujny and Efimoff. Scene, The palace of Hebe in the background and her gardens in the wings Hebe, goddess of youth, young French, Spanish, Italians and Poles rush to celebrate with a series of dances, including a musette. The ballet is interrupted by the noise of drums and trumpets and it is Bellona, goddess of war, who arrives on the stage accompanied by warriors bearing flags. Bellona calls on the youths to seek out military glory, Hebe prays to Cupid to use his power to hold them back. Cupid descends on a cloud with his followers and he decides to abandon Europe in favour of the Indies, where love is more welcome. Osman urges her to give up hope that her fiancé is still alive, the sky turns dark as a storm brews, Émilie sees the violent weather as an image of her despair. A chorus of shipwrecked sailors is heard, Émilie laments that they too will be taken captive. She recognises one of the sailors as her fiancé Valère and their joy at their reunion is tempered by sadness at the thought they are both slaves now
4.
Castor et Pollux
–
Castor et Pollux is an opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau, first performed on 24 October 1737 by the Académie royale de musique at its theatre in the Palais-Royal in Paris. The librettist was Pierre-Joseph-Justin Bernard, whose reputation as a salon poet it made and this was the third opera by Rameau and his second in the form of the tragédie en musique. Rameau made substantial cuts, alterations and added new material to the opera for its revival in 1754, experts still dispute which of the two versions is superior. Whatever the case, Castor et Pollux has always regarded as one of Rameaus finest works. Dill notes that in contrast, the 1754 version begins with more background behind the story of Telaires love for Castor. The events in Act I of the 1737 version appear in Act II of the 1754 version, Dill claims that Voltaire was more interested in music than action in opera. Moreover, Dill notes a difference in the plots between in the two versions, in the 1737 version, the main concern is for the moral dilemma between love and duty that Pollux faces, should he pursue his love of Telaira or rescue his brother. Of course, he chooses the latter, while some scholars have assumed that the 1754 version was superior, Dill argues that Rameau made the changes of 1754 at a different point in his career. In 1737, he was testing the limits of tragedie lyrique, thus, Dill proposes that there may have been some commercial concerns behind the change in aesthetic in 1754, as the revised version conformed more to the traditional Lullian aesthetic. He comments that many see the revision as more innovative. Castor et Pollux appeared in 1737 while the controversy ignited by Rameaus first opera Hippolyte et Aricie was still raging, conservative critics held the works of the father of French opera, Jean-Baptiste Lully, to be unsurpassable. They saw Rameaus radical musical innovations as an attack on all they held dear and this controversy ensured that the premiere of Castor would be a noteworthy event. Rameau had not altered the structure of Lullys tragédie lyrique genre. He had simply expanded the resources available to French opera composers. While some welcomed Rameaus new idiom, more conservative listeners found it unappealing, on the one hand, Rameaus supporter Diderot remarked, Old Lulli is simple, natural, even, too even sometimes, and this is a defect. Young Rameau is singular, brilliant, complex, learned, too learned sometimes, on the other hand, the complaint of the Lullistes was that Rameaus musical idiom was far more expressive that Lullys and went so far as to call it distastefully Italianate. For example, where Lully has contained musical expression, Rameaus recitative style included much wider melodic leaps in contrast to Lullys more declamatory style. This can be heard clearly, for example, in the opening recitative between Phoebe and Cleone in Act I, scene 1 of the 1754 revised version, additionally, he added a richer harmonic vocabulary that included ninth chords
5.
Dardanus (opera)
–
Dardanus is a tragédie lyrique in five acts by Jean-Philippe Rameau. The French libretto was by Charles-Antoine Leclerc de La Bruère and it was first performed by the Académie de musique at its theatre in the Palais-Royal in Paris on 19 November 1739. It received 26 performances, mainly because of the support from Rameaus followers in the dispute between the styles of Rameau and Lully, critics accused Rameaus original opera of lacking a coherent plot. The inclusion of the sea monster also violated the French operatic convention of having a purpose for encounters with supernatural beings. In 1744, and again in 1760, Dardanus was revised extensively in an attempt to correct its shortcomings, large portions of the score were sacrificed in favour of plot but some scenes as arresting as the Prison scene were added in the process. The opera was produced in Sydney in November-December 2005, by Pinchgut Opera. In France it was revived again in October-November 2009, at Lille, Caen and Dijon, conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm, the original story is loosely based on that of Dardanus. However, in the opera, Dardanus is at war with King Teucer, Dardanus and Iphise meet, through the intervention of the magician Isménor, and fall in love. Dardanus attacks a monster ravaging Teucers kingdom, saving the life of Anténor who is attempting, unsuccessfully, Teucer and Dardanus make peace, the latter marrying Iphise. 1980, Raymond Leppard recorded Dardanus with Frederica von Stade as Iphise, Leppard otherwise followed the 1744 version of the opera. Also in the cast are Christiane Eda-Pierre, Georges Gautier, José van Dam, Roger Soyer,1998, Marc Minkowski recorded Dardanus with John Mark Ainsley as Dardanus, Véronique Gens as Iphise and Laurent Naouri as Anténor. Minkowskis Musiciens du Louvre used period instruments in this recording and Minkowski followed the original 1739 version of the opera with the addition of two numbers from the 1744 version, the recording has been described as an invaluable addition to the Rameau discography. The role of Dardanus was played by British tenor Paul Agnew, with Paul Whelan as Antenor, Kathryn McCusker as Iphise, conducted by Antony Walker, the performance was the first production of a Rameau opera in Australia on period instruments. The production was recorded by ABC Classics, lajarte, Théodore, Bibliothèque Musicale du Théatre de lOpéra. Catalogue Historique, Chronologique, Anecdotique, Paris, Librairie des bibliophiles,1878, Tome I, ad nomen, pp
6.
La princesse de Navarre
–
La princesse de Navarre is a comédie-ballet with music by Jean-Philippe Rameau and words by Voltaire, first performed on 23 February 1745 at La Grande Ecurie, Versailles. It was commissioned to celebrate the marriage of the Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain to Louis, La princesse de Navarre opened the wedding festivities, while another new Rameau opera, Platée, closed them. The piece takes the form of a comédie-ballet, effectively a play with an amount of incidental music, recalling the collaborations of Molière. Voltaire was an admirer of Rameau, even considering him too good a composer for such a task. Nevertheless, Rameau wrote around an hour of music for the play, including an overture, little of it has much bearing on the main action of the drama which concerns the complicated love life of the eponymous mediaeval princess. Voltaire found Rameau to be a demanding and critical collaborator, leading the dramatist to declare, the production was a spectacular one, involving no less than 180 extras. Voltaire complained about the acoustics of the hall in which it was staged claiming the ceiling was so high that the actors appeared pygmies, nevertheless, the music was a critical success. Much of the material was reworked to produce another opera, Les fêtes de Ramire and she manages to escape from prison in disguise and takes refuge with Don Morillo, but she is recognised by the young Alamir. Alamir falls in love with Constance and rejects Don Morillo’s daughter Sanchette, the act ends with a divertissement in which warriors, gypsies and astrologers entertain the lords and ladies. The king demands the return of Constance but Alamir vows to protect her, Alamir’s army, in alliance with the French, defeats the Castilians. Constance feels herself falling more and more in love with Alamir but she is reluctant to hurt Sanchette, the Graces distract her from her cares with a divertissement. Alamir returns from battle in triumph and reveals his identity as the Duke of Foix. He and Constance can now marry and the ends with a divertissement led by Cupid against the backdrop of the Pyrenees. ISBN 0-14-029312-4 Sadler, Graham, The New Grove French Baroque Masters Grove/Macmillan,1988 Sawkins, Lionel, Booklet notes to the McGegan recording
7.
Le temple de la Gloire
–
Le temple de la Gloire is an opéra-ballet by Jean-Philippe Rameau with a libretto by Voltaire. The work was first performed in a version on 27 November 1745 at the Grande Écurie. It transferred, unsuccessfully, to the Paris Opéra on 7 December 1745, a revised version, in a prologue and three acts, appeared at the Opéra on 19 April 1746. Apollo condemns Envy to be chained eternally to the foot of the temple, the prologue ends with a celebration of peace and the arts. Scene, The grove of the Muses with the Temple of Glory in the background King Bélus has deserted his love, Lydie seeks consolation with the Muses and the local shepherds and shepherdesses try to comfort her with their dances. The gods have rejected his claim to enter the Temple of Glory because of his tyranny, Lydie and the shepherds persuade him that a true king should spread happiness among his people rather than wage war. Scene, Outside the Temple of Glory Bacchuss followers celebrate his conquest of Asia, Bacchus boasts of his invention of wine to his lover Érigone. As he approaches the Temple of Glory the High Priest forbids him to enter, he may have won fame by spreading drunken debauchery, undiscouraged, Bacchus and his followers set off on their travels again. Scene, The city of Artaxata, partially in ruins, the Emperor Trajans wife Plautine has followed him to Armenia where he is fighting to crush a rebellion by five kings. Plautine persuades the priests of Mars and the priestesses of Venus to pray for Trajans success in battle, Trajan returns victorious with the conquered kings in chains, but he magnanimously forgives them and has them freed. Glory descends from the skies to offer Trajan a laurel wreath, Trajan says he is not worthy of such a great honour and asks for the gods to transform it into the Temple of Happiness for all the world instead. ISBN 0-14-029312-4 Sadler, Graham, The New Grove French Baroque Masters Grove/Macmillan,1988 Rameau Le Site
Template documentation