Jean-Philippe Rameau on Music Theory Print

Acante et Céphise

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Performance history#

While the first presentation of the opera in the UK took place on BBC radio on 21 November 1983, University College Opera (London) gave the opera’s UK staged premiere in March 2012 in the Bloomsbury Theatre and one of the first performances in the world since the 18th century.

Synopsis#

The story concerns a pair of lovers, Acante and Céphise, who suffer at the hands of a wicked genie Oroès. They are saved by the good fairy Zirphile, who uses her magic powers, including the gift of telepathy (the sympathie of the title), to defeat Oroès.

Anacréon (Rameau, 1754)

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Background and performance history#

There is some evidence that the 1754 Anacréon was not originally intended as an independent work but was to be part of a multi-act opéra-ballet entitled Les beaux jours de l’Amour. The other sections were La naissance d’Osiris and the unfinished Nélée et Myrthis. Rameau had problems completing the project and instead salvaged Anacréon and La naissance d’Osiris for performances before the royal court at Fontainebleau in 1754. The Duc d’Aumont subjected them to rehearsal and screening before they were given approval for staging because of the poor reception other works by Rameau had met the previous year. Anacréon appeared on 23 and 26 October 1754, the only performances during the composer’s lifetime. Rameau and Cahusac revised the score and this version appeared posthumously at the Paris Opéra in 1766. A brief run in 1771 was the last staging of the work until the 20th century. The first modern revival was an abridged version conducted by Claude Debussy in 1909.

Castor et Pollux

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Composition history#

Charles Dill proposes that Rameau had composed the 1737 opera just after working with Voltaire on the opera “Samson” that was never completed, after which he composed “Castor et Pollux” implementing Voltaire’s aesthetics. For example, Voltaire sought the presentation of static tableaus that expressed emotion, as in the first act of the 1737 version which begins at the scene of Castor’s tomb with a Chorus of Spartans singing “Que tout gemisse”, followed by a recitative between Telaire and Phoebe in which the former is grieving the loss of her lover Castor, and culminating in Telaire’s lament aria “Tristes apprets”. Dill notes that in contrast, the 1754 version begins with much more background behind the story of Telaire’s love for Castor and depicts his death at the end. 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. In the 1754 version, Dill remarks that that plot is more concerned with the tests that Pollux must face: he must kill Lynceus, persuade Jupiter not to oppose his journey into the Underworld, and persuade Castor not to accept the gift of immortality. While some scholars (such as Cuthbert Girdlestone, Paul-Marie Masson, and Graham Sadler) 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; where in 1754, he had done more work with ballet-oriented genres in which he included striking musical compositions that delighted audiences. 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 while many see the revision as more innovative, in actuality the 1737 version was the more daring.

Daphnis et Eglé

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Performance history#

The opera was planned as part of the court of King Louis XV’s entertainments at Fontainebleau and was intended as an afterpiece to a play by Nivelle de la Chaussée, La fausse antipathie. However, the dress rehearsal went so badly that the premiere was cancelled and the opera was never staged in Rameau’s lifetime. This was the only artistic collaboration between Collé and Rameau. Paul F. Rice has commented that this collaboration was an unhappy one, and speculated that this was due to Rameau’s demands that Collé edit his libretto. This caused Collé to harbor resentment towards Rameau, even after the composer’s death.

Dardanus (Rameau)

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1739 premiere#

Dardanus appeared at a time when the quarrel between Rameau’s supporters and those of the operas of Jean-Baptiste Lully had become ever more embittered. Rameau’s stage music had been controversial since his debut in 1733 with Hippolyte et Aricie. His opponents - the so-called lullistes - were conservatives who accused him of destroying the French operatic tradition established by Lully under King Louis XIV in the late 17th century. Yet they could not dissuade the Paris Opéra from offering Rameau commissions for new works. Hippolyte had been followed by Les Indes galantes in 1735 and Castor et Pollux in 1737. In 1739 the Opéra commissioned Rameau to write not one but two new scores, the opéra-ballet Les fêtes d’Hébé, which premiered on 21 May, and Dardanus. This could only inflame the controversy and there were many lullistes eager to see Rameau fail. It is likely that Rameau did not start work on the music of Dardanus until after the premiere of Les fêtes d’Hébé, so that he must have completed it in five months or less. There is some evidence that initially Voltaire had been considered as the librettist for the new opera but he did not have a finished text to hand and so he may have suggested using Dardanus by Leclerc de La Bruère instead. La Bruère was only 23 but he had already written four opera libretti, although none were as lengthy or weighty as Dardanus. From the start critics attacked Dardanus, not for the quality of its verse, but for its dramatic incoherence. They accused La Bruère of stringing together a series of spectacular scenes - magical incantations, a dream sequence, the appearance of a monster - without any regard for dramatic logic and thus creating a hybrid between tragédie en musique and opéra-ballet, a lighter genre in which connection between the acts was of little importance. The drama of two lovers divided because they came from warring nations also resembled the plots of two recent tragédies en musique: Royer’s Pyrrhus (1730) and Montéclair’s Jephté (1732). Yet, according to the Rameau specialist Sylvie Bouissou, Dardanus suffers in comparison with these models, lacking their dramatic intensity and genuinely tragic endings (in Pyrrhus the heroine kills herself and in Jephté the lover of the title character’s daughter is struck down by God). Dardanus premiered on 19 November 1739 and ran for 26 performances. This meant it was not a great success but neither was it the outright failure for which the Lullistes had hoped. Rameau and La Bruère responded to criticism by making alterations to the work during its first run. Dardanus was soon the target of two parodies: Arlequin Dardanus (premiered at the Comédie-Italienne on 14 January 1740) by Charles-Simon Favart and Jean des Dardanelles by Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset (uncertain date, some time in 1739 or 1740).

Hippolyte et Aricie

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Background#

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 major 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 Rameau’s 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. It was a strange choice; once famous for providing the texts to such works as André Campra’s L’Europe galante (1697) and Marin Marais’s Alcyone (1706), Houdar de la Motte had written nothing for the musical stage for almost 20 years. Nothing came of the request and there is no record of any reply, but the fact that Rameau carefully preserved his own letter among his personal papers proves how much the project must have meant to him. The turning point finally came in 1732. In February that year, Michel Montéclair’s Jephté premiered at the Paris Opéra. Rameau was said to be so impressed by the opera that he approached its librettist, Pellegrin, for a 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 Rameau’s patron, La Pouplinière, or at that of the Prince de Carignan. It went into rehearsal at the Opéra in July. In 1744, Rameau recollected: “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 didn’t think I was capable; I tried my hand, I was lucky, I continued.”

In convertendo Dominus (Rameau)

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Composition#

is one of the four surviving church works of Rameau’s early career, dating to the period 1710-1714 when he was working in Dijon or Lyon; other similar works are known to be lost. The work was rewritten and updated in style for a performance at the in Paris in 1751. The manuscript of the 1751 version, now in the , was originally in the collection of Jacques Joseph Marie Decroix, the lawyer and friend of Rameau who built a large collection of his manuscripts after the composer’s death. The motet is scored for soloists, choir, strings and woodwind, and includes, after the fourth verse, a verse not in the original psalm, (Praise the name of God in song). The final verse is composed to include a fugue which, in the opinion of Reiner E. Moritz, “can stand direct comparison with … Rameau’s contemporary J. S. Bach”.

Io (opera)

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Theories of authorship#

Ios unfinished state meant that it was once believed to be Rameau’s last opera, but it contains a duet which appears in revised form in Les fêtes de Polymnie (1745). This has led the musicologist Graham Sadler to conclude that Io must predate 1745 and that the librettist was Louis de Cahusac, who also wrote the words for Les fêtes, because French librettists did not borrow from other writers. The French Rameau specialist Sylvie Bouissou proposes a different theory in her biography of the composer. She sees parallels between the plot of Io and that of Rameau’s comic opera Platée (1745): in both works Jupiter and Apollo try to seduce a naive nymph, arousing the jealousy of Juno, and both contain the character of La Folie (Madness). This points to Adrien-Joseph Le Valois d’Orville as the probable author. In Bouissou’s hypothesis, Le Valois d’Orville wrote Io at some point before 1745. The score was never completed or performed but Rameau remembered his work and later asked him to revise Jacques Autreau’s libretto for Platée. Le Valois d’Orville added features which had appeared in Io, including the role of La Folie and a storm.

La guirlande

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Performance history#

La guirlande was first performed on 21 September 1751 at the Paris Opéra along with François Rebel and François Francœur’s Les génies tutélaires and an act (“Les sauvages”) taken from Rameau’s opéra-ballet, Les Indes galantes. It was a great success. This was the first of Rameau’s stage works to be revived in the modern era, when it was staged by the Schola Cantorum de Paris on 22 June 1903. After witnessing this performance, Debussy declared, “Vive Rameau! à bas Gluck!” (“Long live Rameau! Down with Gluck!”).

La naissance d'Osiris

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Background and performance history#

Musicologists now think that Rameau and Cahusac originally intended La naissance d’Osiris to be part of a multi-act opéra-ballet called Les beaux jours de l’Amour. There is some evidence this work was substantially complete by May 1751, but for unknown reasons it was never staged. The other acts were Nélée et Myrthis (never completed and unperformed until the 20th century) and Anacréon, first performed separately at Fontainebleau on 23 October 1754. The Rameau scholar Sylvie Bouissou believes that La naissance would have been the first act of Les beaux jours de l’Amour. Like Anacréon, La naissance d’Osiris was salvaged for performance before the court at Fontainebleau. It thus became one of a series of operas celebrating the births of the children of the Dauphin of France and his wife Maria Josepha. On this occasion the royal baby was the Duc de Berry, the future King Louis XVI. The conductor Hugo Reyne notes the historical irony of identifying Louis XVI with Osiris, a god who was murdered, just as Louis was to be guillotined in 1793. The opera appeared on 12 October 1754 as part of a triple bill alongside revivals of Rameau’s Pigmalion and Les incas de Pérou (the second act of the 1735 opéra-ballet Les Indes galantes). Documents show it went into rehearsal on 26 August, three days after the birth of the prince. The manuscripts show it was adapted for the occasion from Les beaux jours de l’Amour; originally Pamilie was merely an unnamed “shepherdess”. A lengthy account of the premiere appeared in the October 1754 edition of the journal Le Mercure de France. In the same issue, Cahusac explained the Egyptian background of the work: As she was leaving the temple of Jupiter, a Theban woman named Pamyles heard a voice announcing the birth of a hero who would one day bring happiness to Egypt. This hero was Osiris, whom Pamyles brought up and who was subsequently one of the most illustrious benefactors of humanity. To preserve the memory of this event, the Egyptians established the Festival of Pamylia. Osiris had already featured in the first act of Rameau’s opéra-ballet Les fêtes de l’Hymen et de l’Amour (premiered 1747 and revived in July 1754). The reviewer in Le Mercure de France described the richness of the scenery in La naissance: the pillars of the temple were carved with hieroglyphics; there were sphinxes and a palm-tree. He also gave a detailed account of the final dance in which the ballerina Mademoiselle Catinon played Cupid and Mademoiselle Puvigné a shepherdess. The reviewer praised the singing of the prima donna Marie Fel as Pamylie. There is no evidence La naissance d’Osiris was ever revived in the 18th century, probably because it was too closely linked with the occasion of the premiere. However, Rameau did reuse some of the music in his later works: Anacréon, Les Paladins and Les Boréades.

La princesse de Navarre

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Performance history#

It was commissioned to celebrate the marriage of the Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain to Louis, Dauphin of France. 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 a large amount of incidental music, recalling the collaborations of Molière and Lully in the 17th century. Voltaire was a great 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 and three divertissements (musical interludes which ended each act). 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: “Poor Rameau is mad…Rameau is as great an eccentric as he is a musician”. 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 and they couldn’t be heard”. Nevertheless, the music was a critical success. Much of the material was reworked to produce another opera, Les fêtes de Ramire, later the same year.

Le temple de la Gloire

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Prologue#

Scene: The Cave of Envy with the Temple of Glory in the background Envy and her followers plot to destroy the Temple of Glory but their attack is thwarted by Apollo, the Muses, the demi-gods and heroes. Apollo condemns Envy to be chained eternally to the foot of the temple. The prologue ends with a celebration of peace and the arts.

Act 1: Bélus#

Scene: The grove of the Muses with the Temple of Glory in the background King Bélus has deserted his love, the princess Lydie, in a quest for glory through brutal military conquest. Lydie seeks consolation with the Muses and the local shepherds and shepherdesses try to comfort her with their dances. Bélus and his warriors arrive. 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.

Les Boréades

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Background#

There were no known performances of this opera in Rameau’s lifetime. The work was in rehearsal in 1763 at the Paris Opéra, probably for a private performance at the court at Choisy. It is not known why the performance was abandoned, though many theories have been put forward, including that factions at court fought over it, the music was too difficult, there were subversive plot elements, and that the Opéra was burnt down in the month of rehearsals. The first known performance of the work was in 1770 in a concert performance at Lille. J. J. M. Decroix had collected Rameau’s works after the composer’s death, and thus ensured survival of this score. The Bibliothèque Nationale housed the collected works, including various manuscripts related to this opera.

Les Fêtes Chinoises

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Background#

Before Noverre there was no dance technique involved in ballets; such spectacles were loosely organized around a story or theme, but the dance movement itself was largely formal and ornamental, with only a very limited range of mime gestures to convey the action. He used this new, revolutionary production as a response and a contrast to the ballets of the time. “Noverre points out, this kind of performer is rare. He…thinks that the actor-dancer must rise to the challenge of translating a verbal description into stage action, that this involves not just performance, but interpretation.” The ballet designs were the fruit of Boucher’s friendship with Jean Monnet, which had resulted in designs for Monnet at the Théâtre de la Foire de Saint Laurent “as early as 1743.” Le Nouveau Calendrier des spectacles de Paris described the scene of Les Fêtes Chinoises as “an avenue ending in terraces and a flight of steps leading to a palace” then changing to a public square decorated for a festival and continuing with subsequent scene shifts of which the Calendrier remarked “M. Monnet has spared nothing that could possibly assist M. Noverre’s rich imagination”.

Les fêtes d'Hébé

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Performance history#

Les fêtes d’Hébé was Rameau’s second opera-ballet; his first, Les Indes galantes, had appeared in 1735. It was first performed at the Paris Opéra on 21 May 1739. The famous dancer Marie Sallé appeared as Terpsichore in the third entrée. Montdorge was a friend of Rameau’s patron Alexandre Le Riche de La Poupelinière. His libretto came in for heavy criticism and the second entrée had to be revised with the aid of Simon-Joseph Pellegrin, who had written the words for Rameau’s first opera, Hippolyte et Aricie. In spite of the weak libretto, the work was an immediate success and became one of Rameau’s most popular operas, enjoying 80 performances in its first year. It was revived in 1747, 1756 and 1764 (with set designs supervised by François Boucher and the role of Iphise taken by Sophie Arnould). Thereafter, 18th century productions only gave partial versions of the work.

Les fêtes de l'Hymen et de l'Amour

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Prologue#

Cupid, the god of love, is in despair because he cannot subject Hymen, the god of marriage, to his power. Not even the Graces, Games, Laughters and the Pleasures can lighten his mood. Hymen appears at Cupid’s palace followed by the Virtues. He says that this time he wants Cupid to triumph. Cupid is appeased and the Graces, Pleasures and Virtues dance together for the two gods.

First entrée: Osiris#

Mirrine, a wild Amazon, tells her queen, Orthésie, that she objects to the arrival of Osiris in their realm and urges war against him. Osiris, however, has come in peace and he presents a ballet of the Seasons to Orthésie. Mirrine is furious when the queen and her followers are charmed by the dancing. Osiris now presents a ballet of the Muses, showing the perfection of the arts. Orthésie is won over by Osiris, but Mirrine and a band of rebels suddenly burst in. Before Mirrine can strike Osiris, Orthésie manages to disarm her. The queen announces she is willing to marry Osiris. Osiris gives thanks to Cupid and his followers celebrate with the Amazons.

Les fêtes de Polymnie

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Roles#

Information taken from the site Rameau2014.fr.

Synopsis#

The prologue, Le temple de Mémoire (“The Temple of Memory”), describes the victory of Fontenoy in allegorical fashion. The first entrée is entitled La fable (Legend) and depicts the marriage of Hercules and Hebe, the goddess of youth. The second entrée, L’histoire (“History”), tells the story of the Hellenistic king of Syria Seleucus I Nicator, who gives up his fiancée Stratonice when he learns his son Antiochus I Soter is passionately in love with her (this tale was also the subject of a later 18th century French opera, Étienne Méhul’s Stratonice). The third and final entrée is called La féerie (“Fairy tale”) and is set in the Middle East. Through her love for him, Argélie redeems Zimès from the power of the evil fairy Alcina.

Les fêtes de Ramire

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Instrumentation#

Woodwinds: flutes, oboes, bassoons
Brass: horns, trumpets
Percussion: timpani
Strings: first violins, second violins, violas, cellos and double basses
Basso continuo (double bass and harpsichord)
Musettes

Synopsis#

Scene: A prison The Spanish king Alphonse has taken Fatime, Princess of Granada, captive after killing her father. In prison, Fatime longs for death (Air: O mort viens terminer les douleurs de ma vie) but her confidante Isbé tries to comfort her with the hope that Alphonse’s son Ramire is not as cruel. There is a sound of trumpets and the scene changes to an “agreeable place”. Warriors tell Fatime that Cupid is on her side and fortune tellers predict a bright future. Isbé is now convinced that Ramire is in love with Fatime but the latter is still fearful until the prince finally appears in person and pledges his faith to her during another divertissement involving the Graces, Cupids, Pleasures and Games. Fatime is at last won over.

Les Indes galantes

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Premiere#

The premiere, including only the prologue and the first two entrées, was staged by the Académie Royale de Musique (today’s Paris Opera) at its Theatre in the Palais-Royal on 23 August 1735. The leading artists of the company performed: dancers Marie Sallé and Louis Dupré and the singers Marie Antier, Marie Pélissier, Mlle Errémans, Mlle Petitpas, Denis-François Tribou, Pierre Jélyotte and Claude-Louis-Dominique Chassé de Chinais. Michel Blondy provided the choreography.

Les Paladins

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Authorship of the libretto#

The identity of the librettist is uncertain. In the 18th century, Charles Collé relayed the rumour that the author was Gentil-Bernard. However, Les spectacles de Paris of 1770 and, later, Louis-François Beffara claimed the text was by Duplat de Monticourt, without specifying whether this meant Jean-François Duplat de Monticourt or his brother Pierre-Jacques. In her 2014 biography of the composer, the Rameau specialist inclines slightly to the belief it was Pierre-Jacques, given his greater experience of writing for the theatre. The plot is based on a verse tale by Jean de la Fontaine, Le petit chien qui secoue de l’argent et des pierreries (The Little Dog shaking Money and Gems), itself derived from an episode in Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso.

Les sibarites

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Synopsis#

Scene: The stage shows a verdant amphitheatre covered with trees forming a bower. In the background is a throne covered by a canopy of flowers. Queen Hersilide is sitting on the throne. The people of Sybaris celebrate the coronation of their new queen (Chorus: “Régnez, mortelle adorable”). Agis and Philoé trust she will maintain the Sybarite tradition of devotion to pleasure. Hersilide pledges that her reign will bring love and happiness. The Sybarite festivities are suddenly interrupted by the noise of war (Chorus: “Quel bruit se mêle à nos concerts!”). Agis brings news that the neighbouring city of Crotone is invading Sybaris. Hersilide is undaunted and tells her people to offer flowers to the belligerent Crotoniates. Left alone, she prays to Cupid to aid her (Air: “Tendre Amour, prête-moi tes armes”). The Crotoniates arrive under their leader Astole, who rejects the Sybarites’ flowers and accuses them of effeminacy (“Peuple efféminé, cœurs timides”). However, when he sees Hersilide he begins to fall in love with her. Astole says he has come to teach the Sybarites to throw off their idleness and acquire a thirst for glory, but he is disturbed to find himself succumbing to Sybaris’s charms. Eventually, he agrees to let the Sybarites live under their own laws and confesses the power of Cupid. The opera ends with the Sybarites and the Crotoniates celebrating together.

Les surprises de l'Amour

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Performance history#

The work was commissioned by Madame de Pompadour to celebrate the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle and premiered at the third-season opening of her Théâtre des Petits Appartements for the inauguration of the Theatre’s new venue upon the Grand Escalier des Ambassadeurs (Ambassadors’ Grand Staircase) in the Palace of Versailles, starring Madame De Pompadour herself in two of the original soprano roles, Urania and Venus. In its first form, the work was composed of an allegorical prologue relating to the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, “Le retour d’Astrée”, and of two entrées, “La lyre enchantée” and “Adonis”. Les surprises de l’amour was the first opera specially written by Rameau for the Théâtre des Petits Appartements and was also his first work that was given in the course of its programmes. It was not particularly successful: scenery, costumes, machinery and the new theatre venue were much admired, but the opera itself got the king to openly yawn and to confess he “would like better a comedy”. The work was revived at the Paris Opéra in 1757 to inaugurate the new directors, François Francœur and François Rebel. The prologue, which was no longer relevant, was cut, and a new overture was performed in its place. The two original entrées were heavily revised: “Adonis” was renamed “L’enlèvement d’Adonis” (The rape of Adonis) and a third entrée, “Anacréon”, was added. Its first run lasted until 14 August 1757, but only its second and third entrées were performed after 10 July (the original La lyre enchantée was replaced by a version of Les sibarites, an acte de ballet by Rameau to a libretto by Jean-François Marmontel, first performed in 1753). The different entrées were swapped around at various times for later performances and the “self-sufficiency of each portion of Les surprises de l’Amour made the tripartite work a likely source of material for the programs of fragments growing popular in the years before the Revolution”. Sadler believes that “the new and revised music is almost invariably more interesting than that of the original”, and that “the airs de ballet are, as always, amazingly inventive”. Spire Pitou partly shared Sadler’s appreciation, he states that “Rameau’s most striking passage in Les surprises de l’Amour was the ‘sleep music’ in the concluding act”.

Linus (opera)

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Background#

According to Graham Sadler, La Bruère completed most of the libretto by October 1749. He initially offered it to Mondonville before handing it to Rameau in April 1750. Rameau finished the score by November and Linus went into rehearsal at the house of the Marquise de Villeroy on 10 May 1751. In Sylvie Bouissou’s opinion, Rameau intended Linus as a successor to his tragédie en musique Zoroastre (1749). The revisions to the violin score suggest that the opera underwent several rehearsals. The complicated scenic effects mean it was probably destined for performance at the Paris Opéra. According to the Abbé de La Porte, the rehearsals revealed some problems with the words and music of the fifth act. Revision proved difficult as La Bruère had left for Rome; the writer Charles Collé later claimed that he wanted to take over this task. Years later, Rameau’s admirer Jacques Joseph Marie Decroix wrote that the manuscript score was “lost or stolen” from the Marquise de Villeroy’s house during confusion caused by an “illness” and only the part for the violin was left. The illness to which Decroix refers was probably Rameau’s rather than Madame de Villeroy’s as the composer is known to have been seriously indisposed in early 1751. Decroix suggested an alternative theory in which Rameau deliberately refused to stage Linus rather than compromise his artistic integrity: “Who knows if these supposed faults in the fifth act were not the unusual beauties of which Rameau was fond, and that the busybodies importuns who wanted to make him change them did not make him decide to suppress the whole opera? He was just the man to make such sacrifices.”

Lost operas by Jean-Philippe Rameau

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Samson#

Samson was a tragédie en musique in five acts and a prologue with a libretto by Voltaire. The work was never staged due to censorship, although Voltaire later printed his text. Rameau intended the opera on the theme of Samson and Delilah as the successor to his debut Hippolyte et Aricie, which premiered in October 1733. Voltaire had become a great admirer of Rameau’s music after seeing Hippolyte and suggested a collaboration with the composer in November 1733. The opera was complete by late summer 1734 and went into rehearsal. However, a work on a religious subject with a libretto by such a notorious critic of the Church was bound to run into controversy and Samson was banned. An attempt to revive the project in a new version in 1736 also failed. Rameau recycled some of the music from Samson in his later operas.

Naïs

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Prologue: L’accord des dieux#

The prologue has the subtitle L’accord des dieux (“The Agreement of the Gods”). Scene: The stage portrays the upper atmosphere. The titans and giants are seen down on earth heaping up mountains to scale the heavens. They are led by Discord and war. In the upper atmosphere, Jupiter appears armed with a thunderbolt and surrounded by the gods of heaven The overture leads straight into a chorus of the titans and giants as they attack the heavens (Chorus: “Attaquons les cieux”). They aim to destroy the peace. The gods urge Jupiter to slay the rebels with his lightning (Chorus: “Lancez, lancez la foudre”). In the ensuing battle, Jupiter crushes the titans and giants, burying them under mountains. Pluto captures Discord and War (“Arrêtez, monstres, arrêtez”). The gods celebrate Jupiter’s victory (Chorus: “Triomphe, ô Jupiter! redoutable vainqueur”), but he says he intends to share the glory and will divide responsibility for the universe with his brothers: he will rule over the heavens, Neptune over the seas, and Pluto over the Underworld. Flora, the gods and the different peoples of the earth celebrate the peace (Air: “Ah! que la paix nous promet de douceurs”) as Spring reawakens. They express gratitude for their happiness to Jupiter (Chorus: “Heureux vainqueur, le ciel, la terre et l’onde”).

Nélée et Myrthis

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

The original title is now thought to have been Mirthis; the designation Nélée et Myrthis came about from a misreading of the manuscript. The fact that the character of Mirthis dominates the opera lends credence to this idea. Musicologists now think that Rameau originally intended Mirthis to be part of a multi-act opéra-ballet called Les beaux jours de l’Amour. There is some evidence this work was substantially complete by May 1751, but for unknown reasons it was never staged. The other acts were La naissance d’Osiris and Anacréon, both premiered at Fontainebleau in October 1754. Mirthis was never performed and the score may be incomplete - the work is missing the usual dances and choruses which end Rameau’s operas and there are only two instrumental movements. If Mirthis was part of Les beaux jours de l’Amour then the librettist was almost certainly Louis de Cahusac, the author of the remaining sections. Another point in favour of this theory is that - unusually - there is no use of the supernatural, something the libretto shares in common with Cahusac’s Anacréon (1754). Judging from crossings-out in the manuscript, the character of Nélée was originally named “Anacréon”, suggesting that the Greek lyric poet Anacreon would have been the hero of two acts of Les beaux jours de l’Amour.

Pièces de Clavecin

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Publication history#

The exact date of publication, at Rameau’s own expense, of the Nouvelles Suites de Pièces de Clavecin remains a matter of some controversy. In his 1958 edition of the works, the editor Erwin Jacobi gave 1728 as the original publication date. Kenneth Gilbert, in his 1979 edition, followed suit. Others later argued that these works did not appear until 1729 or 1730. However, a recent reexamination of the publication date, based on the residence Rameau provided in the frontispiece (Rue des deux boules aux Trois Rois), suggests an earlier date, since Rameau’s residence had changed by 1728. As a result of this and other evidence, the closest approximation for the original publication date stands between February 1726 and the summer of 1727. This dating is given further authentication by the comments of Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, who provided their publication date as 1726. There are almost 40 extant copies of the original 1726/27 edition. Two later editions followed both around 1760. The first (printed perhaps slightly before 1760) was simply a reimpression of the original engravings, although several plates were reengravings, suggesting that the original plates had undergone sufficient impression to wear them down to a state of illegibility. A second appeared in London under the title A Collection of Lessons for the harpsichord from the printer John Walsh which was based on the earlier Parisian edition.

Pièces de clavecin en concerts

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

They are very different from the trio sonatas in the Italian manner (such as those of Corelli), where the harpsichord is only providing the role of a continuo bass. In Rameau’s works, the harpsichord is at the heart of the ensemble, playing a fully written-out obbligato part with virtuosity, with the accompaniment falling to the violin and viola da gamba. Rameau provided for differing instrumental combinations: the flute can replace the violin and a second violin can replace the viola da gamba. It is possible to compare these works with the violin sonatas of Johann Sebastian Bach, written earlier, around 1720, in which the melodic material is shared equally between the violin and harpsichord and the harpsichord part is obbligato nearly throughout. They are divided into five concerts of three to four movements with typical French ‘character’ names, some of which can be enigmatic: a name of a place (Le Vézinet), of character (La timide, L’agaçante) or of persons (La Forqueray, La Marais, La Rameau). The last type of appellation was not used by Jean-Philippe Rameau for his solo harpsichord works.

Platée

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background to the opera#

Comic opera was relatively rare during the Baroque era in France and the musicologist Cuthbert Girdlestone expresses his surprise that none of Rameau’s contemporaries seem to have remarked on the innovative nature of Platée. Rameau may have been inspired by a revival of an earlier comic opera, Les amours de Ragonde by Jean-Joseph Mouret, in 1742, or by Joseph Bodin de Boismortier’s comic opera-ballet, Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse from 1743.

Pygmalion (Rameau)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Synopsis#

The story is based on the myth of Pygmalion as told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. In Rameau and Sauvot’s version, the sculptor Pigmalion creates a beautiful statue to which he declares his love. His girlfriend, Céphise, begs for attention; Pigmalion spurns her and entreats the goddess Venus to bring his statue to life. Magically the statue enlivens, sings, and dances; Cupid arrives and praises Pigmalion for his artistry and faith in his powers. Much celebratory dancing and singing follows, attesting to the power of love. Cupid helpfully finds another lover for Céphise.

Samson (opera)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Rameau and Voltaire in 1733#

Rameau was 50 when he made his operatic debut with the tragédie en musique Hippolyte et Aricie at the Paris Opéra on 1 October 1733. Hippolyte provoked immense controversy, with conservative critics attacking it because of the music’s “quantity, complexity and allegedly Italianate character”. They also feared Rameau’s new style would destroy the traditional French operatic repertoire, especially the works of its founder Jean-Baptiste Lully. Disputes would rage for years between Rameau’s supporters, the so-called ramistes (or ramoneurs, literally “chimney sweeps”), and his opponents, the lullistes. By 1733 Voltaire had enjoyed considerable success as a playwright but had written nothing for the operatic stage. Early that year he wrote his first libretto, Tanis et Zélide, set in ancient Egypt. He had also attracted controversy of his own and been imprisoned in the Bastille for his satirical writings in 1717.

Zaïs

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Roles#

According to the published libretto

Synopsis#

Zaïs, a genie, disguises himself as a shepherd to win the love of a shepherdess, Zélide. After a series of ordeals in which Zaïs shows he is willing to give up his magic powers for his love, Oromases, the king of the genies, grants Zélide immortality so the couple can marry.

Recordings#

Zaïs, John Elwes (Zaïs), Marjanne Kweksilber (Zélidie), Max van Egmond (Oromazès), David Thomas (Cindor), Mieke van der Sluis (Une Sylphide/ La Grande Prêtresse de l’Amour), Jane Marsch (L’Amour), René Jacobs (Un Sylphe), La Petite Bande conducted by Gustav Leonhardt (3 CDs, Stil, 1975)
Zaïs, Julian Prégardien (Zaïs), Sandrine Piau (Zélidie), Aimery Lefèvre (Oromazès), Benoït Arnould (Cindor), Amel Brahim-Djelloul (Une Sylphide/ La Grande Prêtresse de l’Amour), Hasnaa Bennani (L’Amour), Zachary Wilder (Un Sylphe), Chœur de Chambre de Namur and Les Talens Lyriques conducted by Christophe Rousset (3 CDs, Aparte, 2015)

External links#

Zaïs, RCT 60 on IMSLP

Zéphire

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Synopsis#

Scene: A forest with an altar to Diana Zephyrus, the god of the west wind, is in love with Chloris, one of the nymphs of Diana. As the nymphs approach, he hides himself in the foliage. The nymphs celebrate the return of the dawn (Chorus: “Chantons le retour de l’aurore”) and reget the absence of Diana herself (Chorus: “Ô Diane, pourquoi vous séparer de nous?”). They deck Diana’s altar with floral wreaths. As Chloris is about to leave, Zephyrus stops her, makes flowers magically appear beneath her footsteps and declares his love for her. Chloris is reluctant to trust his flattery, believing he is the mischievous god Cupid in disguise. As the other nymphs return, Zephyrus commands his followers, the zephyrs, to charm them in the guise of young men while he continues to woo Chloris. He asks Cupid to break the laws of chastity which Diana has ordered her nymphs to follow (Air: “Vole, Amour, brise leur chaíne”). The nymphs dance with the zephyrs but their pleasure is interrupted by the sound of a horn, signalling the arrival of Diana. They fear her anger, but Diana admits she too has fallen in love with the shepherd Endymion. She confesses the power of Cupid and frees them from their vows of chastity. Zephyrus and Chloris sing of their love for one another (Duet: “Qu’il est doux de suivre”) and Zephyrus transforms her into Flora, the goddess of Spring. Cupid appears and everyone celebrates his triumph (Duet and chorus: “Amour, sois le dieu de nos âmes”).

Zoroastre

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Performance history#

Zoroastres premiere in 1749 was not a success; despite the magnificence of the staging, it failed to compete with Mondonville’s new opéra-ballet Le carnaval du Parnasse. Rameau and Cahusac decided to rework the opera completely before offering it to the public again in 1756. Acts 2,3 and 5 were heavily rewritten and there were several modifications to the plot. This time audiences took to the opera, although the critic Melchior Grimm was withering about Cahusac’s libretto: “In Zoroastre it is day and night alternately; but as the poet…cannot count up to five he has got so muddled in his reckoning that he has been compelled to make it be day and night two or three times in each act, so that it might be day at the end of the play”. Zoroastre was chosen to open the new Paris opera house on January 26, 1770, the old one having burned down in 1763. It was also translated into Italian by Casanova for a performance in Dresden in 1752, although some of Rameau’s music was replaced by that of the ballet master Adam. Its first modern revival was in a concert version at the Schola Cantorum, Paris in 1903. The United States premiere of the opera was staged by Boston Baroque (then known as Banchetto Musicale) at Harvard University’s Sanders Theater under conductor Martin Pearlman in 1983 with Jean-Claude Orliac in the title role and James Maddalena as Abramane.