Jean-Philippe Rameau

Born in Dijon in 1683 and died in Paris in 1764; Jean-Philippe Rameau composed for harpsichord and for the stage and investigated the foundations of musical harmony. As an organist he worked in Avignon, Clermont-Ferrand, Dijon and Lyon, among other places, before settling permanently in Paris in 1722. In the same year he published the “Traité de l’harmonie”, a systematic treatise on harmony over which he later came into conflict with Rousseau and d’Alembert. His first harpsichord volume appeared in 1706; besides the stage works, his vocal output also includes cantatas and motets. “Hippolyte et Aricie” opened his career at the Paris Opéra in 1733, on whose programme works such as “Les Indes galantes” (1735), “Castor et Pollux” (1737), “Dardanus” (1739), “Platée” (1745) and “Zoroastre” (1749) followed. For the fermier général Le Riche de La Pouplinière he directed his orchestra. In 1745 he was appointed Compositeur du Cabinet du Roi and worked for the musical theatre into old age; his last tragédie lyrique “Les Boréades” was no longer staged during his lifetime.