Over half of Rameau's operas have now been recorded, in particular by conductors such as John Eliot Gardiner, William Christie, and Marc Minkowski.

Nevertheless, Rameau's pre-eminence in the field of French opera was soon acknowledged, and he was later attacked as an " establishment " composer by those who favoured Italian opera during the controversy known as the Querelle des Bouffons in the 1750s.

Rameau's music had gone out of fashion by the end of the 18th century, and it was not until the 20th that serious efforts were made to revive it.

He had written an opera, Les muses galantes ( inspired by Rameau's Indes galantes ), but Rameau was unimpressed by this musical tribute.

Sometimes he would meet the young writer Chabanon, who noted some of Rameau's disillusioned confidential remarks: " Day by day, I'm acquiring more good taste, but I no longer have any genius " and " The imagination is worn out in my old head ; it's not wise at this age wanting to practise arts that are nothing but imagination.

Rameau's music, so graceful and attractive, completely contradicts the man's public image and what we know of his character as described ( or perhaps unfairly caricatured ) by Diderot in his satirical novel Le Neveu de Rameau.

Rameau's music is characterised by the exceptional technical knowledge of a composer who wanted above all to be renowned as a theorist of the art.

Rameau's musical works may be divided into four distinct groups, which differ greatly in importance: a few cantatas ; a few motets for large chorus ; some pieces for solo harpsichord or harpsichord accompanied by other instruments ; and, finally, his works for the stage, to which he dedicated the last thirty years of his career almost exclusively.

He was highly demanding and bad-tempered, unable to maintain longstanding partnerships with his librettists, with the exception of Louis de Cahusac, who collaborated with him on several operas, including Les fêtes de l ' Hymen et de l ' Amour ( 1747 ), Zaïs ( 1748 ), Naïs ( 1749 ), Zoroastre ( 1749 ; revised 1756 ), La naissance d ' Osiris ( 1754 ), and Anacréon ( the first of Rameau's operas by that name, 1754 ).

For most of the 19th century, Rameau's music remained unplayed, known only by reputation.

Among the audience was Claude Debussy, who especially cherished Castor et Pollux, revived in 1903: " Gluck's genius was deeply rooted in Rameau's works ... a detailed comparison allows us to affirm that Gluck could replace Rameau on the French stage only by assimilating the latter's beautiful works and making them his own.

" Camille Saint-Saëns ( by editing and publishing the Pièces in 1895 ) and Paul Dukas were two other important French musicians who gave practical championship to Rameau's music in their day, but interest in Rameau petered out again, and it was not until the late 20th century that a serious effort was made to revive his works.

Amongst other recordings are Rameau's Dardanus, Monteverdi's L ' Orfeo ( he is generally regarded as the world authority on this character's role ), Britten's Serenade for tenor, horn and strings, the role of Frederic in the Sir Charles Mackerras recording of The Pirates of Penzance and lieder by Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann.

Until a refurbishment in the 1990s, the clock chimed the quarter hour by playing an excerpt from the fourth movement, ' Gigue en Rondeau II ', of Rameau's ( 1683 – 1764 ), ' Pieces de Clavecin ' Suite in E-minor.

In Rameau's 1733 Hippolyte et Aricie, the hero ( Hippolyte ) was sung by a haute-contre, while the roles of the three Fates and Tisiphone were scored for basses and tenors.

Image: Jélyotte by Coypel. jpg |< div align =" center "> Pierre Jélyotte as the nymph Plataea in Rameau's opera Platée

Five essential components may be discerned in Rameau's operatic scores:

Jean-Philippe Rameau's Les Indes galantes ( 1735 ) is considered to be the work that signaled the divergence of social ( ballroom ) dance and ballet.

Amiot tried to impress mandarins in Beijing with Rameau's harpsichord piece Les sauvages, a suite that was later reworked as part of Rameau's opera-ballet Les Indes galantes.

Rameau's reworkings of his own material are numerous ; e. g., in Les Fêtes d ' Hébé, we find L ' Entretien des Muses, the Musette, and the Tambourin, taken from the 1724 book of harpsichord pieces, as well as an aria from the cantata Le Berger Fidèle.

His four harpsichord collections ( 1744 – 68 ) are modelled chiefly on Rameau's.

The article on fingering in Rousseau's Dictionnaire ( 1768 ) contains rules which the author presents ' with confidence, because I have them from M Duphli, excellent harpsichord teacher who possesses above all perfection in fingering ' ( though either Duphly or Rousseau overlooked the fact that these ' rules ' were lifted word for word from Rameau's, in his Pieces de clavecin of 1724 ).

Dagincourt may have been Duphly's teacher, but Rameau's harpsichord music served as Duphly's chief model.

" Rameau's music includes pieces in the pure tradition of the French suite: imitative (" Le rappel des oiseaux ," " La poule ") and character (" Les tendres plaintes ", " L ' entretien des Muses ") pieces and works of pure virtuosity that resemble Scarlatti (" Les tourbillons ," " Les trois mains ") as well as pieces that reveal the experiments of a theorist and musical innovator (" L ' Enharmonique ", " Les Cyclopes "), which had a marked influence on Daquin, Royer, and Jacques Duphly.

Rameau's shadow falls on themes ( the courante La Boucon in book 1 begins like Rameau's E minor courante, transformed in metre ) and on whole pieces ( Les colombes in book 2 -- which D ' Aquin must have meant when he said of Duphly's music: ' On connait les tourterelles, qui affectent le coeur ' -- is almost a condensed paraphrase of La timide from Rameau's Pieces de clavecin en concerts, 1741 ).

After Rameau's death, the German Gluck was persuaded to produce six operas for the Parisian stage in the 1770s.

The details of Rameau's life are generally obscure, especially concerning his first forty years, before he moved to Paris for good.

Friedemann himself may have been one of the models for Diderot's philosophical dialogue Rameau's Nephew ( Le Neveu de Rameau ).

The title role of the vain but ugly marsh nymph in Rameau's Platée is also for a ' haute-contre '.

And the fault, of course, was Rameau's.

The fault was Rameau's and that of the whole culture of this Parisian age.

For it was Rameau's type of music that he had been trying to write, and that he couldn't write.

In 1982 / 83 as part of the French national celebration of Jean Philippe Rameau's 300th birthday, Turocy choreographed the first production of Jean-Philippe Rameau's Les Boréades-it was never performed during the composer's lifetime.

Diderot is also known as the author of the dialogue, Le Neveu de Rameau ( Rameau's Nephew ), upon which many articles and sermons about consumer desire have been based.

His dialogue Le Neveu de Rameau ( Rameau's Nephew ) is a " farce-tragedy " reminiscent of the Satires of Horace.

Rameau's Nephew and First Satire.

* Music: Modern music theory finds definition in Jean-Philippe Rameau's Treatise on Harmony.

Rameau | Rameau's ' Traité de l ' harmonie ' ( Treatise on Harmony ) from 1722.

It was not until the publication of Rameau's ' Traité de l ' harmonie ' ( Treatise on Harmony ) in 1722 that any text discussing musical practice made use of the term in the title, though that work is not the earliest record of theoretical discussion of the topic.

The second part presents Emanuel Bach's ideas on the art of figured bass and counterpoint, where he gives preference to the contrapuntal approach to harmonization over the newer ideas of Rameau's theory of harmony and root progressions.

Rameau's early years are particularly obscure.

Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie premiered at the Académie Royale de Musique on October 1, 1733.

La Pouplinière's mistress ( and later, wife ), Thérèse des Hayes, was Rameau's pupil and a great admirer of his music.

All these operas of the 1730s are among Rameau's most highly regarded works.

The year 1745 was a watershed in Rameau's career.