Jean Philipp Rameau

Biography

Like many of his contemporaries, the French Baroque composer Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) wrote for both the church and the world, producing a prolific canon of sacred and secular works. His pieces were known for their technical brilliance; no surprise, as his main occupation was as a scholar of music theory. He put this “science” of music into practice with his operas and ballets, which provoked both praise and outrage for their then-innovative harmonies. Hippolyte et Aricie, Castor et Pollux and Les Indes galantes helped secure his legacy as a chief architect of pre-Revolutionary opera in France. Rameau was educated by Jesuit priests, and his church music consists of motets and cantatas composed as a church organist, following his father’s vocation. His keyboard music, including three volumes of harpsichord suites and pieces published between 1706 and 1727, has proved enduringly popular.