A scientist with a sense of humor

We couldn't have wished for a better Rameau specialist to write this book: co-author of the thematic catalog of his works, Sylvie Bouissou is also behind the new complete edition of his scores. Her passion for the subject is matched by a rigorous approach to research that enables us to clarify or discover many little-known aspects of the life of Rameau and his entourage, as well as the circumstances surrounding the composition and creation of his works.

A worthy representative of the Age of Enlightenment, in which reason fought against obscurantism to understand and explain everything, Rameau tirelessly challenged the foundations of musical knowledge and shook up the writing conventions of the late Baroque. His threefold activity as composer, theorist (forced by his often intransigent positions to become a polemicist) and pedagogue - not to mention his indecisive career as a church organist - is described chronologically, together with a detailed presentation of the musical works. The author also looks at the librettists with whom the composer collaborated, in particular Voltaire, as well as the frequent reworking and rewriting of his major dramatic works. The theoretical writings are specifically described and commented on at the end of the book, providing an excellent introduction to Rameau's thinking on practical music and harmony. In fact, it was his writings that earned him the most virulent enmity, even more so than the novelty of his musical and dramatic concepts, which upset the old Lullyste tradition. His ballets and tragedies, perfectly adapted to the demands of the stage, combining harmonic audacity and depth of feeling - despite the fact that his enemies found him too learned - should not blind us to the humor he also displayed, for example in a masterpiece like Platée. A chronological catalog of his compositions and writings completes this work.

Sylvie Bouissou, Jean-Philippe Rameau, 1024 p., € 39.00, Fayard, Paris 2014, ISBN 978-2-2136-3786-0