Jean-Philippe Rameau

Jean-Philippe Rameau (September 25, 1683, Dijon – September 12, 1764) is one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the Baroque era.

He replaces Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera and is also considered the leading French composer for the harpsichord of his time, alongside François Couperin.

Little is known about Rameau's early years, and it is not until the 1720s that he wins fame as a major theorist of music with his Treatise on Harmony (1722).

He is almost 50 before he embarks on the operatic career on which his reputation chiefly rests.

His debut, Hippolyte et Aricie (1733), causes a great stir and is fiercely attacked for its revolutionary use of harmony by the supporters of Lully's style of music.

Nevertheless, Rameau's preeminence in the field of French opera is soon acknowledged, and he was later attacked as an "establishment" composer by those who favors 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.

Today, he enjoys renewed appreciation with performances and recordings of his music ever more frequent.

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