Opera selections

Program Note:

Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) was born and raised in Dijon. His first taste of success—a publication of harpsichord works—came during a short residency in the French capital, which would become his permanent home in 1722. That year coincided with his second important publication, A Treatise on Harmony, for which Rameau has been best known ever since. His reputation as an opera composer blossomed only later, after his 50th birthday. As such, these dramas enjoy the fruits of Rameau’s long maturation. Indeed, there are no operas later than Les Boréades, which was in rehearsal in 1763 but never publicly performed. No one knows for certain why this opera was not performed until after Rameau’s death, but quarrels over musical style would not be impossible. Years earlier Rameau represented one side in a famous pamphleteer battle between the devotées of French and Italian operatic style. Tonight we will hear excerpts from Platée, Les Boréades and Les Indes Galantes (1735), three of Rameau’s most popular works. We’ll allow the listener to judge if the French language can support naturally beautiful melodies, as Rameau and others firmly believed; or if, in the words of its harshest opponent (ironically enough, French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau), “French singing is only continual barking.”

(c) Jason Stell