Spring 2011 Offering:
Master of the French Baroque
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
(7 weeks beginning in late April)
Jean-Philippe Rameau
This special course examines the important stage works of Jean-Philippe Rameau, the French contemporary of Bach and Handel who was indeed not only their equal in many ways, but also regarded as one of the greatest figures in French music history. Of Rameau’s first opera Hippolyte et Aricie, one contemporary critic exclaimed: “there is enough music in this opera to make ten of them.” As the course will show, the remark could be applied to any of Rameau’s major works for stage, so rich is the musical language and so fine are the dramatic instincts.
As Rameau himself said, he took “the great Lully” as his model, and the course will trace chronologically how Rameau enlivens Lully’s more restrained model to create works of stunning spectacle, more vigorous and flexible in their orchestral and vocal writing, more vivid in dramatic nuance. Of Rameau’s twenty or so ambitious compositions in the genre of dramatic music, the course will focus primarily on seven masterful works representing the full range of his extraordinary and diverse output.
The survey begins with Rameau’s first opera, Hippolyte et Aricie, the famous tragedie en musique of 1733, which ignited the ire of the conservative “lullists” with its stunningly tragic grandeur. Next will be Les Indes Galantes (1735), an inventive opera-ballet which added more fuel to the debate with its colorful and diverse four tableaux. (We will study this work in preparation for performances of Les Indes Galantes by Boston Baroque on May 6 and 7 in NEC’s Jordan Hall.)
The course then examines two of Rameau’s other surviving tragedies, Castor et Polux (1737) and Dardanus (1739). The first, depicting the brotherly love of the famous mortal and immortal pair, is often regarded as Rameau’s finest achievement; the second, lavishly lingering in the realm of the supernatural, is a rich and powerful score, showing Rameau to have been the first great symphonist before Haydn and Mozart.
Next comes the delightful comedie lyrique Platee (1749), whose recent NYC Opera and Santa Fe Opera productions featuring this amphibious heroine were such smash hits. Both the fascinating travesty role of the marsh-nymph Platee and the consistently high level of musical and comic invention help define this work as a now-acknowledged true masterpiece.
The course concludes with two lively and inventive full-length works from Rameau’s late life, Zorastre (1754) and Les Boreades (1763). The plot of the former, like Mozart’s Magic Flute, centers around the conflict of good and evil; that of the later involves Boreas, god of the North Wind, with much tempestuous writing linked directly to the action. Each is a tragedie en musique that demonstrates unfailing aesthetic principles to which Gluck and his reforms were soon to subscribe.
Come welcome Spring with this invigorating master of the French Baroque. You’ll hear more than enough good music to last the year!
