Limelight — May 2017

T

oday we bandy ‘Baroque’ about as

alabelofconvenienceforthemusic

ofthe17thandearly18thcenturies

without much thought to the word’s

original meaning. Five hundred years

ago, ‘baroque’ could have been used to

describeabeautifullymisshapenpearlor

extravagantjewellery.Butnooneapplied

thewordtomusicuntilthe1730s,whena

reviewer of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s first

operaHippolyte et Ariciecomplained that it

lackedclearmelody,continuallychanged

key,andranthegamutofeveryconceivable

compositional device. All this disconcerting

complexity was, in a word, ‘baroque’.

Rameau was no doubt proud that his

music was perceived as richly inventive,

and throughout his career he continued to

challenge his audiences with new colours

and textures when they’d probably rather

have been allowed to nod off. In fact,

they split into two factions – his devotees

(the ‘ramistes’), who were thrilled by

his progressive Italianate style, and his

detractors (the ‘lullistes’), who remained

staunchly loyal to the traditions of the

Lived1683 – 1764

MOstly inDIJON, LYON, PARIS

BEST KNOWN FORLES BORÉADES,

LES INDES GALANTES, CASTOR ET

POLLUX, PLATÉE, KEYBOARD WORKS

SIMILAR TO LULLY, CHARPENTIER

Rameau

60 LIMELIGHT MAY 2017 http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au

OCOMPOSER OF THE MONTH

history

COMPOSER OF THE MONTH

Always inventive, rarely dull, Rameau’s love of pushing

the limits of convention won him both ardent admirers

and die-hard detractors, asSimon Heighes explains