Biographies
- Girdlestone, Cuthbert. Jean-Philippe Rameau: His Life and Work.2nd ed.
London: Cassell, 1969. 631p. ML410 .R17 G5.
First edition, 1957. Remains the standard full-scale biography, covering life
and all the works, with extensive comparisons to Gluck and Lully. Well docu-
mented, with bibliography of some 200 titles, indexing by names, subjects,
and titles. Some addenda were incorporated into the author’s French transla-
tion (Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1983). Girdlestone also wrote the Rameau
articles for NGand MGG.
See also New Grove French Baroque(#2227).
Operas in General
- Dill, Charles. Monstrous Opera: Rameau and the Tragic Tradition.Princeton,
N.J.: Princeton U. Press, 1998. xx, 197p. ISBN 0-691-044443-0. ML410 .R2
D57.
Tries to identify the “complex relationship between works, composer, and
audience.” The result is a genesis study, with technical notes, comments on
dramatic conditions, and notices of critical opinion by contemporaries. Back-
notes, good bibliography of sources, expansive index. - Zaslaw, Neal. “Rameau’s Operatic Apprenticeship: The First Fifty Years.” In
Jean-Philippe Rameau(#1536), 23–50.
A gathering of information from archival documents, contemporary notices,
Rameau’s own writings, and secondary sources, with indications of reliability
for each source. The article is a valuable “preliminary outline for a documen-
tary biography.” This period of the composer’s life, during which he absorbed
dramatic music in Paris and began his own career there, has not been carefully
studied. - Masson, Paul-Marie. L’opéra de Rameau.Paris: H. Laurens, 1930. 594p. Re-
print, New York: Da Capo, 1972. ISBN 0-306-70262-2. ML410 .R17 M41.
One of the classic music biographies, still valuable after 70 years. Considers
life and works, with footnotes, musical examples, and technical analyses of
l’expression dramatique et ses moyens. The transition period from Lully to
Rameau is carefully explored, then all the stage types, Rameau’s libretti, arias,
ensembles, and dances. Bibliography of about 250 books, worklist with manu-
script locations, name index. - Ahnell, Emil G. “The Concept of Tonality in the Operas of Jean-Philippe
Rameau.” Ph.D. diss., U. of Illinois, 1957. 269p. - Brundrett, Grant A. “Rameau’s Orchestration.” Ph.D. diss., Northwestern U.,
- 496p.
1544.Sadler, Graham. “Rameau and the Orchestra.” PRMA108 (1981–1982): 47–68.
A useful account of the composer’s instrumentation practice and the orchestral
forces employed at the Paris Opéra in his time. Each instrumental group is dis-
cussed separately.
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