By Olivier RouviËre. Translated by Marcia Hadjimarkos [Goldberg No. 28]
Jean-Philippe Rameauís (1683-1764) first opera was staged when he was fifty years old; his last, written when he was over eighty, was not given until the twentieth-century.
Rameauís aesthetics are thus characterised by maturity, density, homogeneity, and chronological clarity. His early works were already accomplished to a high degree and his operas occupied the French stage for more than thirty years, only to disappear after his death. To quote Girdlestoneís incisive summing up, Rameau wrote ìmore than ninety acts of dramatic musicî – that is, three acts, or tableaux, a year – during the last third of his life.