Definitive full-scale biography and critical study of great 18th-century composer. Full treatment of great operas and ballets as well as Rameau’s life and musical times, acoustic and harmonic theories, link to Lully, influence on Gluck, other topics. Numerous useful appendixes, indexes and an extensive bibliography. Over 300 musical examples.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A big way to not quite address some important things,
By Fernand Raynaud (California, USA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Jean-Philippe Rameau: His Life and Work (Paperback)
OK, this is unquestionably a major book on Rameau, if not THE major work. So let's get that out of the way. Masterful, scholarly, detailed and analytical, it's a must.
But. Rameau gave us more than most people know. First of all, he codified harmony for centuries to come. The fact that 20th century "serious music" went fishing off the coast of Schoenberg's neuroses will hopefully be forgiven in centuries to come. And to anyone who wants to tackle THAT issue by quoting from the microcephalics who accused Rameau of writing incomprehensible noise, I will only say that THAT was a polemic in hyperbole that dealt with Opera style, and that it worked itself out within a few years. Some critics may have rejected Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, but it took only a few years for it to be universally recognized as a masterpiece. But "ordinary" people are still gaping at Schoenberg's dodecacophony after nearly a hundred years, it's not working itself out at all. Rameau described and explained "normal" harmony as we all "instinctively" know it, though it's precisely because Rameau hit on some Universals that this "instinctively" exists. The Baroque started with harmony in flux, and by the time it was over, there were certain progressions and cadences that had become established, and that still make sense today. Forgetting academics making dissonant noises for their mutual admiration society, real music exists outside the Universities and the grants circuit, and real music is what everybody listens to. The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Mozart, Chopin, Brahms -- EVERYBODY understands basic harmony. And Rameau was the man who set it down. His treatises are hard reading, and I suspect still not fully understood. And here is a basic problem with Girdlestone. In such a thick book, 600 pages, how can you fail to even try? He mentions that others have covered the subject, and backs out at the outset of a brief chapter in which he mainly teeters on the verge of calling Rameau a crank. And that is not very deep or adventurous for what aims to be a definitive book on Rameau. The second issue I object to is that Rameau's harpsichord pieces, which present, or foretell, in succinct form, all of Rameau's craft, everything that he used in his operas, are barely given 35 pages' of treatment under "chamber music". That's strange. The most impressive thing about Rameau for me is his conciseness. Each of his harpsichord pieces is different, there aren't hundreds of them, and each has a complex musical story to tell. For instance, the Sarabande from his second book fits on a single page and yet explores a harmonic and rhythmic territory of such immense complexity, width, and emotional range. [...]. Who could fit more music on a single page? Girdlestone instead devotes the majority of the book to a scene by scene description of Rameau's operas. From a theatrical standpoint, these are not terribly exciting, as his librettists were generally at best average. Musically, the operas, that Rameau took up late in life, largely start with techniques and motifs used in his harpsichord pieces, hence we should start the discussion by carefully examining what Rameau, who allegedly disappeared once the harpsichord's lid was closed, was up to when he was "not disappeared". This is where everything originates. I cannot fairly comment on the depth of Girdlestone's analysis of the operas, since, like most contemporaries, I don't know them in detail as they are still very selectively performed. This is of course very interesting reading, it's the main focus of the book, and my only quarrel is with the imbalance vis a vis the keyboard and chamber pieces, hundreds of pages versus 35. The third issue is the lack of biographical depth. A previous reviewer comments on this, and I agree. Granted, Rameau was a modest and withdrawn person. Not much is still known about his personal life. But it was up to Girdlestone to dig deeper. Wagner went to the trouble of spreading absurd rumors about Rameau to malign all French music, the least Girdlestone could have done was to work harder to find more sources, and to extrapolate from what we have. I guess Rameau will have to wait for another biographer to do this job. Maybe in light of the sheer size of his opera analysis, it's impossible to have mere biographical anecdotes appear as more than a sliver. In any case, my facile objections aside, Girdlestone's volume is clearly on a short list for anyone interested in the phenomenon that was Rameau, and represents an enormous, scholarly and invaluable contribution, which strangely devotes such a sliver of its space to subjects that readers might consider important.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Detail Rich,
By J. Kara Russell "Actress/Artist/Musician/Writer" (Hollywood - the cinderblock Industrial cubicle) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Jean-Philippe Rameau: His Life and Work (Paperback)
When a book is this well researched, this detail rich, and still has large portions of a person's life left cloudy, you know that the historical records are lost.
My only disappointment with this book is that I wanted more of a personal story; but apparently it is not to be found. This is readable history with an extreme eye for detail, and any musical scholor will be delighted with the depth of the musical analysis. (A bit too much for me... if I am to have to music theory, I want to see the whole piece... but that would have made this a multi-volume set.) The majority of this book is analysis of the works of Rameau, with a focus on the operas, compared and contrasted with other contemporaries, which can be a bit dry. But for those who are seeking/preparing to perform Rameau, this is neccessary information to have when embarking. The next to last chapter is about his keyboard works, and this was useful to me for exactly this reason, I am interested as a harpist in making these works a groundstone of my repertoire, and his history, thoughts and insights here are very helpful. (ex: he mentions that "Venitienne" is played as a barcarole, rolling and easy, and that it's full character comes out at this pace. This is my experience working on it. Christophe Rousset plays it a full tilt on his CDs of Rameau's works, and it loses it's sweetness at that speed, and feels "short." That one quibble aside, if you're interested in Rameau's keyboard works, Rousset's 2 CD set is a masterwork and a must have for your library. It's one of my prized CDs.) Apparently, when Piron said about Rameau "when he closed the lid [of his harpsichord] there was no one home"... he was pre-cognizant of how much of Rameau's life would remain undiscovered. There is still a LOT of his life here, and plenty to shed better light on misplaced rumors of his ill temper and inarticulate speech. Fasincating talented man who lived in interesting times.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must have,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Jean-Philippe Rameau: His Life and Work (Paperback)
A must have in having a complete library containing the musical biographies of the Greats -- and certainly for any Rameau fanatic.
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