Research topic: Jean Philippe Rameau

Jean Philippe Rameau , 1683-1764, French composer and theorist. He was organist at the cathedral in Clermont and at Notre Dame de Dijon. In the early part of his career his wrote two treatises on harmony (1722, 1726) in which he introduced the important and influential theory of chord inversion. He revolutionized music theory by his contention that harmony derives from the acoustical harmonics present in a vibrating string or tube. His first opera was Hippolyte et Aricie (1733), and it was followed by more than 30 stage works, including the dramatic ballet Les Indes galantes (1735) and... Read more