The Rameau Compendium - by Graham Sadler (Paperback)

About the Book

This book is the most authoritative and up-to-date source of quick reference on the Baroque composer and theorist Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)

Book Synopsis

This book is the most authoritative and up-to-date source of quick reference on the Baroque composer and theorist Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)

This book is the most authoritative and up-to-date source of quick reference on the Baroque composer and theorist Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764), covering every significant area of his life and creative activity. In particular, the dictionary and work-list provide the reader with easy access to a wealth of cross-referenced material. The dictionary highlights recent discoveries and developments, and corrects a number of errors and misunderstandings. It includes entries on institutions, places, individuals, genres, instruments, technical terms, iconography, editions, specific works and publications, and caters for the fact that some users will be at least as interested in Rameau'stheoretical writings as in his life and music. Performers too are well served by the range of entries, many of which illuminate aspects of Rameau's notation and performance practice that can prove puzzling to the non-specialist. The biographical chapter not only provides relevant factual information but also draws attention to significant patterns in Rameau's life and work. This book counters the widespread perception of the composer as a dry, irascible, unsociable individual, revealing him in a far more sympathetic light by giving due weight to hitherto little-known information.

GRAHAM SADLER is Professor Emeritus at the University of Hull and Research Professor at Birmingham Conservatoire. He is known internationally as an authority on French music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Review Quotes

[T]his volume can be highly recommended to anyone interested in French baroque music in general and Rameau in Particular.-- "THE CONSORT"

A work for the specialist library, performer and musicologist.-- "REFERENCE REVIEWS"

Indispensable for anyone wanting to quickly discover useful facts and scholarly information about every conceivable Ramellian subject . . . The compendium is a monumental dissemination of scholarship transformed into an engaging and user-friendly handbook, and hopefully it can reignite interest in a broader revival of Rameau's music.-- "GRAMOPHONE"

Second in the promising 'Boydell Composer Compendium Series, ' . . . Sadler's work is passionately and exhaustively researched, elegantly organized, and gracefully documented. Sadler (emer., Univ. of Hull, UK) has published on Rameau for 40 years, and for this volume's central dictionary and its surrounding biography, works list, and bibliography he has selected and woven together details to produce a work that is brilliant and beautiful. . . . [E]xcellent as both resource and model.-- "CHOICE"

The greatest strength of this compilation is its author's stunning expertise, evident on every page.-- "EARLY MUSIC REVIEW"