Word: rameau
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...scene from Watteau or Boucher come to delicate, lilting life. An amorous pastoral allegory in three acts, or entrees, its dramatis personae include shepherds, sylvans and fauns. One of the greatest hits of the 18th century, Jean-Philippe Rameau's Les Fetes d'Hebe proclaims the potency of poetry, music and dance in the highly ornamented, graciously stylized cadences of the French baroque. But can such a gentle artifice still speak to the brutal and cynical 20th century...
...Tackling Rameau is a formidable task; like Havana cigars and Scotch whisky, the French baroque is an acquired taste. The operas of Rameau, Jean-Baptiste Lully and others who flourished in the late 17th and 18th centuries are subtly alluring, yet their convoluted plots, emotional restraint and refined aesthetic make them remote to modern audiences...
...Rameau was born in Dijon in 1683. He studied in Italy, the wellspring of baroque art, then bumped around France as an organist before finally settling in Paris about 1722. Rather late in his career--he was 50--he turned to opera and found his real metier. The opera-ballet Les Fetes d'Hebe, subtitled Les Talents Lyriques, received nearly 400 performances beginning with its premiere in 1739, gradually fading from the repertory in the decade following the composer's death...
...RAMEAU: PYGMALION (Erato). Conductor Nicholas McGegan's graceful performance of the gentle opera-ballet...
...When I was first asked to come to St. Louis as a consultant," recalls Gaddes, "I think I was expected to recommend that they get a large hall, hire Renata Scotto and do Il Trovatore." Instead, St. Louis has heard Rameau's Pygmalion, Martin y Soler's Tree of Chastity and the world premiere of The Village Singer, by the American composer Stephen Paulus...