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Donald Macleod begins three weeks focused on French composers, in honour of this month’s ‘Tour de France’ cycle race.

"I have followed the theatre since the age of twelve", so said Rameau to a young composer who wrote to him for advice. It's an intriguing insight into a man who didn't produce his first opera until the age of fifty. Quite why it took him that long isn't clear. Up to that point he had been a church musician, following in his father's footsteps, holding a succession of posts mainly in the South of France. He also taught and established himself as a theoretician of some note. A brief, early sojourn in Paris, a mecca for any theatrical hopeful, ended abruptly when he was still in his twenties. It wasn't until he returned to Paris in 1723 that Rameau was able to start writing music for theatrical entertainments, at first for the popular Fairs, and then finally in 1733 for the Paris Opera. In the midst of constant cultural rows over the merits of French and Italian operatic style, Rameau flourished as a theatre composer. At one point he was so successful the management of the Paris Opera decreed no more than two of his works should be mounted per season, to allow other composers to get a look in! He completed his final opera, a masterpiece, Les Boréades in 1763, the year before he died at the age of eighty. Across the week Donald Macleod focuses on this remarkable period in Rameau's life, from the first of his theatrical works to his last.

Music Featured:

Naïs (Overture)
Naïs (Prologue: Lancez, lancez la foudre)
Achante et Céphise (Act: excerpt)
Un horizon serein (Les Boréades)
La poule (Suite in G minor)
Hippolyte et Aricie (Act 3: Quels biens!)
Hippolyte et Aricie (Act 4, Sc 1 to 3)
Dardanus (Overture)
Castor et Pollux (Act 2: excerpt)
Castor et Pollux (Act 4, Sc 3)
Dardanus (Act 1, Sc 1: Cesse, cruel Amour, de regner sur mon âme)
Dardanus (Act 2, Sc 3)
Dardanus (Act 4, Sc 1)
Les fetes d'Hébé (excerpt)
Les surprises d’amour (Ouverture)
Les surprises d’amour (Act 1, Sc 6: The Abduction of Adonis)
Hippolyte et Aricie (Act 1, Sc 1: Temple sacre, séjour tranquille)
Platée (Act 1, Sc 5 and 6: excerpt)
Platée (Act 2, Sc 2 to 4)
Le Temple de la Gloire (Act 3, Finale)
Les indes galantes (excerpt)
Zaïs (Act 4, Sc 3 to 4)
Anacréon (Sc 6)
Pygmalion (Sc 3)
Pygmalion (Sc 4)
Les fêtes de Polymnie (Prologue, Sc 3)
Zoroastre (Act 3: excerpt)
Achanté et Céphise (Act 3: excerpt)
Achanté et Céphise (Act 3: excerpt)
Les Boréades (Act 2: excerpt)
Les Boréades (Act 4: Entrée de Polymnie)

Presented by Donald Macleod
Produced by Johannah Smith

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) /programmes/m0018qjv

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z