Jean Philippe Rameau, le maître du baroque (Documentaire/ Documentary ENG SUB)

ENGLISH SUBTITLES COMING SOON
Jean-Baptiste Rameau - L'incompris magnifique
by Olivier Simonnet

[stevenschalk]

Ciel, le voici enfin retrouvé !
Cela fait plusieurs années que je suis à la recherche de ceci. Merci de nous en faire à nouveau profiter !

[rsns]

Très bon, très instructif. Et puis l'acteur qui fait Rameau est tellement ressemblant!

[peterwatchorn]

English stops at 47'17. Fascinating documentary..the greatest figure of the late French baroque...

[Taki-NeobaroqueDZ]

Great! Rameau is on of my favorite composers ever.

[Jean-MichelSERVAT]

Très intéressant.
Surprenant toutefois de ne pas avoir aperçu parmi les grands interprètes de cette merveilleuse musique, celui qui a été à l'origine de la redécouverte de la musique française du Grand Siècle, Monsieur William Christie ! Un oubli (?) regrettable.

[michaelburling]

What a brilliant and long overdue Rameau documentary. The casting of Philippe Villiers in the principle rôle is truly inspired - and what an uncanny resemblance to the composer!

[stephmyt]

Filling in for the missing subtitles. Hope it is useful.

54:53
[I. Alexandre] The art is transforming itself.
[C. Rousset] Rameau is a great innovator. He usually starts from acoustics to create effects. He also wants to create a catalog of passions, as Le Brun did for painting, and he tries to trigger an emotional effect on the listener through harmonic context, through colors. It is why he is seeking very specific and novel orchestral colors. For instance, he uses bassoons in a very peculiar way, he uses clarinets for the first time in an orchestra. We can say that Rameau is the first great orchestrator of French music, maybe even of European music.
(Overture to Naïs playing)
We have, for example, the overture to Naïs, which recalls titans, that are staged through timpani, trumpets, etc. Suddenly, we are striked by the picture he manages to create.

58:20
[I. Alexandre] Ever since we have used period instruments to play this music, we have wondered what we were trying to recreate. Sound, rythm, declamation? It seems to me that what we should aim at is the effect produced. The great tragic actresses and singers looked for that ; strike your heart like a dart, straight in. Rameau looked for that, what we name "the natural", as opposed to "the artificial". It is odd, because to get "the natural" one needs to master all the tricks of artifice. But, "the natural" means that we shall not see how it's done. Rameau then uses all of his craft to transcribe the natural feeling. All what he wants to prove is that he uses his science only to reach more directly the natural, the heart of it. The natural, undestood not as the green leaves, but the human feelings.
[Rameau] Years have passed, in a quieter way. From time to time, the Royal Academy showed up when they wanted to resume one of my works. Thus, I've reworked a few old scores, including Dardanus', five years after its failure.
(Lieux funestes playing)
I had not forgotten this bitter period, but passion for music governs me, what can I do?

1:02:42
[Rameau] These years of a somewhat relative retreat perked me up. I was ready for something pleasing to happen. I felt light and friendly, and, believe me, this was not up to my reputation! The year after Dardanus was resumed, I received two back to back orders from Versailles. I've never felt like a courtier, but, hell, Versailles still bears this "Sun King" flavor, that I had the desire to feel. I headed to the king's court, full of curiosity and pretty proud of myself.
(Orage from Platée playing)

1:04:40
[narrator] Over sixty years old, Rameau sets out to conquer Versailles. There, he is already appreciated since the queen Marie Leczinska enjoys his music a lot, having it regularly played at her private concerts. As for Louis XV, he gets bored at the opera. He'd rather enjoy hunting and galantry. The first royal order to Rameau is intended to the parties for the Dauphin's and the Infante of Spain's wedding. It will be the Comédie-ballet "La princesse de Navarre", which Rameau composes based on a somewhat clumsy libretto from Voltaire. Two days later, a now famous masked ball, le "bal des ifs" (yew ball), is set at the hall of mirrors. The whole court rushes to attend. There, Louis XV, dressed as a shrub, courted the royal mistress to be: Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, future Marquise of Pompadour. A woman whose good taste, culture, and sharp mind would become of major importance for the promotion and influence of the French arts of the time.
Finally, to conclude the celebrations of the Dauphin's wedding, Rameau presents a ballet-bouffon of an unknown kind. An atypical and explosive work, like the court had never seen before and will never see again: Platée.

[C. Rousset] Platée is an UFO in French opera. It's a sort of clownish entertainment featuring a nymph, something like a frog. This ludicrous nymph wants to seduce Jupiter.
[S. Bouissou] The tone was very new, as it was unusual, almost unthinkable, to show a ballet-bouffon to the court. So, to laugh out loud, with frogs singing incredible choir parts, with Jupiter turned into an owl, then a donkey, braying "hee-haw", a nymphomaniac frog... yes it is complete madness.
[Rameau] My enemies needed a case study, so I gave them a frog! My own laboratory, my discoveries, all I want to say in music lays in Platée.
(Rigaudon from Platée playing)
[C. Rousset] It is an incredibly charming work, still on display nowadays, because it works like hell. The comic effects are on point. For instance, Platée croaks using "wah" alliterations, like "pourquoi", "quoi", "moi", "toi", etc. ; not only in declamations, but in the music too. We have "froggy" music with croaking. Ridiculous things happen in the music, being pretty daring for such a serious and intellectual composer.

1:08:57
[I. Alexandre] Rameau was no autobiographer. He doesn't talk about his life in his writings. It occurs to me that one of his works talks about him: it's Platée. One of its characters, la Folie, says too many things that could come from a composer. The "la Folie" character is perfectly known and identified in the French scene, back from the time of court ballets, where the King and the court would dance. Be aware that "la Folie" is not "the Crazy". In fact she is not crazy at all.
[C. Rousset] "La Folie" means the entertainment, the carnival. It is imagination, extravagance. Through this character, Rameau is expressing himself. He says: la Folie is audacity, and I am audacity. He tells the story that music comes first, only music generates emotion, not lyrics.
(Formons les plus brillants concerts playing)
[I. Alexandre] La Folie says: I am challenging the libretto, and we shall see who wins. So, I'll take something very sad: "Aux langueurs d'Apollon, Daphné se refusa - L'amour sur son tombeau éteignit son flambeau" / "Daphné rejected Apollon's advances - Love, on her grave, extinguished its torch", with rhymes in "O" well closed. She uses a sad enough, requiem like metric and vocabulary. On top of that runs a gigue, fully Italian style, with staccato sung notes everywhere and totally burlesque effects.
(Aux langueurs d'Apollon playing)
Then the demonstration takes place: music forges feelings, whatever the words. Rameau thus takes an outrageous side, especially in France. In France back then, the poet is king and the musician is a servant.

It's amazing! Right here, the artist, in the guise of La Folie, looks into the audience's eyes and explains his craft. Shows them!


1:14:27
[I. Alexandre] So is Platée: it is an opera that invites you to the composer's kitchen. It is a unique work, in this regard, an autobiography without a biography. An autobiography of the artist, not of the man. Completely striking.
[narrator] After the successes of 1745 in Versailles, Rameau is appointed "composer of the king's chamber's music". Louis XV grants him an annual pension of 2000 livres (pounds).
Four years later, Rameau returns in front of the Parisian audience, for the resumption of Platée, which enjoys a huge popular success. The retreat is over. The same year, at nearly seventy years old, Rameau writes Zoroastre, a musical tragedy filled with Masonic ideas and the spirit of the Enlightenment.
(En vain l'innocence crie playing)

[christinespencer]

This is such a wonderful documentary on such an important musician, I do hope you are able to complete the subtitles, they add so much to the meaning of the work. Thank you.

[valtergilenardi]

Merci' Beacoup Monsieur. I love Jean Philippe Rameau...Fantastic Video. Saluti from Lecce South Italy 😊 ❤

[thepinkpantha]

42.12 Karina Gauvin singing Tristes Apprets! Love it! Saw her singing this live with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. Amazing. Tearjerking!

[Diogolindir]

I fell in love with his music some years ago and today I just asked myself: Who was this man? and Im glad I found this jewel. Looking forward to finish this documentary when the subtitles are completed :)

[riverwildcat]

Tres bon! Tres magnifique! Le Rameau est vraimant inspire.

[pjd]

The subs are in english..I think i'm going to cry. Thank you ARTE and everyone involved. This means more that I can tell you.

[Звездноенебо-юо]

Супер! Спасибо за знакомство с таким замечательным музыкантом!!!

[Freawulf]

Amazing documentary, thank you for uploading this and for the effort providing English subtitles!

[TheNarcotricks]

Rameau is back (Bach ?), c'est hardi comme qui dirait 😁
Hosanna au plus au des cieux !
Depuis le temps que je voulais le voir !

[asimkayaa]

It's great that we have this documentary. Merci beaucoup enormement!

[NGS]

Thank you greatly for English subtitles!!! I've wanted to see this for ages! :D

[mobtek]

Rameau was just wonderful, still such exciting music! PS please finished the english subtitles, my high school french is not good enough :)

[peterwatchorn]

The subtitles now extend to the first hour: by 59'39 I had to dust off my high school French. Brilliant documentary!