The operas of Jean-Philippe Rameau haven't been given the attention of those of Handel or even Vivaldi. There are various reasons for this, one being that they were spectacles on a scale difficult to replicate without the unlimited financial resources of the Versailles court behind the performers. Also, Rameau wrote in genres that are unfamiliar today. Le temple de la gloire is an opera-ballet, meaning that it included elaborate dance scenes as well as complex accomplishments in stage and costume design. Beyond that, it's ...
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The operas of Jean-Philippe Rameau haven't been given the attention of those of Handel or even Vivaldi. There are various reasons for this, one being that they were spectacles on a scale difficult to replicate without the unlimited financial resources of the Versailles court behind the performers. Also, Rameau wrote in genres that are unfamiliar today. Le temple de la gloire is an opera-ballet, meaning that it included elaborate dance scenes as well as complex accomplishments in stage and costume design. Beyond that, it's hardly an opera in the conventional sense; it's more an allegorical pageant about kingship, with a prologue in which Envy attempts to destroy a Temple of Glory, and three acts in which three ancient kings of different styles and mores, with different music and textual moods to match, attempt to gain entry. The text is by none other than Voltaire, and true to form, it's not without humor. Reconstructing the opera (this live production of the original 1745 version was partly inspired by...
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