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Rameau's original Le Temple de la gloire premieres with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra

May. 01, 2017

Rameau's original <em>Le Temple de la gloire</em> premieres with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra

With the support of Bärenreiter's new critical performing edition, Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Le Temple de la gloire (The Temple of Glory) received its modern premiere on April 28 with Nicholas McGegan leading the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra; the first staging of the original work since its premiere in 1745. The work, with a libretto by Voltaire, is a spectacularly nuanced allegory, a timely tale with moral and political overtones.

Philharmonia Baroque’s performances took place at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, CA,in collaboration with the New York Baroque Dance Company, and were co-produced by Cal Performances and Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles. For the first time, Bärenreiter’s new critical edition restores Le Temple de la gloire to Rameau’s original 1745 version before the composer significantly revised the work in 1746 to appease Parisian sensibilities.

You can hear a recording of the 1746 version here, performed by Les Agrémens: 

Later this month, Washington DC’s Opera Lafayette mounts a semi-staged production of part four (Les sauvages) from Rameau’s ballet opera Les Indes galantes. The work, which had fallen into oblivion by the 19th century, is widely regarded as Rameau’s most important stage work. Ryan Brown leads the Opera Lafayette Orchestra and the Gallery Voices in performances at George Washington University (May 31) and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (June 2). 

Watch an excerpt from Les sauvages, with William Christie leading Les Arts Florissants and soloists Patricia Petibon and Nicolas Rivenq:

Rameau’s works can be found as part of Bärenreiter’s complete Rameau critical edition, Opera omnia Rameau (OOR)—the first complete edition of the works of Jean-Philippe Rameau.

Jean-Philppe Rameau
Le Temple de la gloire (1745)
libretto (Fr) by Voltaire
for 10 sopranos, 4 tenors, 3 basses and orchestra
pic.2.2 Musette.2.0.2-2.2.0.0-timp-str.basso continuo
180’

Les Indes galantes (1735)
ballet héroïque in a prologue and four acts
libretto (Fr) by Louis Fuzelier
for 7 sopranos, 5 tenors, 4 basses, mixed choir and orchestra
2pic.2.2.Musette.0.2-2tpt-timp-str.basso continuo
180’

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