The So-Called "French Musical Baroque"

Les Indes Galantes

The first one you posted this morning, ironic in its scenography and fascinating in its music.

An intelligent atmosphere, I would say; the use of the scenography in this way and the music with its evocative potential make (what little I have seen and heard) not only pleasant but profound, and to understand it

(like many other things) a single listening is not enough; ignorant I was and ignorant I remain, but in my ignorance

I enjoyed it.

Carlos wrote:

You wrote this yourself in your first message and the discussion, moreover, is yours:

«Today I was listening to "Les Indes galantes" again... a beautiful bore: what insipid, useless music, without depth, without any science or profound idea.

All inexorably "the same" and fake: the death of art.»

I'm sorry: it's up to you, otherwise let's stop here to avoid saying more nonsense, what do you say?

I had already said my piece, that's why I was waiting for Frank... I see that in the meantime Thallo has gotten to work

Great Thallo!

A piano version:

Open content (youtube)

I almost feel like thanking LucianoP. To argue against his errors, I started listening to quite a bit of Rameau and was completely fascinated. As I said yesterday on Facebook, exaggerating, I think I have found the most beautiful piece of music ever written in human history

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC8EmJ20ME0

since we are talking about a piece just over 2 minutes long, I would be pleased if Luciano himself commented on it. Perhaps by bringing musical knowledge to the table, whatever type it may be.

I say, aided by the advice of a baroque-specialist friend of mine, that quartets are a rare thing in the operas of that period. To make a sort of comparison, here is a quartet from Handel's Radamisto (1720)

i would need the scores to say so with certainty, but in Rameau's, I find a greater harmonic attention. Handel is still contrapuntal; there are 4 beautiful lines, agile and well-arranged in the interventions. Rameau is more plastic and has the advantage of having that wonderful haute-contre voice that follows the ideal of four-part harmonization (that is, the very high tenor part to properly balance the extremes).

Open content (youtube)

Open content (youtube)

thallo wrote:

i was completely fascinated. As I said yesterday on Facebook, exaggerating, I think I have found the most beautiful piece of music ever written in human history

Finally Thallo! We are in perfect agreement

I am almost afraid to agree with Backspace...

... I see that LucianoP has lost interest in the discussion ...