Rameau, Revelation, and Europe's Ancient Oriental "Others:" Enlightenment Occultism and Orientalism in Rameau's Theoretical Writings and Operas

Abstract

Despite the popularity of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s operas in mid-eighteenth-century France and the prominent role that Enlightenment philosophy played in his career as a theorist and composer, there has not yet been a study dedicated to examining the occult aspects of his theoretical writings and operas that appeared in his works at the height of the French Enlightenment. This dissertation fills this lacuna by demonstrating that, at the heart of two of Rameau’s theoretical works the Code de musique pratique and Origine des sciences, lie the Hermetic doctrines of the prisca sapientia and prisca theologia, two concepts that were tied to the literary trend of orientalism. Additionally, this dissertation shows that these two doctrines and their connection to orientalism were not limited to Rameau’s later theoretical writings but also appeared in the libretti of four of his earlier operas. Because the occult elements of Rameau’s theoretical treatises and operas – particularly in relation to orientalism – have been severely neglected in musicological scholarship, this dissertation introduces a new avenue to investigate how occult themes inform the relationship between theory and practice in his work.