Jean Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) was a French theoretician of music and a composer. His theoretical works provided the scientific basis for the development of traditional, functional harmony in the 18th century. His operas were the first national creations to rival those of Lully.

Jean Philippe Rameau was born in Dijon on Sept. 25, 1683, the son of a provincial organist. It is presumed that he studied with his father, no other formal training being known. He was in Italy in 1701 and then served as organist for a time at Clermont-Ferrand. In 1706 he was in Paris, where his first collection of harpsichord pieces was published. Rameau dropped out of sight for nearly a decade, returning sometime about 1715 to his former position at Clermont-Ferrand. Here he wrote his famous Treatise on Harmony Reduced to Its Natural Principles (1722).

In 1731 Rameau came under the patronage of one of the wealthiest, most remarkable 18th-century French...