Traite de l'harmonie reduites a ses principes naturelsThe "Traite de l'harmonie" of Jean-Philippe Rameau is one of the most important books in the history of Western music. Written while Rameau was still a relatively obscure organist and music master at Clermont-Ferrand, the book received but one printing during Rameau's life, in 1722, shortly before he settled in Paris. The "Traite" was immediately recognized as a profound advance in music theory, however, and it established Rameau's reputation as a theorist. His book was the first to codify those principles of tonality which were to dominate the music of the West for almost two centuries. Even today the theories of Rameau remain the basis for the study of harmony. |
Contents
III | 3 |
IV | 4 |
V | 5 |
VI | 20 |
VII | 27 |
VIII | 34 |
IX | 35 |
XI | 40 |
LXXXV | 237 |
LXXXVI | 238 |
LXXXVIII | 243 |
XCIII | 246 |
XCV | 251 |
XCVII | 253 |
XCVIII | 258 |
XCIX | 261 |
XII | 50 |
XIII | 51 |
XV | 52 |
XVIII | 55 |
XXI | 57 |
XXII | 59 |
XXIII | 60 |
XXIV | 61 |
XXVIII | 69 |
XXX | 71 |
XXXI | 80 |
XXXIII | 81 |
XXXIV | 86 |
XXXV | 89 |
XXXVII | 91 |
XXXVIII | 93 |
XLI | 99 |
XLIV | 106 |
XLVI | 108 |
XLVII | 121 |
XLVIII | 137 |
XLIX | 150 |
L | 152 |
LI | 155 |
LII | 160 |
LIII | 161 |
LV | 162 |
LVI | 168 |
LVIII | 172 |
LIX | 173 |
LXI | 176 |
LXIV | 178 |
LXVI | 185 |
LXVII | 187 |
LXVIII | 204 |
LXX | 205 |
LXXIV | 210 |
LXXV | 215 |
LXXVI | 216 |
LXXVIII | 218 |
LXXX | 224 |
LXXXI | 232 |
LXXXIII | 233 |
LXXXIV | 235 |
C | 265 |
CII | 268 |
CIII | 271 |
CV | 282 |
CVII | 283 |
CIX | 287 |
CXI | 290 |
CXIII | 292 |
CXV | 295 |
CXVII | 297 |
CXVIII | 299 |
CXIX | 302 |
CXXI | 307 |
CXXIV | 315 |
CXXV | 318 |
CXXVI | 319 |
CXXVIII | 324 |
CXXX | 329 |
CXXXI | 339 |
CXXXIII | 342 |
CXXXIV | 344 |
CXXXVI | 346 |
CXXXVIII | 373 |
CXL | 375 |
CXLI | 378 |
CXLIII | 383 |
CXLV | 385 |
CXLVII | 390 |
CXLIX | 393 |
CLI | 397 |
CLV | 404 |
CLVI | 408 |
CLIX | 412 |
CLXI | 413 |
CLXII | 415 |
CLXIII | 416 |
CLXV | 419 |
CLXVII | 422 |
CLXVIII | 427 |
CLXX | 429 |
CLXXIII | 437 |
CLXXV | 438 |
CLXXVIII | 440 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
added arises arithmetic ascending a fourth augmented fifth augmented seventh bass ascends bass note basso continuo bear the chord beat Book Chapter chord derived chords by supposition chromaticism clef composed conform consonant chord consonant intervals deceptive cadence degree descend a fifth descends a third descends diatonically diatonic progression different progressions diminished dissonant chords division dominant dominant-tonic eleventh Example false fifth fingers fourth note fugue fundamental bass fundamental chords fundamental sound harmony heard indicate inversion irregular cadence large sixth latter leading tone lowest sound major dissonance major key major sixth major third measure mediant melody meter minor keys mode modulation natural progression ninth numbers occurs octave origin perfect cadence perfect chord preceding prepared and resolved Rameau ratio rules second note semitone seventh chord six-four chord sixth chord sixth note small sixth string succession of chords syncopated tonic note Traité treble tritone Zarlino
Popular passages
Page xxxiv - II, 139, translated into English in Oliver Strunk, Source Readings in Music History (New York, 1950), pp. 323-24. 2. * 'Disciplina Musica' e 'Mastri di Capella' dopo il Concilio di Trento nei maggiori Istituti Ecclesiastic!
Page xxxv - Notwithstanding all the experience I may have acquired in music from being associated with it for so long, I must confess that only with the aid of mathematics did my ideas become clear and did light replace a certain obscurity of which I was unaware before.2" 20 Rameau, Treatise on haitnom', p.
Page xxxv - Music is a science which should have secure rules; these rules should be drawn from an evident principle, and this principle can scarcely be known to us without the aid of mathematics. Thus I must admit that despite all the experience I could get from music in practising it for so long a time, nevertheless it is only by the help of mathematics that my ideas have grown clear.
Page xxxv - ... principle. The true sense of these rules, their proper application, their relation to one another, and the order they...
Page xxxiii - Rameau's opening comments in his preface: However much progress music may have made until our time, it appears that the more sensitive the ear has become to the marvelous effects of this art, the less inquisitive the mind has been about its true principles. One might say that reason has lost its rights, while experience has acquired a certain authority.