Beschreibung:

RAMEAU, Jean Philippe (1683-1764). Nouveau systême de musique theorique . Paris: Jean-Baptiste-Christophe Ballard, 1726 [imprint covered with contemporary bookseller's label of J.M Bault and Péristile du Théâtre de l'opéra Comique]. 4 o (251 x 190 mm). Two engraved folding tables, three engraved diagrams pasted in text on pp. 28, 32 and 34, musical notation in text, printer's device on title. (Some occasional light spotting.) Contemporary boards (rubbed). Hirsch I, 485. [ Bound with :] RAMEAU, Jean Philippe Dissertation sur les différentes méthodes d'accompagnement pour le clavecin ou pour l'orgue avec le plan d'une nouvelle méthode établie sur une méchanique des doigts que fournit la succession fondamentale de l'harmonie . Paris: Le Clair, [1732, imprint covered as above]. 4 o. Printer's device on title, two engraved plates. (Some occasional light spotting.) FIRST EDITIONS of two of Rameau's important theoretical treatises. Rameau, born in Dijon, was one of the late-Baroque period's best-known composers for harpsicord. Beginning in 1715, he began to investigate the foundations of musical harmony. His studies were exhaustive and highly original, attacking traditional theories which based rules of harmony on melody, rather than beginning with harmony itself. He based his studies on the natural overtone series, arriving at a system of harmony that is the basis for most modern theories. These two works are further developments of his studies first discussed in Traité de l'harmonie , Paris, 1722. The Nouveau systême includes Rameau's attempt to set up a theoretical base for the subdominant. The second work studies accompaniment for harpsicord and organ.