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Notes 64.2 (2007) 360-363
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Reviewed by
Lois Rosow
Ohio State University
Jean-Philippe Rameau. Platée: Ballet bouffon en un prologue et trois actes, RCT 53; livret de Jacques Autreau; révisé par Adrien-Joseph Valois d'Orville et Balot de Sovot. Version 1749; version 1745 (compléments). Édition de M. Elizabeth C. Bartlet. Bonneuil-Matours, France: Société Jean-Philippe Rameau; distribution mondiale: Kassel: Bärenreiter Verlag, [End Page 360] c2005. (Opera omnia, sér. 4: Musique dramatique, vol. 10.) (Musica Gallica.) [Gen. pref. in Eng., Fr. (Sylvie Bouissou), p. vii–viii; contents, p. ix; introd., p. xi–lxxx; livret in Fr., p. lxxxi–xcii; roles, etc., p. xciv; table of contents for the score, p. xcv–xcviii; score (version of 1749), p. 1–257; score (version of 1745), p. 258–327; crit. apparatus in Eng., p. 329–400; annexes, p. 401–21; facsims., p. 424–34; prospectus for Rameau Opera omnia, p. 435. Cloth. ISMN M-006-52787-8; pub. nos. SJPR-OOR IV.10, BA 8852. €398.]
Jean-Philippe Rameau. Platée: Ballet bouffon en un prologue et trois actes, RCT 53; livret de Jacques Autreau; révisé par Adrien-Joseph Valois d'Orville et Balot de Sovot. Version 1749; version 1745 (compléments). Édition de M. Elizabeth C. Bartlet; réduction clavier-chant de François Saint-Yves. Bonneuil-Matours, France: Société Jean-Philippe Rameau; distribution mondiale: Kassel: Bärenreiter Verlag, c2005. (Opera omnia, sér. 4: Musique dramatique, vol. 10.) (Musica Gallica.) [Avertissement in Fr., Eng., p. v; table of contents for the score, p. vi–x; roles, etc., p. xi–xii; vocal score (version of 1749), p. 1–260; vocal score (version of 1745), p. 261–352. ISMN M-006-52788-5; pub. nos. SJPR-OOR IV.10r, BA 8852a. Duration: ca. 3 hrs. €47.95.]

Elizabeth Bartlet's critical edition of Jean-Philippe Rameau's Platée appeared in print in 2005, the year of her death, which followed a long battle with cancer. This edition is a brilliant achievement, and it is certainly fortunate for the rest of us that she was able to complete it before her final illness.

Platée was a last-moment addition to the elaborate festivities at Versailles during February and March of 1745 for the marriage of Maria Teresa, infanta of Spain, to Louis, dauphin of France. It replaced Pandore, the planned five-act tragédie en musique by Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer, with a livret by Voltaire, that the composer was unable to complete in time. Another new work by Rameau (also with a text by Voltaire), La princesse de Navarre, performed on the eve of the royal wedding on 23 February and repeated on the 27th, served as the centerpiece of the festival. Rameau had been preparing Platée for the Académie Royale de Musique (the Opéra) in Paris for the late summer or fall, and only a modest amount of work remained when the call came to offer it to the royal court instead. Its premiere at Versailles marked the end of the festivities on 31 March. In May of 1745, Louis XV showed his appreciation for both works by naming Rameau compositeur de la musique de la chambre du roi. The resultant court commissions kept Rameau very busy, so it is not surprising that the Paris premiere of Platée was further delayed. That premiere eventually took place on 9 February 1749, with numerous revisions (as was normal when an opera returned to the stage after several years, especially with a change of venue). Additional productions at the Opéra occurred in February of 1750 and 1754, and in later years the prologue enjoyed an independent existence at the Opéra, brought together with individual acts from other works to make an evening's entertainment.

Platée holds a unique place in the oeuvre of Rameau: it is a farce (ballet bouffon), in which Jupiter pretends to love the ugly nymph and marsh queen Platée in order to...

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