Rameau in some writings of the period

Rameau was much talked about in his lifetime, but his work aroused even more interest than his personality. Some of the sources of the period are particularly rich in comments — above all the Mercure de France, which gives a fairly accurate account of opera performances at the royal court and in public theatres, albeit rarely venturing to provide criticism. The Mémoires secrets de Bachaumont, literary correspondences, such as those of Raynal, Grimm and La Harpe, and Collé’s Journal offer more clear-cut opinions. All these writings reveal numerous details and anecdotes that are as useful to the scholar as they are amusing to the layman.

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