Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Treatise-Harmony-Jean-Philippe-Rameau/dp/0486224619/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262553110&sr=8-1
As any student of musical composition will tell you, Rameau's Treatise On Harmony is one of thee most important books in the history and development of Western Music. The Treatise was originally published in 1722, during the late Baroque era in which galant-like--chordal (homophonic) melodies that worked to better distinguish the harmonic structure of a piece--pieces were beginning to be introduced. What made Rameau's first Treatise so significant during this period was his introduction of concepts such as that the triad is the most fundamental element in harmony, all melody is rooted in harmony (although this is not to be taken too seriously as Rameau makes it clear that this rule is based more on musical expression rather than the practice of composition), the tonic chord and the dominant chord are necessities in functional, tonal harmony, and chordal inversion in chordal succession that would become the basis of harmonic structure and theory for the next two hundred years.
The Treatise is separated into four books; the first contains mathematical explanations and "proof" of the concepts that Rameau goes on to explain in the other books. The second book is by far the most important and controversial as it explains many of the concepts I previously mentioned and serves as the basis for all tonal harmony. Book Three takes what was explained in previous books and demonstrates how to use such techniques in the practical method of composition. The last book is merely (and I do mean "merely") a practical guide to accompaniment on the harpsichord or organ which contains chapters such as "On how to find Chords on the Keyboard" and then some discussion on reading a figured bass.
The translation from French to English by Philip Gossett makes this book palatable seeing that Rameau's prose is dense, contains errors in syntax and is repetitious and disorganized. Gossett, without taking too much liberty over Rameau's language, makes most of the Treatise easy to understand given that one understands the concepts being explained. However, the first book is extremely difficult to comprehend, even in translation. Acknowledging that this is a result of Rameau's lack of ability to articulate the concepts, Gossett provides a section in the Translator's Introduction in which he explains the fundamentals of Rameau's mathematics and although he himself admits that "In several cases I have not been completely satisfied that I have understood Rameau's meaning, even after consultation with other scholars", I found Gossett's explanation of the basis of Rameau's mathematics to been incredibly helpful (and I'm awful at math so take my word that the math is really only elementary level algebra). Gossett provides his own notes as well as Rameau's notes from the originally included supplementary that prove to be extremely helpful in understanding the text as a whole. Despite the lack of organization of the text--which is accountable to Gossett's own discretion as not to stray too far from the original form of the text--I truly believe that this is the best translation available.
If you are interested in this book, however, I must warn you that it is not a great source to learn compositional techniques and theory from. I would never suggest this book to a beginner; even though the third book provides an adequate explanation of basic theory and voice-leading, I would argue not only that some of Rameau's theories are blatantly false (such as his modal theories and theories concerning the ninth chord) because of the lack of experience with those theories at the time, but that learning theory and composition is not the purpose for this book (not in this time period at least). Rather, one should read this book with at least a basic knowledge of Guidonean and later Medieval music--history and theory--and should have a firm understanding of modern compositional theory as not to be confused by Rameau's arguments. If one has such knowledge, this book's historical significance is more than clear and invites multiple re-readings in an attempt to truly understand the basis of Rameau's theoretical genius. I know I will be forever returning to this text.
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Eric, I think that what you wrote about the translation is really interesting--not just in the case of your book specifically, but also as it applies to the study of "language and composition" (on which this course claims to focus). We aren't reading anything in translation this year because we're doing all American lit, but for those of you who take AP Lit, you'll start the year with 100 Years of Solitude, in translation. In the case of that novel, admirerers of Marquez often cite the beauty of his language and the degree to which his language reflects the the content of his novel (circular, dreamy, etc.)--but how much credit can we really give to Marquez if we're reading the text in translation?
ReplyDeleteI know you did not set out to start a discussion about translation, but the text you chose does raise some interesting thoughts about the role of individual words (as opposed to the meaning of sentences as a whole) in a much bigger context than your the Treatise alone.