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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)

Composer of the Week: Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764): Episode 1: Life Begins at 50

Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)

Episode 1

Episode 1: Life Begins at 50

Life Begins at 50

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764), Life Begins at 50

Donald Macleod on the impact of Rameau's breakthrough work, the opera Hippolyte et Aricie.

Donald Macleod on the impact of Rameau's breakthrough work, the opera Hippolyte et Aricie, a seemingly innocuous Racine adaptation which ultimately became very controversial.

Donald Macleod marks the 250th anniversary of one of the greatest figures in French musical history, composer and theorist Jean-Philippe Rameau.

Controversy was never too far away from Jean-Philippe Rameau. He lived a long life, amid the lively cultural and aesthetic debates that erupted in France after music was freed from Jean-Baptiste Lully's artistic monopoly. An octogenarian at his death in 1764, Rameau was by then a prosperous and successful opera composer. However, unlike his contemporaries, Bach, Handel and Scarlatti, Rameau was something of a late starter. Born in Dijon, he spent the first part of his life in the provinces, working in relative obscurity. He didn't make his name until the age of 50, at which point he conquered the stage in Paris with his first opera. What followed was a remarkable burst of creativity, amounting to about a hundred works, in addition to a regular and prolific publication of original theoretical writing.

In the first part of this week's series Donald looks at the impact of Rameau's breakthrough work, the opera Hippolyte et Aricie. Joined by Rameau expert, Professor Graham Sadler, he explores the reasons why this seemingly innocuous adaptation of Racine created such a hornet's nest of conflicting opinion, dividing audiences into two camps, the "Lullistes" and the "Ramistes".

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod and Prof Graham Sadler explore the life and work of Jean-Philippe Rameau

Donald Macleod is joined by Professor Graham Sadler to celebrate the work of one of the greatest figures in French musical history, composer and theorist Jean-Philippe Rameau

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Episode 1: Life Begins at 50

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