Luogo e data di registrazione		Doopsgezinde Gemeente Kerk, Haarlem (Holland) - 1/5 ottobre 1980
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Recording Supervision		Klaus L. Neumann | Barbara Valentin | Dr. Thomas Gallia | Paul Dery | Monica Werner
	Engineer		Sonart, Milano
	Prima Edizione LP		Harmonia Mundi (EMI Electrola) | 1C 065-99 914 | 1 LP - durata 47' 22" | (p) 1981
	Edizione CD		Deutsche Harmonia Mundi | LC 0761 | GD 77143 | 1 CD - durata 47' 22" | (c) 1990 | ADD
	Cover Art		"Der Triumph der Galatea". Gemälde von Giuseppe B. Chiari (1654-1727). Mit Freundl. Genehmigung von der Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Schloß Wilhelmshöhe, Kassel.
	Note		-

Jean-Philippe Rameau is one of the most important figures in European music history, both as a composer and as a theorist. He was born two years earlier than Bach and Handel and was the son of an organist. After a short stay in Italy he made a meager living as a poorly paid violinist in theater orchestras before becoming an organist himself. He, however, did not manage to get out of the provinces as he lacked the necessary connections to the capital. He first attracted attention when 39 years old with his work of lasting importance, Traité de l'harmonie, réduit à ses principes naturels. In this treatise he described the sixth and six-four chords as inversions of a triad, overturned the prevailing conception of the “equality of the seven scale degrees”, and founded the functional and cadential harmonic theory which was valid until the end of the 19th century. It is astonishing that this “Newton of Music" was 50 years old - even older than Bruckner - before he became successful. He first had to spend ten quiet years as an organist in Paris, where he, among other things, furnished music for vaudeville theater comedies before devoting his attention to the composition of operas in 1733. A student, the wife of a powerful land-owner and patron, La Pouplinière, interceded in behalf of the performance of his first opera, Hippolyte et Aricie (1733). After this Rameau was regarded as a “new Lully" and was given many decorations and important jobs (composer of chamber music for Louis XV). His abilities as a harpsichordist, in addition to those as a theorist, were now also discovered. By imitating noises and movements in a naturalistic way, he revealed sound colours new to the harpsichord. It was recognized that he had striven for a unified artistic whole - pre-Wagnerian from a modern point of view - in his compositions for the theater. He skillfully combined the French preference for ballet and the form of “sprechgesang" developed by Lully with harmonic and instrumental innovations. He also did not follow the Italian style in his recitatives, with its free and cantabile declamation supported by chords from the harpsichord. He instead let himself be guided by the strict rhythmical form of the stately language, which was usually in alexandrines. He invented a system of notation with many changes of meter which could be adapted to the musical rhythm of the language. The aria emerges unnoticeably from the recitative and is felt to be an intensification and enhancement of it. The balance between the vocal and instrumental music and dance, which was typical for the French opera, may also be found in Pygmalion, the first of the eight one-act ballets that Rameau wrote between 1748 and 1754. The libretto was written by Ballot de Sovot (or Sauvot), a member of La Pouplinière’s circle. It, as usual, is based on a myth (G. B. Shaw used the same material in his drama of the same name). Ballot de Sovot took it from the tenth book (line 234ff) of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It relates the story of a sculptor who, disillusioned by women, carves himself a statue out of ivory of an ideal woman. He falls in love with it and, at a festival for Aphrodite, asks the goddess to give him a wife like his work of art. When at home he again embraces his statue and it quickens and becomes animate, awakens and joins itself with him, bearing him a child after nine months. This act, which Ovid himself described as “abominable love", was toned down in Rameau’s version because it was considered to be improper at that time. Amor, unnoticed by the passionately lamenting Pygmalion, brings the statue to life with a torch. The Graces then enter and perform a series of dances with which the drama is transformed into a ballet. As the dances gradually become more extensive, Air, Gavotte, Menuett, Chaconne, Loure, Passepied, and Rigaudon, the statue is still very unsure of itself. She, however, takes the initiative in the Sarabande and Tambourin. This is reason enough for the chorus to strike up a hymn to the god Amor, and to honour him in a second Divertissement. The abundance of musical details worthy of note can only be hinted at here. The Ouverture, following its slow introduction, portrays the sculptor “carving” with his knife with its quick repeated notes and bold use of the woodwinds. As the opera unfolds the falling seventh sung by the lamenting Pygmalion almost gains the significance of a “leitmotiv”. In his entreaty to Venus the shift from pain to hope is emphasized by the simple means of a corresponding change from G minor to G major. As the Symphonie tendre et harmonieuse with its element of the fantastic is played and the theater becomes lighter, the statue comes to life. The bright E major tonal center of the Symphonie stands in direct contrast to the preceding “worldly” atmosphere. It is striking that - with the exception of the Ouverture which is notated in eight parts - large sections of the score only contain two or three instrumental parts. Previously it was believed that Rameau could not have intended such a “thin” texture and the “missing” parts were added. We, however, having studied the question thoroughly, are of the opinion that each measure of the score reflects Rameau’s intentions. © Uwe Kraemer, 1981 SYNOPSIS OF THE TEXT Pygmalion, by Jean-Philippe Rameau, is a ballet in five scenes for a tenor (Pygmalion), three sopranos (Céphise, Statue and Amor), and chorus (the Graces, the common people). In the first scene Pygmalion accuses Amor of being a mischievous god, a conqueror who punishes wickedly and whose power he is afraid of. He has fallen in love with the statue representing love which he himself has carved. He cannot expect it to return his feelings. Amor becomes a witness to the passion which has overwhelmed Pygmalion, who can barely believe that he himself made the statue. Had he, with his artistic ability, created a statue worthy of idolization simply in order that he be tormented by unrequitable love? The second scene consists of a dialogue in song between Pygmalion and Céphise, his love. Céphise complains of his coldness towards her, the one who loves him. Had this object, this statue, taken away his tender feelings towards her? Pygmalion explains that his confusion is caused by a god who is revenging himself for the defiance Pygmalion once showed towards him. Céphise regards this as an attempt to conceal a love which she is insulted by. He finally admits to her that he loves the statue passionately. She, however, does not believe him. He swears that heaven’s rage has brought him into this desperate situation. She recognizes that she has lost him and prays that the just gods may punish him. The third scene begins with a monologue in praise of the statue. In it Pygmalion first speaks of his confusion and begs Venus, the mother of passions, to still the desire within his breast. He attributes the statue, which has captured his heart, to Amor, the son of Venus. Finally, he asks if the gods were not supposed to be the charitable protectors of mankind. Then the statue comes to life and is immediately filled with love for the person she sees in front of herself. She recognizes her own feelings in his eyes. Her only wish is to please and obey him: The only thing she knows about herself is that she idolizes him. In the fourth scene Amor explains that he was responsible for this miracle, but that only an excellent sculptor like Pygmalion could have created such a statue. He promises him eternal happiness as a reward for his artistic ability. Amor calls in the Graces to proclaim the power of love to the world. In the last scene Pygmalion extols the victory of love to the common people. The chorus of the Graces and common people answers with the same words. It ends with Pygmalion singing a song of praise to Amor who, with his divine fire, had brought the object of his love to life.