Jean-Philippe Rameau, the solo and ensemble harpsichord works

This thesis is a study of the solo and ensemble harpsichord works of Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764). These consist of the Premier Livre de Pieces de Clavecin (1706), the Pieces de Clavecin (1724, revised and republished in 1731), the Nouvelles Suites de Pieces de Clavecin (ca. 1728), a separate work, La Dauphine (1747), and the Pieces de Clavecin en concerts (1741). The paper is organized in the following manner: the first chapters set the background for the works, and present the history of the French harpsichord school and a biographic sketch of the first fifty years of Rameau’s life. Each collection is then examined with emphasis on keyboard style, which is summarized in the last chapter. The appendices include studies of the eighteenth century French harpsichord, Rameau’s self-borrowings from the harpsichord works, and the (spurious) Concerts en sextuor.Music, Moores School o