=Jean-Phillippe Rameau=, the last and greatest light of this school, has even greater fame as an opera composer. He was born at Dijon in 1683, and displayed so great musical talent when a mere child that, although his parents had intended him for another profession, he was finally sent to Italy to study music. After spending some time there, he joined the orchestra of an opera troupe, traveling about France and gaining an insight into dramatic composition. Upon going to Paris he studied with Marchand, who recognized and feared his talent, and who finally was the means of his leaving Paris. Later, however, he obtained an organ position outside of Paris, and soon attracted attention not only by his playing, but also by the publication, in 1726, of a treatise on Harmony. In this he _reduced_ the study of _chords_ to a _scientific foundation_, and won his title of the name of creator of the modern science of Harmony. Returning to Paris, he now secured an organ position there, and set to work upon the series of dramatic productions which made him the foremost opera composer of his day, superior even to the popular Lully. In 1737, he published another theoretical work, in which the principles of Equal Temperament, which J. S. Bach had adopted fifteen years before, were so clearly stated as to make their establishment permanent for future composers. Rameau’s theories were the subject of much controversy in his day; but many distinguished contemporaries, like Rousseau and Voltaire, were his warm partisans. He died in 1764. =Rameau’s Clavier Works=.—His numerous _clavier compositions_ show great advance in freedom of expression, and are written mostly in _three parts_, with an occasional succession of full chords. Many of these have _descriptive titles_, such as “La Poule,” in which the cackling of a hen is cleverly imitated. Others are in the form of dance suites. The order of Prelude, Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gigue was made the basis of these suites as well as those of Couperin, although this order admitted of considerable variation; and no other principle of Unity appears in them, with the exception of a _common key_. =End of the Early French School=.—The growing importance of the German school now came to be felt in France so strongly that the French school came to lose its individuality. We therefore turn our attention to the important developments in instrumental music which were effected in Germany. REFERENCES. Weitzmann.—History of Pianoforte Playing. Rimbault.—The Pianoforte. Naumann.—History of Music, Vol. I. Henderson.—Preludes and Studies. Naylor.—An Elizabethan Virginal Book. MUSICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. Weitzmann’s History, pages 314-329. Rimbault.—“The Pianoforte,” pages 237, 240, 245, 248, 253, 262-283, 316. Litolff Ed., No. 397, 2nd vol. of “Music by Old Masters.” Augener Ed., Nos. 8300, 8299. Breitkopf Ed., as for Chapter II.