Jean Philippe Rameau Quotations

Music is a science which should have definite rules; these rules should be drawn from an evident principle; and this principle cannot really be known to us without the aid of mathematics.

Rhythm and sounds are born with syllables.

We must have recourse to the rules of music when our genius and our ear seem to deny what we are seeking.

When reason and instinct are reconciled, there will be no higher appeal.

In f-major, c* is a sonority contained within the overtones of the tonic f*.

Verse, singing, and speech have a common origin.

Emphasis on the common emotive or affective origins of music and words in the first cries of humankind undermines words.

I try to conceal art with art.

Therefore we well observe that the title of perfect cadence is attached only to a dominant that progresses to the main tone, because this dominant, which is naturally contained within the harmony of the main tone, seems, when it progresses to it, to return as if to its source.

Nature endows us with the feeling that moves us in all our musical experiences; we might call her gift instinct.