Formation of a New Style of Listening to Early Music

: Rameau’s Music in the Debussy Era

Abstract

 This article aims to describe how people in the Debussy era listened to Rameau’s music and how their style of listening to Early Music changed in the second half of the 19^th century. Some of the extant musical criticism reveals that a new style of listening to Rameau’s music had established gradually. Helmholtz’s new theory concerning sound also added a new methodology of listening to music. Debussy’s music and his manner of listening are not independent of these movements. As Kieffer mentions (2015), Helmholtz’s writings changed the French way of listening to music in the 19^th century, and this transformation prepared the ground for the rise of Debussism. However, the audience’s attitude towards Rameau’s music also shaped the music interest of people who could accept Debussy’s music.
 The movement to revive Rameau’s music assumed a nationalist character at the turn of the 20^th century. This revitalization was linked to the pursuit of authenticity in the performing practices of Early Music although the acoustic image of the musical past could never be perfectly reproduced. Two revival performances of Rameau’s operas at l’Opera in 1908 and 1918 set the stage for difficult challenges that faced the movement to restore the music of earlier composers and the creation of ears that heard music differently from prior audiences. The ‘Archaic ear’ seems to have been actualized only through the recording culture, which is, in my view, the reason why Early Music gained popularity in the 20^th century.