Playable BooksOpening the book…
JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU
Traité de l’harmonie
Treatise on Harmony
The French treatise, in English and in music.
In review 408 of 409 examples playable
Before you startReading Simplified English
You’re reading Simplified English. , the clefs or the source pages in Settings. Press ▶ on a figure to hear it, or tap the notation to start from a bar.
Examples are in review. Check any of them against the original scan beside it.
Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Traité de l’harmonie (1722) develops a theory of harmony, then applies it to composition and accompaniment. Its terminology and rules belong to the musical practice of its time.
Start with a short passage and one example. Choose Simplified English, English, or Caveman for different levels of language, and switch to French, or to French + English, to compare the original wording.
Listen to an example, then follow one voice at a slower tempo. Read the source notes for uncertain details and alternative readings. Where a separate fundamental bass demonstrates the harmony, the example’s notes explain how it is heard.
Open the original page when a detail matters. The scans preserve the printed notation and annotations alongside the reading edition.