Page:The Spirit of French Music.djvu/62



One cannot interest oneself in Rameau without wondering why the manifestation of his great creative power came so late. More than one biographer has thought to answer the question by pointing to the relations formed a little before the year 1732 between the musician and the fermier général Le Riche de la Popelinière whose wife was his pupil. It is suggested that the protection of this wealthy Maecaenas encouraged Rameau to work for the theatre because it gave him the certainty of a welcome. Such an explanation is too material. Rameau undertook his dramatic work when he felt his powers were strong enough to realise his visions. It is indeed true that the support of La Popelinière helped greatly to open to him the doors of the Royal Academy and to spread among the public the expectation of great things from him. But it is morally certain that what made him take to work on a scale and in a style quite new to him was the magnificent development attained by his resources and means of expression. La Popelinière was the ladder that he used to gather ripe fruit. But what ripened that fruit was the rising of the sap. What is interesting is the fact of this splendid maturity coming upon him in the after season.

How we should like to be in the confidence of the artist himself about the long, hidden portion of his life which preceded this period of brilliance! But, so far from being allowed to know the history of his mind, we have only the most imperfect knowledge of his outward life during the twenty years that passed between the moment when he left the paternal roof and his definitely establishing himself in Paris.