Treatise on Harmony (Revised)

The "Traite de l'harmonie" of Jean-Philippe Rameau is one of the most important books in the history of Western music. Written while Rameau was still a relatively obscure organist and music master at Clermont-Ferrand, the book received but one printing during Rameau's life, in 1722, shortly before he settled in Paris. The "Traite" was immediately recognized as a profound advance in music theory, however, and it established Rameau's reputation as a theorist. His book was the first to codify those principles of tonality which were to dominate the music of the West for almost two centuries. Even today the theories of Rameau remain the basis for the study of harmony.