oh my god wait. i'm such a fucking idiot and never bothered to learn about rameau's personal life for some reason. he knew voltaire???? LMAO
LMAO yeah though Rameau maybe regretted that he knew him 😭
They wrote few things together; an opera Samson after like three years of fucking around saying they were gonna write something together but neither actually working on it, n then when finally they did write it it was never able to actually be put on cause it wouldn't pass the censor. It never... went super well; V admitted he wasn't good at writing opera and doesn't seem to have been very attuned to the fact that this is a different genre than normal theatre and he should maybe change his normal style. And also he kept giving Rameau dumb unsolicited musical advice while clearly not knowing what he was talking about.
They worked again together later for La Princesse de Navarre, a comédie-ballet for Louis XV's son's wedding (it was the duc de Richelieu that asked them to work together for it), which V also didn't like writing partially again bc not a genre he Could write well, partially the level of constraints from doing it for the dauphin; he spent like two months stressing over it like 24/7 and he got annoyed that Rameau was showing his drafts to other people for them to criticise and so he just refused to make any more changes.
Somehow after that Richelieu asked them to work together again a few months later for Le Temple de la Gloire after V promised Richelieu that he'd be niceys and stop pissing Rameau off for fun. Presumably he did cause Le Temple got written really quickly and there's not much bitching in V's letters about it.
It was also through Rameau that V first met Rousseau; Richelieu was gonna have them also write smthn else together for the court reusing part of La Princesse de Navarre, but since it was during while they writing Le Temple, he asked Rousseau to edit and put together V and Rameau's seperate parts, which Rousseau didn't finish on time cause Rameau was kinda being an ass and refusing to help him, and then refused to have his name put on the work that he thought Rousseau had fucked up.
And cause it's Zozo he also gotta be batshit weird and gay about Rameau:
"The marriage of M. le duc de Richelieu has halted Samson, but trust, my dearest Orpheus, that as soon as I've finished this comedy, I will be devoted entirely to the opera. My marriage to you is just as dear to me as the one I just witnessed. Our children will not be dukes and peers; but thanks to your care and your talent, they will be immortal. The applause of the public is worth more than a rank at court.
I flatter myself that madame Rameau is with you, and sings along to your harpsichord. Adieu! You have two wives: her and me. But you must no longer have any children with madame Rameau: I will have them with you until I become sterile; as for you, you never will be."
and also i found this of V being mad rameau had 'married' someone else 🥴
