RAMEAU, JEAN-PHILIPPE. 



RAMMOHUN ROY. 



were then known, the descriptions being carefully drawn up both 

 from the writings of his predecessors and from his own observations. 

 The latter was intended to detract from the extravagant reputation 

 which the Peruvian bark at that time enjoyed. The whole of Ramaz- 

 zini's writings were published collectively at Cologne, in 1689, at 

 London in 1717, and at several other places at nearly the same time. 

 They are still held in high repute by the Italian physicians, who seem 

 to regard their author with almost as much reverence as they did, 

 who in his life-time honoured him with the title of Hippocrates III. 



RAMEAU, JEAN-PHILIPPE, a very celebrated musician, equally 

 distinguished by his compositions and by his numerous writings on 

 the science, was born at Dijon, in 1683. His father who was organist 

 in the Sainte-Chapelle of Dijon, taught his children to play from notes 

 before they could read from letters, and his eldest son, the subject of 

 the present notice, when only seven years of age was thought an able 

 performer on the harpsichord. He. pursued the usual studies at the 

 college with considerable success, but an invincible desire, or instinct, 

 as bis biographer calls it, led him to music, to which he at length 

 wholly devoted himself. At eighteen he set out for Italy, but pro- 

 ceeded not farther than Milan, where he became acquainted with a 

 musical professor with whom he returned to France, and together 

 they visited several of the principal cities, exercising their talents at 

 each with pecuniary views. Soon, however, tired of a wandering life, 

 that allowed him no opportunity for indulging in those speculative 

 inquiries to which he was prone, he went to Paris, and there added 

 largely to his stock of information. Afterwards he became organist 

 of the cathedral of Clermont, in Auvergne, and continued long in 

 that city, in which he wrote his ' Traite" de 1'Harmonie ; ' but not 

 finding the means for printing a large quarto volume in a provincial 

 town, he proceeded to the capital of France, where in 1722 he 

 published his great work, and finally fixed himself. He was soon 

 appointed organist of Sainte Croix de la Bretonnerie, and employed 

 his spare time in writing in various theoretical treatises, in composing 

 his harpsichord lessons, and in teaching. He did not distinguish him- 

 self in that line in which he was destined to excel till the year 1733, 

 when, at fifty years of age, he produced the opera of 'Hippolyte et 

 Aricie,' the drama by the Abbe" Pellegrin. The success of this pro- 

 voked much professional envy, if not national discord, and a feud was 

 raised among the admirers of Lulli [LuLLi] and Rameau, similar to 

 that which in after times was carried to greater excess by the Gluckists 

 and Piccinists. Till the production of 'Hippolyte,' Voltaire almost 

 alone had discovered Rameau's genius for composition. He previously 

 gave him his tragedy of ' Samson' to set, and discerned the beauty of 

 the music ; but its performance was prohibited under the pretext that 

 it prostituted a sacred subject. 



Of the many operas by Rameau, his ' Castor and Pollux,' produced 

 at the Academie Royale de Musique in 1737, is the best : it was repre- 

 sented one hundred times. A chorus in this, of Spartans, ' Que tout 

 gemisse,' has but few rivals, in either ancient or modern theatrical 

 music. His 'Dardanus,' his 'Zoroaster,' and other pieces, were equally 

 successful. From 1733 to 1760 he produced twenty-one operas and 

 ballets, besides harpsichord and other compositions; together with 

 many theoretical and controversial works. His merit was at length 

 generally acknowledged. The king created for him the office of 

 cabinet composer. Afterwards he granted him letters of nobility, and 

 named him Chevalier de Saint-Michel. The Academy of Dijon had 

 previously received him among their members, and the magistrates of 

 that city exempted him, and his family, in perpetuity, from the tax 

 called ' La Taille.' He died in 1764, leaving a son and a daughter, 

 and was interred with every mark of respect and distinction. 



As a theorist Rameau is best known by his large and laboured work 

 on the ' basse fondamentale,' which he and his advocates treat as a 

 discovery. But under other names the inversions of the perfect chord, 

 or triad, and the chord of the seventh were known long before Rameau 

 entered on the subject. Brossard, in 1702, in defining ' Trias Harmo- 

 nica,' calls the uncler-note ' basse,' or ' son fondamentale ; ' and after- 

 wards remarks that among the three sounds which compose the 

 ' triade Harmonique,' the lowest is called ' basis,' or ' sonus fundamen- 

 talist But our limits do not allow us to go further into a subject 

 which, to explain clearly, would fill many pages with arguments and 

 examples. Rameau's style of writing is not remarkable for perspicuity. 

 This was felt and acknowledged by his most zealous partisan, D'Alem- 

 bert, who, in his ' Elemens de Musique, thdorique et pratique, suivaut 

 les Principes de M, Rameau,' has endeavoured to clear the work from 

 the obscurity in which it undeniably is involved ; but the great 

 French geometrician has only partially succeeded in his attempt. 



RAMENGHI, BARTOLOMEO, called IL BAGNACAVALLO, from the 

 place of his birth, Bagnacavallo, on the road from Ravenna to Lugo, 

 where he was born in 1484. He was a pupil of RaSkelle, and one of 

 his principal assistants in the Vatican ; and after the death of his great 

 master he carried the principles of his style to Bologna, and assisted 

 to enlarge the character of that school. Raffaelle was his model and 

 test of excellence, and he did not attempt to look beyond him. 

 Though possessing less vigour than Giulio Romano or Perino del Vaga, 

 Bagnacavallo acquired more of the peculiar grace of Raffaelle's style, 

 especially in his infants, and his works were much studied by the great 

 scholars of the Carracci. There are, or rather were, works by Bagna- 

 cavallo in San Michele in Bosco, San Martino, Santa Maria Maggiore, 



and Sant' Agostino agli Scopettini, in Bologna. He died at Bologna in 

 1542, according to documents discovered by Baruffaldi. Giovanni 

 Battista Bagnacavallo, who assisted Vasari at Rome, and Primaticcio 

 at Foutaiuebleau, was the sou of Bartolomeo Ramenghi. (Baruffaldi, 

 Le Vite de' piti insigni Pittori e Scultori Ferraresi ; Lanzi, &c.) 



RAMIRO II., son of Ordono IL, succeeded to the throne of Asturias 

 and Leon by the abdication of his elder brother Alfonso IV., sur- 

 named ' el Monge ' (the monk), who, in 930, renounced the vanities of 

 the world, and retired into the monastery of Sahagun. Ramiro 

 rendered himself illustrious by his wars with the Mohammedans, 

 from whom he wrested many considerable districts and towns. Soon 

 after his accession to the throne (932), Ramiro, profiting by the internal 

 troubles which at that time agitated the Mohammedan empire, made 

 a successful irruption into the states of Abd-er-rahman, the reigning 

 kalif, destroying Madrid, Talavera, and other towns ; and when Al- 

 mudaffer, the kalif 's uncle, arrived at the head of considerable forces 

 to revenge the outrage, he defeated him with dreadful carnage on the 

 banks of the Duero, not far from the town of Osma, In 938 Ramiro 

 invaded Aragon, or 'Thagher' (as that province was then called by 

 the Arabs), and laid siege to its capital, Saragossa, which he would 

 have reduced if the governor had not hastened to pay him homage and 

 acknowledge himself a feudatory of his crown ; though these advantages 

 seem to have been counterbalanced by the victory gained by the 

 Mohammedans over his troops in 938, near a village called Sotuscobas. 

 Ramiro was again victorious in a battle fought under the walls of 

 Ramora, in which the Moslems, according to their own authorities, 

 lost upwards of 4 0,000 men. Ramiro, like most of his predecessors, 

 had often to contend with internal enemies. Scarcely had he ascended 

 the throne when his brother Alfonso, growing weary of monastic life, 

 forsook his cell, and with a considerable force hastened to Leon to 

 reclaim his throne. He was there invested by Ramiro, who compelled 

 him to surrender, and again consigned him to his monastery, where he 

 was soon after deprived of his eyes. The dependent count of Castile, 

 Ferran-Gonzalez, and Diego Nunez, a count also in the same province, 

 next revolted against Ramiro, but he marched against them, seized 

 their persons, and confined them to a dungeon ; though he soon after 

 pardoned them, and even married his eldest son Ordono to Urraca, 

 daughter of Ferran. Ramiro died on the 5th of January 950 ; having 

 some time before his death abdicated in favour of his son Ordono, 

 and, assuming the penitential garb, passtd the remainder of his days 

 in religious retirement. 



RAMLER, KARL WILHELM, a lyric poet, translator, and critic, 

 was born at Kolberg in Prussian Pomerania, on February 15, 1725. 

 He was educated at tho University of Halle, and in 1748 was made 

 professor of fine arts to the cadet corps in Berlin, which office he held 

 till 1790, when he resigned it in order to devote himself more entirely 

 to the management of the Berlin national theatre, which he had under- 

 taken in 1787. He retired from all business in 1796, and died on 

 April 11, 1798. His works do not display any great poetical genius, 

 but have the merit of correctness, refined taste, and purity of language. 

 He translated Martial, Catullus, and Horace. Among his original 

 poems the most successful is ' The Death of Jesus,' and some other 

 lyrical productions. A collection of his poetical works was published 

 in 1800-1, in two volumes. 



RAMMOHUN ROY, Rajah, was born about 1774, in the district of 

 Burdwan, in Bengal, Hindustan. His paternal ancestors were Brahmins 

 of a high order, and were devoted to the religious duties of their race, 

 till about the beginning of the 17th century, when they gave up 

 spiritual exercises for worldly pursuits. His maternal ancestors, also 

 of high Brahminical rank, and priests by profession as well as by birth, 

 uniformly adhered to a life of religious observances. Rammohun Roy 

 was taught Persian under his father's roof, was sent to Patna to be 

 instructed in Arabic, and afterwards, at tho request of his maternal 

 relations, went to Benarss, in order to acquire the Sanskrit. 



A Brahmin by birth, Rammohun Roy was trained by his father in 

 the doctrines and observances of his sect ; but his opinions seem to 

 have become heretical at an early age. " When about the age of sixteen," 

 he says, " I wrote a manuscript calling in question the validity of the 

 idolatrous system of the Hindus. This, together with my known 

 sentiments on that subject, having produced a coolness between me 

 and my immediate kindred, I proceeded on my travels, and passed 

 through different countries, chiefly within, but some beyond, tie bounds 

 of Hindustan. When I had reached the age of twenty my father 

 recalled me, and restored me to his favour." Afterwards he says, " My 

 continued controversies with the Brahmins on the subject of their 

 idolatry and superstition, and my interference with their custom of 

 burning widows, and other pernicious practices, revived and increased 

 their animosity against me ; and through their influence with my 

 family, my father was again obliged to withdraw his countenance 

 openly, though his limited pecuniary support was still continued to 

 me." His father died in 1803, and he then published various books 

 and pamphlets against the errors of the Brahmins, in the native and 

 foreign languages. " The ground which 1 took ir> all my controversies 

 was, not that of opposition to Brahminism, but to a perversion of it ; 

 and I endeavoured to show that the idolatry of the Brahmins was con- 

 trary to the practice of their ancestors, and to the principles of the 

 ancient books and authorities which they professed to revere and 

 obey." In order to deprive him of caste, the Brahmins commenced a 



