Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) was born in Dijon, France and died in Paris. After making his reputation as a musical theorist, Rameau desired the fame of a composer, especially one of operas. Before this, he composed a well-received body of keyboard music and cantatas. His operatic debut came at age fifty with Hippolyte et Aricie. While at the time it was not so appreciated, Castor et Pollux may be his finest opera. Indeed, his operatic corpus contributed to the development of the genre, especially tragédie lyrique.