The new scholarly-critical edition of the score of Rameau’s “ballet héroïque” Les Indes galantes finally clears up its convoluted source history. At the first performance, on 23 August 1735, it consisted of a prologue and three acts: Le Turc généreux, Les Incas du Pérou and Les Fleurs. But Les Fleurs already proved controversial in the early performances, and from 11 September of that same year it was given a wholly new form. For the revival on 10 March 1736 Rameau and Fuzelier added an entirely new act Les Sauvages, and in the years that followed, the “ballet héroïque” was presented either complete (1743, 1751 and 1761) or abridged with a prologue, Les Incas du Pérou and Les Sauvages (1751–73).<br>
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With regard to the instrumental movements (dances and descriptive pieces), the present publication is based on the complete edition Opera Omnia Rameau (OOR) volumes IV/2 and IV/7 edited by Sylvie Bouissou which are currently in preparation. It includes not only the orchestral pieces in the version deemed valid by Rameau in 1736 (with version 2 of Les Fleurs and Les Sauvages), but also those from the first version of Les Fleurs (1735) as well as its 1743 and 1773 revisions. Performers are thus given a complete selection of all the orchestral numbers from one of Rameau’s central stage works for use also in concert performance.<br>