"La Musique est une science qui doit avoir des regles certaines; ces regles doivent être tirées d"un principe évident, & ce principe ne peut gueres nous être connu sans le secours des Mathematiques." ["Music is a science which must have certain rules; these rules must be derived from a clear principle, and we cannot have a knowledge of this principle without the help of mathematics."] This was written in the Preface to his Traité de l"harmonie réduite à ses principes naturels [Treaty of Harmony Reduced To Its Natural Principles], not by one of our usual natural philosophers, but by one of the most famous musicians of the eighteenth century: Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764). After travelling around various cities in France as an organist, he arrived in Paris, where he became famous as a composer of pieces for the harpsichord, and above all, of operas and ballets. These won him the favour of the Royal Court, but they also aroused endless criticism and controversies, in spite of himself.