The son of Jean Rameau, organist at the church of St. Etienne at Dijon, he began his classical studies at the Jesuit College in that town. If we may believe his Dijon biographer, Maret, whose short account of him was written just after his death, "he distinguished himself at this college by an unusual vivacity; but during the classes he used to sing or write music, and did not get beyond the fourth class." He retained from these somewhat inadequate studies, enough Latin to be able to read treatises on composition written in that language. But he had remained somewhat inexpert in the handling of the French language, and the same Maret tells us that one day "a woman of whom he was fond reproached him with this; he at once set to work to study the principles of French, and so far succeeded that in a short time he was able to speak and write correctly."
At the age of eighteen he set out for Italy in order to perfect himself in his art. But he went no further than Milan, made only a short stay there, and returned to France. There is some ground for supposing, though it is not certain, that for some time he travelled and "lived as best he could, making his expenses by playing the organ in churches, or the fiddle in the orchestra of a strolling company." At the beginning of 1702 we find him installing himself at Avignon as organist of Notre Dame, and some months later he obtained similar employment in the cathedral of Clermont in Auvergne. It was there that he composed his first harpsichord pieces, and perhaps the cantatas which he published later, though their renown in any case did not at this time extend beyond the limits of the province. He passed four years at Clermont. The desire for a change having come upon him before
