A French composer of the late Baroque period, Rameau is best known today for his harpsichord music but in his lifetime was also famous as a musical theorist and a composer of operas. The zenith of Rameau's career may be said to have encompassed the brief span from 1748, when he tossed off the masterpiece Pygmalion in eight days and had six other operas on the boards, through 1754, when he wrote La Naissance d'Osiris (“The Birth of Osiris”). Thereafter, his fame diminished, as the prevailing musical style became what is now generally called 'Classical'. The public preferred catchy tunes with simple harmonies to Rameau's profound emotion and rich, late-Baroque harmony.