La dimension utopique de la pastorale

Abstract

This article attempts to show that the pastoral in music, presenting an ideal society, was part of the Utopian genre. The works played at the Académie Royale de Musique are placed in the context of 17th and 18th century agro-pastoral society, in order to show the implications of its topoi, representations of an ideal including references to the past, social criticism and the need to project oneself into the future. The naturally artistic shepherds, part of a closed world, figure an idyllic way of life and praise liberty in an egalitarian society. Their moral values, the source of their happiness, were opposed to the habits of the town and the court, shown as hypocritical and unjust. The subversive message was only limited by the need to include the monarch in the dream of peace. The élite pastoral brought to life a lastingly successful microcosm ; while revealing frustrations, its universe provided an optimistic message of confidence in human capacity to create happiness.