The pastorale, a romantic genre From Molière’s Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme:

Monsieur Jourdain “Why always shepherds? – they are everywhere!”
Dancing Master “Singing has always been assigned to shepherds, and it’s hardly natural
in a dialogue for princes or bourgeois characters to sing about their passion!”
.
Before Lully invented French opera, it was considered inappropriate for high class characters to sing love songs. However, a pastorale peopled with Cupid and Pan in an idyllic natural setting reminiscent of Paradise Lost offered a fitting solution. With historically informed French pronunciation and acting gestures and the inclusion of dance, these two hitherto unperformed pastorales would not be unfamiliar to 18 th century audiences. Moreover, somewhat poignantly, this Tircis et Célimène by Jean-Baptiste Matho will feature the CMBV choir Les Chantres, as its composer had sung with the Royal Chapel choir several centuries earlier. Finally, I hope that, unlike Monsieur Jourdain, you will fall under the charm of our cast of shepherds and shepherdesses!