Love, Pastorally

This depiction of Daphnis and Chloe is in fact a set design for the Michel Fokine choreographed ballet, set to Maurice Ravel's music, entitled Daphnis et Chloe. The ballet first premiered in 1912, and the musical score is considered to be Ravel's greatest masterpiece. The ballet actualizes, through dance, the story of the two lovers, and the score takes the audience on a journey of deep emotional stimulation, echoing the feelings of the love story being played out in front of them. As one can see from the painting, the ballet is set in a countryside that dwarfs the two lovers, blending them into the landscape in a fashion that could cause the idle viewer to miss their presence altogether. This is reflective of the pastoral love theme present in the story. The innocence and naivety that defined the lovers relationship is reflected in the grand and seemingly untouched setting they are surrounded by. This pastoral theme is also echoed in a youtube clip I found of the ballet, and the viewer can see how the actual set design indeed reflects the painting above. The dancers are all in costumes that embody colors one could find in the countryside, colors of a pastoral nature that also serve to fortify this theme. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1XSculJrRs

To further explore the theme of pastoral love, I would like to bring up a poem by Christopher Marlowe entitled The Passionate Shepard to His Love. This poem immediately reminded me of the Daphnis and Chloe story, and seems to perfectly embody the nature of their love. The first stanza reads
"Come live with me, and be my love;
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valley, dales and fields,
Woods or steepy mountain yields."
Within these lines, Marlowe is celebrating an enjoyment of the countryside, and the entirety of his poem  reflects an intricate tie between love and landscape. It was impossible for me to read this poem without Daphnis and Chloe in mind.