라모의 음악비극 ≪이폴리트와 아리시≫에 나오는 ‘덕’: 테제와 이폴리트를 중심으로

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to look into Hippolyte et Aricie in terms of its underlying discussion of virtue and the way Rameau expresses his interpretation on the matter in his music. Hippolyte et Aricie delivers a typical tragédie en musique style pastoral love story between two main characters, Hippolyte and Aricie. However, there is an underlying discussion of virtue, which is carried out through the characterization of Hippolyte and his father Thésée. Thésée shows his friendship by risking his life to save his friend and his fairness by justly punishing his son who has committed a crime. However, they are all false virtues, for the friendship was formed by committing a crime together and Thésée’s hasty judgment caused his son to die. Rameau musically depicts this false virtue by using a flat key signatures and dissonant chords. On the contrary, Hippolyte loves Aricie with a pure heart, truly reveres the gods, and shows generosity by reaching out to his antagonists. Furthermore, he is a virtuous person who is willing to sacrifice himself for the gods, his father, and his subjects. Music for Hippolyte is written in a natural/sharp key signatures using stable chord progressions. It is clear that Rameau, who was also a music theorist, attempted to reflect the difference between true virtue and false virtue in the music of Hippolyte et Aricie. Thésée eventually pays the price for practicing false virtues by witnessing the deaths of his best friend and his wife, and Destin punishes him by forever separating him from his son Hippolyte. Hippolyte, who practiced true virtues, becomes the ruler of Aricie’s forest and happily rules the people of the forest. On the surface, Hippolyte et Aricie is a love story between the two main characters. However, underlying it is a continuous discussion over true and false virtue. Although its primary function was to entertain the audience, tragédie en musique was also used by Lully as a means to represent through music the great power of the absolute monarchy. Similarly, as the power of the absolute monarchy was waning and the new idea of the Enlightenment was emerging in the early eighteenth century, Rameau may have attempted to represent the future of France, that is, the new era of France in which the nation is governed by a virtuous ruler.