Arcadia

The Greek province of Arcadia is perhaps the most important locus for pastoralism in a classical context. Arcadian inhabitants such as shepherds, nymphs, and the god Pan play significant roles in both literary and musical contexts, and they can be expressed in an array of settings—not all of which are themselves classical. One such manifestation is “Merrie England,” an amalgamation of tropes and images drawn predominantly from the Elizabethan era and popular among the Victorians and Edwardians. Musical evocations of that site reveal important aspects of how idealized pastoral settings reflected Britons’ view of their own society at the height of empire.