{"id":40262,"date":"2025-06-19T11:14:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T09:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bcu-lausanne.ch\/the-world-after-moliere\/"},"modified":"2025-06-19T11:14:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T09:14:12","slug":"the-world-after-moliere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bcu-lausanne.ch\/en\/en-ce-moment-en\/the-world-after-moliere\/","title":{"rendered":"The world after Moli\u00e8re"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

400 years ago, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin dit Moli\u00e8re, one of France’s most illustrious comedians and playwrights, was born in Paris. We are taking this opportunity to pay tribute to him through a selection<\/a> of documents, on display in the Agora of the BCUL, site Riponne, until January 2023. The selection is also available on eLectures<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

Why is he so popular? If we still revel in his texts and their astonishing modernity, it’s because in the mid-17th century, Moli\u00e8re invented the social comedy that brought to the people, by making them laugh and think at the same time, the great questions that still resonate today: the relationship to power, the place of women in society, class struggle, health, religion, etc. He also explored the mysteries of human nature (vanity, avarice, desire or hypocrisy) with a new causticity. He also explores the mysteries of human nature (vanity, avarice, desire and hypocrisy) with a newfound causticity. Through these \u201cprofound farces\u201d, the playwright brings people together and unifies them: this is undoubtedly why today we speak the \u201clanguage of Moli\u00e8re\u201d, constitutive of both our identity and our common heritage. <\/p>\n\n

Moli\u00e8re also invented another kind of theatrical performance: the com\u00e9die-ballet. As early as 1661, many of the playwright’s plays began to intersperse music, song and dance between spoken acts. Moli\u00e8re often cast himself in a sung role. The tastes of Louis XIV, a dancing enthusiast and dancer himself, were thus satisfied. Who would be his composer of choice? Jean-Baptiste Lully. It was the beginning of a winning and fruitful tandem, to which choreographer Pierre Beauchamps was added. <\/p>\n\n

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