Les Muses de la Nouvelle France

A vivid petition unfolds from the bustling streets of Paris to the lofty chambers of the French chancellor, pleading for the arrival of the “Muses of New France.” The writer, a humble servant of the crown, describes these mysterious figures as born in a wild, untamed land—people of the forest, hunters and warriors—yet capable of being guided toward the refined arts of song and hymn. Through elegant, baroque language the appeal blends reverence for the king with a yearning to transform these distant souls into cultured participants in French religious and civic celebrations.

The text then shifts into a lyrical ode, invoking Neptune, Apollo and the classical gods to bless the royal project. It celebrates the monarch’s virtue and the promise of a new cultural bridge across the Atlantic, where music and poetry might unite disparate worlds. Listeners are invited into a richly imagined early‑modern tableau, where ambition, faith, and artistic aspiration intersect on the edge of a burgeoning empire.