Wit and playfulness

The French chanson of the light-hearted, playful, or even saucy, variety epitomises “le bel esprit” – the elegant wit – inherited from the seventeenth century. Spicy, suggestive, risqué without being offensive: this is a difficult art, constantly teetering on the brink of immoderation, but always managing at the last moment not to descend into vulgarity.

From the eighteenth century to the Belle Époque, the guitar was the accomplice for such musical marivaudages. Marc Mauillon, baritone, and Pascal Sanchez, guitar, reveal part of the rich history of this inexhaustible repertoire.