L’Amour à la française

Music is considered to be ‘light’ when its composer has favoured melody over harmony, easily memorised patterns over constantly renewed lines, cascades of warbling coloratura over powerful sustained notes. But the ‘lightness’ of this repertory is also related to its subjects and the way they are handled: as a riposte to the tragic love stories of grand opera, it offers intoxicating passions, games of seduction and hidden affairs. The five singers gathered round the piano for this recital demonstrate the wide variety of these scenes of badinage, taken from works by Hervé, Offenbach, Lecocq, Varney, Audran, Serpette, Messager and many others.