''Chanson réaliste'' (, ''realist song'') refers to a style of music performed in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

primarily from the 1880s until the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

.Sweeney, Regina M. (2001). ''Singing Our Way to Victory: French Cultural Politics and Music During the Great War'', Wesleyan University Press. p. 23. .Fagot, Sylvain & Uzel, Jean-Philippe (2006). ''Énonciation artistique et socialité: actes du colloque international de Montréal des 3 et 4 mars 2005'', L'Harmattan. pp. 200-203. . (French text) Influenced by

literary realism Literary realism is a literary genre, part of the broader realism in arts, that attempts to represent subject-matter truthfully, avoiding speculative fiction and supernatural elements. It originated with the realist art movement that began with ...

and the naturalist movements in literature and

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

, ''chanson réaliste'' dealt with the lives of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

's poor and working-class.Frith, Simon (2004). ''Popular Music: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies'', Routledge. pp. 225-227. .Schechter, Joel (2003). ''Popular Theatre: A Sourcebook'', Routledge. pp. 181-183. Wilson, Elizabeth (1992). ''The Sphinx in the City: Urban Life, the Control of Disorder, and Women'', University of California Press. p. 62. ''Chanson réaliste'' was a musical style that was mainly performed by women;Conway, Kelly (2004). ''Chanteuse in the City: The Realist Singer in French Film''. University of California Press. p. 6. some of the more commonly known performers of the genre include

Édith Piaf Édith Piaf (, , ; born Édith Giovanna Gassion, ; December 19, 1915– October 10, 1963) was a French singer, lyricist and actress. Noted as France's national chanteuse, she was one of the country's most widely known international stars. Pia ...

and

Fréhel Fréhel (; born Marguerite Boulc'h; 13 July 1891 – 3 February 1951) was a French singer and actress. Biography Born in Paris to a poor and dysfunctional Breton family, Marguerite Boulc'h was a child left to a life on the streets in the sord ...

Origins and influences

''Chanson réaliste'' grew out of the ''cafés-concerts'' and

cabarets Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or ...

of the

Montmartre Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...

district of

during the 1880s. Home to such theatrical landmarks as the

Moulin Rouge Moulin Rouge (, ; ) is a cabaret in Paris, on Boulevard de Clichy, at Place Blanche, the intersection of, and terminus of Rue Blanche. In 1889, the Moulin Rouge was co-founded by Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller, who also owned the Paris Ol ...

, and

Le Chat Noir Le Chat Noir (; French for "The Black Cat") was a nineteenth-century entertainment establishment, in the bohemian Montmartre district of Paris. It was opened on 18 November 1881 at 84 Boulevard de Rochechouart by the impresario Rodolphe Salis, ...

, Montmartre became a centre for

hedonistic Hedonism refers to a family of theories, all of which have in common that pleasure plays a central role in them. ''Psychological'' or ''motivational hedonism'' claims that human behavior is determined by desires to increase pleasure and to decre ...

and brazen entertainment from the late 19th century to the early 20th century.Gendron, Bernard (2002). ''Between Montmartre and the Mudd Club: Popular Music and the Avant-garde'', University of Chicago Press. pp. 36 & 53. . Although ''chanson réaliste'' was a musical genre dominated by female vocalists, one of its earliest performers—and credited by some as "the creator" or "the father" of genreMoore Whiting, Steven (1999). ''Satie the Bohemian: From Cabaret to Concert Hall'', Oxford University Press. p. 20. Robb, David (2007). ''Protest Song in East and West Germany Since the 1960s'', Boydell & Brewer. p. 36. .—was cabaret singer and comedian

Aristide Bruant Aristide Bruant (; 6 May 1851 – 11 February 1925) was a French cabaret singer, comedian, and nightclub owner. He is best known as the man in the red scarf and black cape featured on certain famous posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. He ...

. Bruant began a career at

in 1885 and his

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

-inspired mix of song, satire and entertainment became very popular with the bourgeoisie slumming in the poorer Montmartre district.Wilson, Elizabeth (2003). ''Bohemians: The Glamorous Outcasts'', Tauris Parke Paperbacks. p 224. . His compositions were novel for the time because they included the everyday language and slang used by the commoners. Borrowing elements of the '' comédie en vaudeville'', the ''chanteuses réalistes'' (realist singers emale often wore black dresses, red lipstick and white face makeup—their faces highlighted with stark lighting, set against a modest, almost bare backdrop—all done to draw audiences' attention to the singers' emotive facial expressions. In contrast to the picturesque ''

chanson A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic so ...

'' which was popular in post-World War II France—with its songs of love, cobbled Parisian streets, and the sound of the accordion—the ''chanteuses réalistes'' sang songs of loss, hopelessness and abandonment; their songs dealt with life in the poorer Parisian

faubourgs "Faubourg" () is an ancient French term historically equivalent to " fore-town" (now often termed suburb or ). The earliest form is , derived from Latin , 'out of', and Vulgar Latin (originally Germanic) , 'town' or 'fortress'. Traditionally, thi ...

, and the thugs, pimps, prostitutes, and

orphan An orphan (from the el, ορφανός, orphanós) is a child whose parents have died. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents due to death is called an orphan. When referring to animals, only the mother's condition is usuall ...

s who called them home; its themes of poverty and the

criminal underworld Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

, as well as its sociopolitical commentary, were influenced by the works of such literary realists and naturalist writers as

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

Jean Richepin Jean Richepin (; 4 February 1849 – 12 December 1926) was a French poet, novelist and dramatist. Biography Son of an army doctor, Jean Richepin was born 4 February 1849 at Médéa, French Algeria. At school and at the École Normale Supé ...

and

Paul Bourget Paul Charles Joseph Bourget (; 2 September 185225 December 1935) was a French poet, novelist and critic. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times. Life Paul Bourget was born in Amiens in the Somme ''département'' of Picar ...

The performers

The ''chanson réaliste'' sentimentalised the plight of poor and dispossessed women, such as prostitutes, waitresses, failed singers in cheap bars, orphans, single mothers and the like. Some of the performers of the genre were also known to have lived the part—both Édith Piaf and Fréhel sang in the streets as children, were teenage mothers and lost their children very young—and many shortened their lives with drugs, alcohol and

illness A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

: Yvonne George lived an excessive lifestyle and died at the age of 34; Fréhel became an

alcoholic Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomina ...

at an early age, attempted suicide at 19 and eventually died in poverty; Piaf suffered from

addictions Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use oft ...

morphine Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. T ...

and alcohol and died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. However, given the dramatic and melancholy aspects of ''chanson réaliste'', the withered and diseased aspect of their appearance became an integral part of the show. Piaf, for example, was known for her

waif A waif (from the Old French ''guaif'', "stray beast")Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/waif (accessed: June 02, 2008) is a person removed, by hardship, loss or other helpless circumstance ...

-like stage presence and became tightly identified with her role;Cannon, Steve & Dauncey, Hugh (2003). ''Popular Music in France from Chanson to Techno: Culture, Identity, and Society'', Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 30. . she was, however, critical of the style: Another common theme of the ''chanson réaliste'' was

motherhood ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gesta ...

, particularly the mother-son relationship; such songs were a speciality of the singer Berthe Sylva, whose songs dealt with such topics as dying mothers, mothers worrying about their sons at war, sons placing flowers on a mother's grave, and songs about the mundane experiences of a bored homemaker, housewife. Other women known for performing in the ''chanson réaliste'' style include: * Eugénie Buffet * Damia *

Marie Dubas Marie Dubas (3 September 1894 – 21 February 1972) was a French music-hall singer, diseuse and comedian. Biography Born in Paris, France, Marie Dubas began her career as a stage actress but became famous as a singer. Using the great Yvette Guil ...

* Lys Gauty

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chanson Realiste French styles of music Music in Paris Realism (art movement) Literary realism

Origins and influences

The performers

See also

References