La mélodie française, in English “French Song”, has an even greater following in the United States, according to the authors than in France, and yet little has been written about it in either country. Le chant intime fills that gap while bringing students and teachers of music to the origins of the genre.

Analyzing fifty-two songs including two previously unpublished ones, Le Roux looks at the particularity of the evolution of a musical tradition in which underlying text from ancient poems and ballads were set to music. He goes on to define “la mélodie française”. From 17th Century songs to contemporary examples, side-by-side samples of text and partition allow for a complete analysis.