Towards the middle of the 18th century, French music was undergoing a period of transition in which the Baroque tradition inherited from Lully coexisted with a more modern and gallant language, represented by composers such as Rameau.
This coexistence sparked an intense aesthetic debate in a musical milieu open to new European influences.
The academician Bollioud-Mermet analysed this change in his essay De la corruption du goût dans la musique française (On the corruption of taste in French music).
This programme examines this debate through works by French composers such as Philidor, Rameau and Blavet, as well as examples of foreign influence, such as arrangements of Corelli's sonatas and Telemann's music, which was present in Paris at the time.
Overall, these pieces reflect a moment of transformation in which the exchange of styles redefined the language of 18th-century French music.