„Quelque part entre Rome et Paris…“ – Regards croisés und Grenzgänge zwischen französischem Chanson und italienischer Canzone

Abstract

Border crossings between the French chanson and the Italian canzone are more frequent that one may think. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the French chanson inspires many of the cantautori and contributes to create the new genre of the Italian canzone d’autore. At the same time, French singers participate in the Sanremo Festival whereas Italian singers sing their songs in French and try to make a career in France. This works particularly in cases of singers with a binational background: Some of them manage to make a career in both countries. Finally, there are also homages to the songs of the respective other country or their singers, and we should not forget the number of songs dedicated to topics specific of the other country, such as Venice appearing in French chansons or Paris in Italian canzoni.