mélodie

Mélodie is the French word for melody, defined as a sequence of pitches forming a singular musical line with its own rhythm. In music, la mélodie also designates a genre: the French art song for voice and piano, analogous to the German Lied, with a particular emphasis on setting poetry to a singable line and on lyrical musical expression.

French mélodie as an art form developed in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Notable composers include Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy, Ernest Chausson, Reynaldo Hahn, Maurice Ravel, and Francis Poulenc. Texts are often drawn from poets such as Paul Verlaine, Charles Baudelaire, and Stéphane Mallarmé. The genre is marked by intimate mood, nuanced text setting, and pianistic accompaniment. Examples include Fauré’s Après un rêve and Debussy’s Ariettes oubliées.

Outside the genre sense, mélodie can simply refer to any melodic line within a larger work. In everyday usage, the term denotes the general concept of melody in French; in English-language discussion, mélodie is usually translated as melody. The distinction from chanson is stylistic: mélodie implies an art-music context and literary association rather than popular song, though the boundary can blur across periods.

Mélodie is also used as a feminine given name in French-speaking regions. As a personal name, it reflects the musical sense of beauty and lyric appeal embedded in the term.