(Fr.).
A French drinking-song. The term was used principally between the second half of the 17th century and the mid-18th century for strophic, syllabic songs whose texts are of a light, frivolous nature in contradistinction to airs sérieux, whose texts deal with love, pastoral scenes or political satire. The Chanson pour boire was its predecessor; there is no appreciable difference between the two types.
Most airs à boire appeared in Paris in prints and manuscripts for from one to three voices, with accompaniment for lute or continuo. Between 1674 and 1745 over 250 collections, containing several thousand songs, were entitled Airs sérieux et à boire. In at least two collections ritornellos are added. In addition, some collections, both printed and manuscript, contain either only airs à boire – volumes by Cambert, Sicard and Denis Lefebvre are good examples – or only a few such airs among numerous other types of song (Lefebvre's volume is unusual in being for four voices). Prolific composers of airs à boire include Bousset, Brossard, one of the Du Buisson family, Louis Lemaire, Renier and Sicard. The main publishers were Christophe Ballard (who published several huge series of anthologies) and Boivin in Paris and Estienne Roger in Amsterdam. Airs à boire were so fashionable in the 1690s that a new collection was published every three months. For a representative selection, see Le pupitre, vi (Paris, 1968).
JOHN H. BARON