IMPASSE des VERTUS revives the Pleasure of DANCE at the same time as the abundant repertoire that accompanies it: Musette Waltzes, Tangos, Javas, Polkas, Paso-dobles, Fox-trot, Marches, Mazurkas ... and the most beautiful Songs of this period of extraordinary musical creativity, draw you into the frenzy of the nights of yesteryear. Because during these decades when the musette ball and dance were the reason for living of the people of France, most of the songs are also dances. Immortal or forgotten, they dialogue today with the most beautiful instrumental works composed for the accordion of the origins. Dance teachers are happy to join the IMPASSE des VERTUS musette ball to guide the first steps of those who wish to take up dancing: the Impasse des Vertus musette ball is then preceded by a dance class (all levels), and the ball itself is interspersed with introductions to the dances of the musette ball.
The Marquis of Carabas takes up his summer residence at the Château de Carneville and invites you to discover or rediscover, through music, the most beautiful tales of literature in a theatrical experience where the strange and the marvelous intertwine to bring the centuries-old stones of the “Château des Sortilèges” (Castle of Spells) to life, more alive than ever. For adults in the evening, with tales by Maupassant; for children in the afternoon, with stories by Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, and Andersen… “Le Château des Sortilèges” (The Castle of Spells) will take you on a journey outside of time. Join us on Friday, May 15, 2026, at 9:00 PM for the premiere of the new edition of “Le Château des Sortilèges” at the Château de Carneville. (New show)
Lyrical and melancholic, the repertoire composed for the accordion during this golden age that were the 30s and 40s, speaks to the heart from the outset. And this music that had not been played for almost a century, this music that we had never heard, is nevertheless immediately familiar and intimate, because it has remained in the collective unconscious. Our parents, grandparents or great-grandparents met and loved each other on "Coeur sentimental", "Nostalgie nocture", "Frivolité", "Etoile des guinguettes" or "Idilio de Amor". The poignant vibration of the accordion of the origins remains secretly in our DNA. It is this musical secret that IMPASSE des VERTUS reveals today, on the instruments for which it was composed. In this concert, the resurrected masterpieces of the original bal musette dialogue with the most beautiful songs of this era: they are the faces, the voices and the lives of the little people of France who still sing and dance in secret around us... to the sound of the accordion.
Immense, enormous, absolutely free, sincere and sensitive to the point of obscenity, Fréhel is probably the emblematic singer of France between the two wars. She inspired the best authors and composers of her time, and leaves behind a repertoire of extraordinary beauty, largely forgotten. -=₪۩۞۩₪=- IMPASSE des VERTUS resurrects it today, and tells in music the improbable destiny of “The unforgettable forgotten one” who, more than any other, will have known at the same time the abysses and the summits, lived the infamous and the sublime. -=₪۩۞۩₪=- “I would like to fall asleep one day, to leave without suffering to the sound of the accordion. One last exhilaration, and goodnight, goodnight pleasure… I am no more afraid of death than I was afraid of life. Look, I have the Big Dipper engraved in my pupils. And I was born on a Friday the 13th. These are signs, here in the moor. I cried, I suffered, I was happier than any woman on Earth. Writers have included me in their works, Colette, Mac Orlan, I won gold, I possessed everything. Of course I believe in my songs, otherwise I would sing them hymns! I believe in the Good Lord like when I was a kid… He knows well what we are doing, the Good Lord… I am sure of myself, I tell you, after the big plunge!…” Fréhel Fréhel, diva of the abysses Musical show Duration: 1h40 Vocals: Frédérique Delay / Accordion, narration: Philippe Corbin / Directed by: Philippe Corbin and Denis Giraud.
If some of the greatest successes of Fréhel, Damia, Berthe Sylva or Lucienne Delyle have reached us and still sing in our memories, most of the Songs that accompanied and illuminated Life during the first half of the 20th century have fallen silent: they were nevertheless Life, the joyfully banal or tragic daily life of the generations that preceded us, their Hopes and their Dreams; and listening to them tenderly, we find our own, intact and thrilling. They dialogue here with the most beautiful instrumental works composed for the accordion, and take you, for the duration of a concert, a show or a ball ... into the mists of time.