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During the early eighteenth century the lute was replaced by guitar in the artistic depiction of musical groups and other amorous scenes. The fashionable instrument appears in a number of Watteau's canvases showing garden parties or intimate duets. The erotic connotation remained unchanged.
Watteau's contemporary Bernard Picard accompanied his engraving entitled Concert in the Park with a few playful couplets about the contest between Apollo and Amor, which can be summed up this way: "Both of them was victorious; Apollo at the beginning, Amor at the end." The contemporary public certainly noted the piquant allusions and understood the ironic innuendo.
The painting depicts the moment when the two musicians "tune on" before a performance. The singer gives the initial tone, and the accompanist finds the matching chord. This playful context is well matched by the virtuoso placing of the two figures within the diagonal composition, by the gentle harmony of pastel colours and by the formal lightness of the composition.
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