Since the beginning of opera, the convention of the duet, in which two characters simultaneously express their feelings, has been one of the staple ploys of musical dramatists. Characters may join their voices in a unity of feeling, or in extreme disagreement, or in any one of the thousand shades in between; though in the examples we have here, all involving the combination of soprano and mezzo-soprano voices, the feelings expressed are held in common between the two singers.
LEO DELIBES
Flower duet: Dôme épais le jasmin (Lakmé)
JACQUES OFFENBACH
Barcarolle: Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour (Les Contes d’Hoffmann)
ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK
Evening Prayer: Abends will ich schlafen gehn (Hänsel und Gretel)
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Alle più calde immagini (Semiramide)
Qui tollis peccata mundi (Messe solennelle)
HECTOR BERLIOZ
Vous soupirez, Madame? … Nuit paisible et sereine (Béatrice et Bénédict)
Sa voix fait naître dans mon sein (Les Troyens)
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
Io t’abbraccio (Rodelinda)
GIUSEPPE VERDI: Recordare (Messa da Requiem)
RICHARD STRAUSS
Presentation of the silver rose: Mir ist die Ehre (Der Rosenkavalier)
GIACOMO PUCCINI
Flower Duet: Una nave da Guerra … Scuoti quella fronda di ciliego
VINCENZO BELLINI
Mira, o Norma … Sì fino all’ore estreme (Norma)
Joan Sutherland
Brigitte Fassbaender
Renata Tebaldi
Marilyn Horne