Hello everybody, I'm looking for the best duets of all time, it may be the wrong place to search, you'll tell me. I prefer the combination of a female and a male voices. something like Disney's "beauty and the beast" ..can you help me? (As you can probably imagine I dont understand shit abuot music, tought I enjoy listening to it.) th, NA Genesis
classical duets for male and female voice? well mostly this is opera! and boy u're in for it now.. I LOVE OPERA! where to start? well the best is always a good place and for the best u have to go with puccini (every opera he wrote from his third onwards is almost core repertoire). the beauty of puccini is the music pretty much sells itself. u just need two reasonable voices and away u go. his best duets would include la boheme - the finale of act 1. really and ensemble of 3 pieces tenor aria (che gelida manina), soprano rejoinder (si mi chiamano mimi) and a love duet (o soave fanciulla) to finish. but u also have to hear the tenor/baritone duet (o mimi tu piu no torni) from the start of act 4. madame butterfly - the love duet (bimba dagli occhi pieni di malia) of course. it is the longest and grandest duet puccini ever wrote (that is a testament to his predecesssors). also look out for the so-called cherry blossom duet for soprano and mezzo (scuoti quella fronda di ciliegio). this one always strikes me as being slightly hysterical but the music at the end is filled with pathos. tosca - the love duet between floria tosca and mario cavaradossi (aptly named mario! mario! mario!). perhaps these will cause u to find out more about puccini. I know for a fact that my love for him started with the act1 boheme finale mentioned above. other duets of great beauty include (in no particular order) verdi's la forza del destino - la vergine degli angeli (soprano and chorus.. occasionally soprano, bass n chorus). I don't normally go in for choral music but this is one of the very few exceptions because of the sheer lyrical beauty. bizet's pearlfisher duet - au fond du temple saint. for tenor and baritone. this is a (justly) famous piece I am sure u will recognise. bizet's carmen - the soprano/tenor duet (parle moi de ma mere) from act one but carmen is filled with top 10 tunes from start to finish so u should really listen to it all! gounod's romeo et juliette - the balcony scene (va! je t'ai pardonne). everyone knows shakespeare's balcony scene and gounod does it real justice with music that could make a stone weep . and to round off - two selections from german operetta - lehar's merry widow this time. the first is the delightly playful tenor/soprano duet (ich bin eine anstand'ge frau) that always reminds me of lovers running after each other in a garden maze. the second is the more opulently romantic tenor/soprano duet (sieh dort den kleinen pavillon) that will have u swooning . if u get through this lot and u still want more recommendations let me know!
Hello to you akhc and thank you for your reply. I'm sorry it took my 4 days or so to response, but these days were way to busy... I'm sure I'll try some of these recommendations, though I doubt my attraction to opera; however it is always good to expose yourself to as many styles as you can. Thank you again, NA Genesis
