The Flower Duet

The Flower Duet is a famous duet

Duet (music)

A duet is a musical composition for two performers. In classical music, the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word duo is also often used. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is referred to as...

 for sopranos from Léo Delibes

Léo Delibes

Clément Philibert Léo Delibes was a French composer of ballets, operas, and other works for the stage...

' opera Lakmé

Lakmé

Lakmé is an opera in three acts by Léo Delibes to a French libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille. Delibes wrote the score during 1881–82 with its first performance on 14 April 1883 at the Opéra Comique in Paris. Set in British India in the mid 19th century, Lakmé is based on the 1880 novel...

, first performed in Paris in 1883. The duet takes place in Act 1 of the three act opera, between characters Lakmé, the daughter of a Brahmin

Brahmin

Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...

 priest, and her servant Mallika, as they go to gather flowers by a river. Its ubiquitous presence in films and popular music since the mid-1980s was inaugurated by its usage in the 1983 horror film The Hunger.

Puccini

Giacomo Puccini

Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...

's Madama Butterfly

Madama Butterfly

Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...

also contains a number (Il Cannone Del Porto) often known as the Flower Duet.

Translation of Mallika part

English	French
Under the dense canopy Where the white jasmine Blends with the rose On the flowering bank Laughing at the morning Come, let us drift down together	Sous le dôme épais Où le blanc jasmin À la rose s’assemble Sur la rive en fleurs, Riant au matin Viens, descendons ensemble.
Let us gently glide along With the enchanting flow Of the fleeing current On the rippling surface With a lazy hand Let us reach the shore Where the source sleeps And the bird sings	Doucement glissons de son flot charmant Suivons le courant fuyant Dans l’onde frémissante D’une main nonchalante Viens, gagnons le bord, Où la source dort et L’oiseau, l’oiseau chante.
Under the dense canopy Under the white jasmine Let us drift down together	Sous le dôme épais Où le blanc jasmin, Ah! descendons ensemble!

Translation of Lakme part

English	French
Thick dome of jasmine Blends with the rose Bank of fresh morning flowers We call together Ah! Glide along The fleeing current On the rippling surface With a lazy hand Reach the shore The bird sings, the bird, the bird sings Thick dome, white jasmine We call together	Dôme épais le jasmin A la rose s'assemble Rive en fleurs frais matin Nous appellent ensemble Ah! glissons en suivant Le courant fuyant Dans l'on de frémissante D'une main nonchalante Gagnons le bord, Où l'oiseau chante, l'oiseau, l'oiseau chante Dôme épais, blanc jasmin Nous appellent ensemble!

External links

• Lakmé score (Flower Duet is No. 2, pages 20–30)