Then it all calms down and turns more inward and reflective as they ponder the beauty of night. We get the agitated excitement of Tristan’s arrival with the two simply throwing caution to the winds. It’s hard to simply state one particular passage as THE love duet because the reality is that the entire sequence of events of Act two of Wagner’s great masterwork really explores the passion between these two lovers from a wide range of angles. Amelia’s reservations remain and yet she joins in to sing with Gustavo in the reprise of the cabaletta theme, indicating complex contradictory emotions. From there the two engage in a cabaletta, the passion aflame. We start with her rejecting him and then slowly see her transform until she declares her love for him in the most heavenly of music Verdi could muster. What makes this one truly imaginative is how he takes the double duet structure and manipulates it to explore the development of emotions between Amelia and Gustavo. To be blunt, Verdi doesn’t have a truly great love duet before this one. Prior to this duet, Verdi managed a few other structured duets that were fine musically, yet never rose above that. The music is gentle throughout and even its moment of passionate eruption, the kiss motif, is subdued in its release.Īnd he does all this without ever having the two voices fully join in together until the very end of the duet. Desdemona and Otello don’t talk so much about how much they love each other, but WHY they love each other, adding a depth and profundity to the moment. Unlike most other entrants on this list, filled with intense passion, Verdi’s approach is more of mature and tenderness. The greatest of these is undeniably the one from his last great tragedy and it is undeniably one of the most emotionally gripping every committed to music. Verdi wrote his fair share of love duets, but most people wouldn’t consider many of them to be truly great. Without further ado, let’s look at the greatest love duets ever conceived.
As always, there will be some missing and we are excited to see which ones you felt should also be considered among the best of all time.
As we celebrate the day of love, we turn to 14 of the greatest love duets ever written for the artform. In fact, love in opera has incited just as many battles and tension as anything else.īut love has also inspired some of the most breathtaking musical moments ever conceived. Opera is rife with love, almost every single plot in every single work has some communion of two persons in that blissful word. Last year we took a cynical look at the holiday, but not this year. It’s Valentine’s Day, the day to cherish a significant other.
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