Léo Delibes · Romanticism
1836–1891
1883 · Opera · Paris, Opéra-Comique
Tonality
Without a unique tone. Like every opera, it goes through many tonalities along its aryan, chorus and scenes.
From the atril
Lakmé, premiered in the Opéra-Comique in 1883, is the masterpiece of Delibes and one of the summits of French orientalism. It is set in India under British rule: Lakmé, daughter of a Brahman priest, falls in love with Gérald, an English officer who has entered the sacred enclosure. His father swears revenge, and history ends tragically.
The opera contains two of the most famous pages of the repertoire. The «Duo of the flowers», in which Lakmé and his servant Mallika go down to the river to collect flowers, it is a barcarola of a hypnotic sweetness, with the two voices intertwined in third on a smooth swing of the orchestra; today it sounds in ads and films from all over the world. The «Aria de las campanillas», in which Lakmé sings in the market square to attract Gérald, it is a piece of extreme virtuosism, with vocalizations and superacute notes that imitate the tinting of the bells: a fire test for the color soprans.
What to hear
- The «Duo of the flowers».
- The «Aria de las campanillas».
- The oriental colors of the orchestra.
