An Evening of Romantic Duets

The spring symphonic season of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre is opened with a big gala concert. The concert program includes opera duets and ballet adagios that tell us about love full of variety.

The innocent first love as a touching authentic emotion is audibly translated into the duets of Lucia and Edgardo from Lucia di Lammermoor and of the delicate Gilda and the immoral Duke of Mantua, whose heart is captured by the young girl being pure in mind, from Rigoletto. In their long duet from Der fliegende Holländer the self-sacrificing Senta and the Dutchman, a suffering ghost captain, talk about their feelings for each other. Despite the burden of anathema, they are all agog to be imparadised, and their thoughts together with the music are in cloudland. The passionate duet of another pair – they are the singer Floria Tosca and the painter Mario Cavaradossi from Tosca – whip up the torture of jealousy. The prima donna does not want to share her beloved with any other beauty and calls his faithfulness in question. The leitmotif of torrid love is a constant refrain through vocal and orchestral parts.

The well-known “flower” aria from Bizet’s Carmen, in which the hero declares his love for the passionate Gypsy girl, was turned into the adagio of Carmen and José from Carmen Suite. The Soviet composer Rodion Shchedrin originally orchestrated the initially vocal part specially for the ballet, and his orchestration came out to be perfect for the heroes’ sensuous dance.

The dispute between Papageno and Papagena over names of their future children transforms into an extremely funny squabble in Die Zauberflöte. Frequent “pa-pa” repeats in the vocal parties, which are sung vivace, make the duet lively artful.

The power of love is sometimes used mercenarily. The duet of Zerlina, an ordinary peasant woman, and Don Giovanni, a debaucher, becomes a true scene of seduction in Don Giovanni. Odile’s dance, in which this femme fatale gives herself out to be Siegfried’s bride Odette, seals his fate in the Black Adagio from Swan Lake. Having wished to accede to the throne, the ambitious Marina Mniszech uses the Pretender, who is in love with her, in Boris Godunov. However, she uses him cunningly so that their romantic “fountain” duet cannot tempt the audience to question whether their feelings go both ways.

Nevertheless, love can do wonders. It can turn a swan into a beautiful princess as in The Tale of Tsar Saltan or recover a blind princess’ sight as in Iolanta. When Count Vaudémont learns that the beautiful Iolanta is unable to see, he sympathizes with her, but his sympathy is not enough for Iolanta who says, “Knight, to get to know the Universe’s beauty, I need no light!”. The duet finale becomes a hymn to life or love overcoming all obstacles.

Natalia Rogudeeva