Welcome to the 167 Opera Daily members who have joined us since last Wednesday! If youâre reading this but havenât subscribed, join 2,559 smart, curious folks by subscribing here!
Emails come out every Wednesday and Sunday.

This weekâs theme is Great Operatic Duets
âBelle nuit, ĂŽ nuit dâamourâ (popularly know as the âBarcarolleâ) is a duet for soprano and mezzo-soprano from the French opera The Tales of Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach. A barcarolle is a style of song characterized by a rhythm reminiscent of the gondolierâs stroke. Montserrat CaballĂ© (soprano) and Shirley Verrett (mezzo-soprano) are singing here, and you canât help but feel like you are in that gondola in Venice. I think itâs the most touching interpretation Iâve ever heard.
đ§ Listen here (4 minute listen):
YouTube / Apple Music / Amazon Music / Spotify
The Tales of Hoffman (Les Contes dâHoffmann in French) tells the story of a poet, Hoffmann (tenor), who describes three women he loved and lost only to find that the woman that was meant for him all along was right in front of his nose.
It is the operaâs most famous melody and it is performed by Nicklausse (mezzo-soprano) Hoffmanâs muse in disguise as his friend, and Giulietta (soprano), the protagonist of Hoffmanâs love and a Venetian courtesan. The scene begins with Hoffman listening from a Venetian palace balcony while the two characters sing this melody in a gondola below.
Lovely night, oh, night of love, smile upon our joys!
Night much sweeter than the day, oh beautiful night of love!
Conversation starters
Shirley Verrett began her career as a mezzo-soprano in the late 1950âs but later took on soprano roles.
Duet recitals were popular in the 1960âs and 1970âs and provided a nice juxtaposition of two different voice types (soprano and mezzo-soprano, tenor and baritone).
Opera is filled with great love and friendship duets. In a previous Opera Daily, we featured âAu fond du temple saintâ (popularly known as âThe Pearl Fishers Duetâ) which follows in the nineteenth-century tradition of operatic friendship duets, which typically feature tenor and baritone singing complementary musical lines.
Offenbach died four months before the premiere of Les Contes dâHoffmann (February 10, 1881). He left the score unfinished, and many different opera versions have been performed over the past 125 years.
Thank you for listening,
Michele
3 | 12 |
One of the things that endeared Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the DMV (District, Maryland, Virginia) was that she loved the opera. She even became a performer. As has the music she so adored, her legacy to American jurisprudence will live through the ages. We await the genius who will compose an opera based upon her extraordinary life. Could that be you?
https://www.nbcnews.com/video/see-ruth-bader-ginsburg-s-operatic-debut-808740931713
My mother used to play this on the piano when I was a child. I remember seeing the title "Barcarolle" in her old, black music book with the yellowing pages, but I never knew its provenance.
Listening to opera makes me cry sometimes, or maybe it's remembering that long ago time that makes me feel a bit weepy. One thing I know for sure, listening to this ethereal duet is one more reason to appreciate opera daily.
Belle nuit, ĂŽ nuit d'amour,
Souris Ă nos ivresses,
Nuit plus douce que le jour,
Ă belle nuit d'amour!
Le temps fuit et sans retour
Emporte nos tendresses,
Loin de cet heureux séjour
Le temps fuit sans retour.
Zéphyrs embrasés,
Versez-nous vos caresses,
Zéphyrs embrasés,
Donnez-nous vos baisers!
vos baisers! vos baisers! Ah!
Belle nuit, ĂŽ nuit d'amour,
Souris Ă nos ivresses,
Nuit plus douce que le jour,
Ă belle nuit d'amour!
Ah! Souris Ă nos ivresses!
Nuit d'amour, ĂŽ nuit d'amour!
Ah! ah! ah! ah! ah! ah! ah! ah! ah! ah!
(French lyrics posted by TheKrathus on YouTube, 1 Year ago)