16 April 2011

Duetto buffo di due gatti

Duetto buffo di due gatti (cat duet) is often attributed to Gioachino Rossini as much of the music in that piece is drawn from his opera Otello. According to allmusic
The origins of this work are cloudy, but historians agree that it is not an authentic work by Rossini. It does, however, contain a good deal of Rossini's music, so the attribution is not completely off the mark. The Cat Duet contains elements of 1) the aria "Ah, come mai non senti," from the second act of Rossini's opera Otello (1816), 2) a nearby duet between the characters Otello and Iago, and 3) an earlier work in the same vein, the "Cat Cavatina" of Danish opera and song composer C.E.F. Weyse. The compiler was probably Robert Lucas Pearsall, a British composer better known for his output of hymns. In 1973, the Schott publishing house issued a facsimile of an 1825 edition of the Cat Duet, published by Ewer & Johanning and credited to Pearsall, but bearing the pseudonym G. Berthold.
It is a wonderful and entertaining piece of work.

Montserrat Caballe and (her daughter) Montserrat Marti on German television


Pauline Tinsley and Elizabeth Vaughan for Welsh National Opera, 1996


Hannah Holgersson and Agnes Vojtko with the Cairo Opera Orchestra, 2007


Les Petits Chanteurs a la Croix de Bois (Paris), 1996 in Korea. Soloists - Hyacinthe de Moulins and Regis Mengus (dark hair)

(This was wrongly attributed to Escolania of Montserrat, as Catalunia Catholic Boys' Choir, by NorCalBlogs)

The last video has gone 'viral' but most first-time listeners have no idea about the piece.

1 comment:

Anastasia said...

Hey Daniel,

I am writing a paper on Buffo due di Gatti for my college Music Lit. class. I have been trying to locate the portion of "Ah come mai non senti" that the "composer" draws part 2 and 3 from, in the actual score of Otello. Any idea of which measures to look it? (I am realizing it is quite a long piece!) Thanks for any assistance you might be able to provide!