The “Flower Duet” is a duet for soprano and mezzo-soprano in the first act of Leo Delibes’ opera Lakme. Lakmé is an opera in three acts with a libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille which was premiered in Paris in 1883. It is sung by the characters Lakmé, daughter of a Brahmin priest, and her servant Mallika, as they go to gather flowers by a river.
The score, written from 1881 to 1882, was first performed on 14 April 1883 by the Opera-Comique at the (second) Salle Favart in Paris. Lakmé is based on Theodore Pavie’s story “Les babouches du Brahmane” and the novel Le Mariage de Loti by Pierre Loti. Gondinet proposed it as a vehicle for the American soprano Marie van Zandt.
Lakmé combines many orientalist aspects that were popular at the time: an exotic location, similar to other French operas of the period, such as Bizet’s ‘Les pecheurs de perles’ and Massenet’s ‘Le roi de Lahore’, a fanatical priest, mysterious Hindu rituals, and “the novelty of exotically colonial English people.”
The duet’s time signature is 68; its key is B major, except for the part “Mais, je ne sais” until “les lotus bleus,” which is in G major. That part has a slightly faster tempo (=160) than the surrounding lines (=144). The final reprise is in the original key and tempo. A performance takes about six minutes.
The duet is frequently used in advertisements and films and is popular as a concert piece. The duet has become a staple of British Airways’ brand image, having first been adapted for the track “Aria” in the airline’s “face” advertisements of the 1980s by Yanni and Malcolm McLaren. It has been featured in many subsequent advertisements for the airline and is used as its inflight boarding music. More recently, it has been heard in bits by The Kids In The Hall and Astron-6, and in films such as Carlito’s Way‘, Meet the Parents, Anomalisa, and True Romance and television shows including Regular Show and The Simpsons.
