# Bass and Contralto duets



## Elvira0518 (Mar 1, 2021)

I'm looking for bass & contralto duets. I know for sure there are some.
Preferably love duets, but not necessarlily. There are basses wooing contraltos, such as Achilla in Handel's Julio Cesare (or Polifemo wooing Galatea in Aci, Galatea e Polifemo). But they hardly get to sing together. The only bass & contralto love duet that I can remember is one of Sir Marmaduke and Lady Sangazure from Sullivan's Sorcerer ("welcome, joy"). 
The only condition is that a contralto should be playing a female character (i.e. not a trouser role).
Recitatives are also fine, not only arias.
Any style/period is ok.
Not necessarlily love duet, could be anything.
And in case it's hard to find bass & contralto duets, let's also include bass-baritone and mezzo duets.
Thanks.


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

Elvira0518 said:


> I'm looking for bass & contralto duets. I know for sure there are some.
> Preferably love duets, but not necessarlily. There are basses wooing contraltos, such as Achilla in Handel's Julio Cesare (or Polifemo wooing Galatea in Aci, Galatea e Polifemo). But they hardly get to sing together. The only bass & contralto love duet that I can remember is one of Sir Marmaduke and Lady Sangazure from Sullivan's Sorcerer ("welcome, joy").
> The only condition is that a contralto should be playing a female character (i.e. not a trouser role).
> Recitatives are also fine, not only arias.
> ...


Hi there, 


> Not necessarlily love duet, could be anything.





> let's also include bass-baritone and mezzo duets.


Rossini's L'Italiana in Algeri comes to mind, it is more for fun than strictly a 'love duet':





The Barber of Seville might count as some of the mezzo/bass-baritone versions have dark voices





Bartolo and Rosina in that opera share scenes but I don't think they have a full-fledged duet?

Don Giovanni has been sung basses and baritones while Zerlina has been sung by mezzos like Marilyn Horne and Bartoli


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Bass and Contralto: Marta and Mefistofele in Boito's "Mefistofele". More flirtatious than a romantic love duet.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Elvira0518 said:


> I'm looking for bass & contralto duets. I know for sure there are some.
> Preferably love duets, but not necessarlily. There are basses wooing contraltos, such as Achilla in Handel's Julio Cesare (or Polifemo wooing Galatea in Aci, Galatea e Polifemo). But they hardly get to sing together. The only bass & contralto love duet that I can remember is one of Sir Marmaduke and Lady Sangazure from Sullivan's Sorcerer ("welcome, joy").
> *The only condition is that a contralto should be playing a female character (i.e. not a trouser role).*
> Recitatives are also fine, not only arias.
> ...


only one I could think of was a trouser role (Arsace and Assur in Semiramide)


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## Elvira0518 (Mar 1, 2021)

Revitalized Classics said:


> Rossini's L'Italiana in Algeri comes to mind,


Oh, I forgot about her! She also has a duet with Taddeo: 



 "Ai Capricci della Sorte"

As for "La ci darem la mano", I heard it performed by a bass as a solo aria and didn't know where it is from.

Thanks!


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## Elvira0518 (Mar 1, 2021)

nina foresti said:


> Bass and Contralto: Marta and Mefistofele in Boito's "Mefistofele". More flirtatious than a romantic love duet.


Thanks!


BalalaikaBoy said:


> only one I could think of was a trouser role (Arsace and Assur in Semiramide)


There are a lot of castrati/trouser roles in Baroque opera, but I would like a standert one. As far as I know, Handel's operas are quite rich in contraltos, (and almost every Handel's opera has at least one bass) so I think there should be some. I'm just starting my acquaintance with Handel, so I cannot name any, but I'm quite sure there must be some.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Gounod's Faust: Mephistopheles (bass-baritone) and Marte (contralto or mezzo)


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## Elvira0518 (Mar 1, 2021)

nina foresti said:


> Gounod's Faust: Mephistopheles (bass-baritone) and Marte (contralto or mezzo)


Yep, thanks, it was just mentioned.


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## Elvira0518 (Mar 1, 2021)

These ones are not from opera, but I loved the duet:




G.F. Händel - ODE for the birthday of QUEEN ANNE - Duet "Let rolling streams"


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Elvira0518 said:


> Thanks!
> 
> There are a lot of castrati/trouser roles in Baroque opera, but I would like a standert one. As far as I know, Handel's operas are quite rich in contraltos, (and almost every Handel's opera has at least one bass) so I think there should be some. I'm just starting my acquaintance with Handel, so I cannot name any, but I'm quite sure there must be some.


Semiramide is bel canto repertoire (Rossini), not Baroque.


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

There are some bass/baritone and mezzo-soprano duets in Russian operas. They are not usually as bright as solos of their characters. 
1. Tzar's bride: Gryaznoy and Liubasha. 
2. Sorceress: Prince and Princess Eupraxia. 
Both are quarrels. 
3. Khovanschina: Martha and Dosiphey, mostly in recitative. 
4. Maid of Orleans: there are even two duets of Joan and Lionel, which also could be called love duets. 
In more well known operas there are relatively small duets of Eboli and Posa (flirtatious) and of Dalilah and High Priest (pompous). Frika's scene in Die Walküre can be considered a duet in some way, Erde's in Siegfried too.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Alvise and Laura in *La Gioconda*?


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Elvira0518 said:


> Yep, thanks, it was just mentioned.


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