She can’t decide whether to be afraid or to give in to her attraction to the stranger and a tragic love story (think mixed messages leading to a poisoning, à la Romeo & Juliet) ensues over three acts. Lakmé and one of her servants are gathering flowers by the river, and the drama unfolds from there after Lakmé removes pieces of her jewellery and later finds a beguiling stranger making sketches of them. Taking place before the action has really started, the duet serves to establish the exotic flavour of the opera’s score. The beautiful piece is written for soprano and mezzo-soprano and appears near the beginning of the opera, which is set in British India. The mainstay of British Airways adverts since the 1980s, the Flower Duet from French composer Delibes’ 1882 opera, Lakmé, is one of the most famous arias around. Indeed, the Queen of the Night is seething after her daughter suggests that she might join the brotherhood of the Queen’s arch enemy, Sarastro-the ultimate betrayal. One of the enduring opera’s biggest “hits”, this stormy aria for soprano is titled “Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen”, which translates as “The vengeance of hell boils in my heart.” Things don’t get more dramatic than that. We celebrate the operatic arias that have forced their way into popular consciousness and stayed because of their memorable melodies, evocative stories and the sheer heights they scale Mozart: “Queen of the Night” from The Magic Fluteįor many a layperson, the word “opera” instantly evokes the repeated high Cs (followed by that infamous high F, of course) of the Queen of the Night’s aria from Mozart’s Magic Flute, K.620.
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