Delibes - Lakmé - Viens, Mallika, les lianes en fleurs... Sous le dôme épais (The Flower Duet)

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Clément Philibert Léo Delibes (21 February 1836 16 January 1891) was a French composer of ballets, operas, and other works for the stage. Delibes' work is known to have been a great influence on composers such as Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns and Debussy.

Lakmé is an opera in three acts by Léo Delibes to a French libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille, based on the 1880 novel Rarahu ou Le Mariage de Loti by Pierre Loti.
The subject of the opera was suggested by Gondinet as a vehicle for the American soprano Marie van Zandt. Delibes wrote the score during 1881-82. Like other French operas of the period, Lakmé captures the ambience of the Orient that was in vogue during the latter part of the nineteenth century, Bizet's The Pearl Fishers and Massenet's Le roi de Lahore being two other examples.

"The Flower Duet" (Viens, Mallika, les lianes en fleurs... Sous le dôme épais) is a famous duet, between characters Lakmé and Mallika, from Léo Delibes opera Lakmé, first performed in 1883. It takes place during Act 1when Lakmé and Mallika go down to a river to gather flowers.

Image by Mahmoud Farshchian (Fragrance of Affecrion)