Celebrating a composer whose music has made a lasting impact on popular culture 

 

 

 

 

Perhaps Duo des fleurs / Sous le dôme épais or the “Flower Duet” is one of those pieces of classical music which you immediately recognize but, for the life of you, fail to recall the composer. Most people have a piece or two that stump them. This glorious piece of music comes from the opera Lakmé by the French Romantic composer Léo Delibes, whose birthday we celebrate today, February 21st. He was born in 1836, the son of a mailman and an amateur musician in Saint-Germain-du-Val, now La Flèche, northwest France. Delibes studied composition with the prolific opera and ballet composer Adolphe Adams at the Paris Conservatory and went on to work at both the Théâtre Lyrique and the Paris Opéra. 


Delibes’ last opera, Lakmé, written in 1881, takes place in the late nineteenth century during the British Raj; a time when many Indians secretly practiced Hinduism as it was a religion forbidden by British forces. The opera tells the story of a tragic love between Lakmé, the daughter of a Brahmin high priest, and Gerald, a British officer. The “Flower Duet” takes place in act 1 of the three act opera as Lakmé and her servant Mallika gather flowers by the river. This duet has moved many audiences for its light, free and lyric nature and has gone on to be used in films and advertisements. Undoubtedly, this could be the reason why it always sounds so familiar: it’s become a classical music one-hit-wonder of sorts… 

The duet has been used in many films: from I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing (1987, directed by Patricia Rozema) to Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003, directed by Jan de Bont); from Superman Returns (2006, directed by Bryan Singer) to Meet the Parents (2000, directed by Ray Roach) when Greg (Ben Stiller) is a little too impressed with Kevin (Owen Wilson), Pam's (Teri Polo) ex-fiance while the Flower Duet playing in the background: 

 


Or perhaps you remember the famed duet from one of its many reincarnations: from The Rapsody & LL Cool J - Dear Mallika:

 



… to the great musical composer and arranger Yiannis Chryssomallis (Yanni) and his track “Aria” which draws its melody from the “Flower Duet”:

 



If that last video sounded particularly familiar, you might have recognized it from the 1989 British Airways commercial which used the Yanni track:

 


Or, you might just be thinking of one of the many fine chocolate commercials which use the duet as a backing track: 

 


OR, you might simply know the duet in its native form: a beautiful, simple, haunting duet sung between Lakmé and Mallika in Delibes’ opera.

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Léo Delibes!