Léo Delibes: Lakmé - "Air de clochettes"

In the second half of the 19th century, Parisian aristocracy and nobility had long since abandoned the healthy custom of organizing musical evenings in their salons, as had been the norm in the previous period. With the romantic agitation also extinguished, the new ruling class, a bourgeoisie eager for culture and new knowledge, now turned to the theaters to listen to opera... not very sophisticated, mind you, a tragic love story was enough, and if set in some exotic locality, so much the better.

A romance in Tahiti
With the emergence of the travel writer in the 19th century, stories set in exotic places were counted by the dozen. Many of these globetrotters published their adventures in the form of travelogues, and there were those who published a couple of novels inspired by their experiences. The Frenchman Pierre Loti is one of them, who wrote the autobiographical novel Rarahu ou le marriage, from 1880, which narrates a romance that the author experienced in Tahiti, which ended tragically with the death of his beloved.

Léo Delibes (1836 - 1891)

Lakmé
The story enchanted the mature composer Léo Delibes, who had just been acclaimed for his masterpiece, the ballet Copellia, and decided to bring the story to the stage by producing what would be his last opera, Lakmé.

As Tahiti, a French protectorate, was not exotic enough, the action was moved to India, ruled by the British. The traveler Loti was transformed into a British officer and the girl into a Hindu priestess, Lakmé, to whom a poisonous plant will cause a poetic death, unlike the real story, which led the girl to die as a result of her alcoholism.

"Air de Clochettes"
Its premiere at the Opéra Comique de Paris, in April 1883, was a success. But the 20th century forgot it and only recently has it returned to the stage. However, two of her best-known arias are regularly performed as concert pieces: the Flower Duet, and the highly virtuosic Air de Clochettes (aria of the little bells) from Act II, intended to show off a light soprano (coloratura soprano), compelled to close the aria with an E6 (the note E in the sixth octave of the piano), at the extreme end of her register.

The brilliant performance is by the fine French soprano Natalie Dessay.