This choirboy ‘cat duet’ is a masterpiece in musical humour, and in keeping a straight face

18 October 2022, 16:53

A masterclass in both the classical and comical. Here's the Rossini-esque opera duet where the lyrics consist entirely of the word ‘meow’.

This hilarious ‘Duetto buffo di due gatti’ (‘Funny duet for two cats’) is said to be the work of Italian opera maestro Gioachino Rossini – a composer who loved his tunes, his pasta, and very possibly, his mischievous cats.

In actual fact, the authorship of the duet is not 100% clear – many argue it was written by someone else in 1825, who was compiling a work which drew on Rossini’s 1816 opera, Otello.

Read more: A composer is setting portraits of cats and dogs to music, and they are just beautiful

But there's no doubting the comical nature of the music – as the ‘meows’ slowly grow over solemn chords in the piano. And in true Rossini style, the meows grow in virtuosity. Just like they do on street roofs at 2am in the morning.

Watch this purr-fect feline performance below.

Cat Choir

Very impressively, these two choristers managed to stay (fairly) poker-faced throughout the video, even when the audience erupts into laughter at the strikingly authentic cat sounds on show.

Bravo... or should we say “meow-vo”?