Rossini's Meow

[Kobster]

Love this!

YouTube - Two choir boys sing the meow song

YouTube - Two choir boys sing the meow song

[Heidi n Q]

WHAT an exercise in keeping a straight face! GREAT JOB!

[mimitabby]

I love this. I found other versions of it too, but these boys are the greatest

[Susan]

That was a delight to watch!

[marie73]

That was great! I've never heard of this song before.

[Lynx79]

I used to play this on my horn at school! It's very fun. I don't know about you but I always think of two cats sitting on opposite fences singing this trying to outdo each other.

[harv]

A little (incorrect) info on the composition:

Today's Friday Funny is Rossini's "Duetto buffo per due gatti" or
Cat Duet which he wrote to poke fun at Divas that fought with
each other (imagine that). This fun video is most likely an
encore piece from a boys' choir performance.

(Harv comment: It's a surprise that it was given in a "religious"
context. The group credited is the "CA Talunia Boys' Choir.")

Some professionals perform that piece:

Pauline Tinsley (age 80!) and Elizabeth Vaughn:

Rossini Cat Duet Pauline Tinsley Elizabeth Vaughan - YouTube

Rossini Cat Duet Pauline Tinsley Elizabeth Vaughan - YouTube

(They ham it up properly. Good close-ups)

Montserrat Caballe & Montserrat Marti (mother and daughter):

Montserrat Caballe & Montserrat Marti: Duetto di due gatti - YouTube

Montserrat Caballe & Montserrat Marti: Duetto di due gatti - YouTube

Camera work only passable, not enough exaggeration.)

A more authoritative comment (more than you ever wanted to know):

"Many are the vocal recitals and opera galas that have ended with the Cat Duet
as an encore. Though scored for two sopranos and piano, the work exists in
orchestral versions and has been sung by male-female pairs and even as a
tomcat duet. The text consists in its entirety of the single word "meow," and
singers treat the melodies basically however they want to.

"The origins of this work are cloudy, but historians agree that it is not an
authentic work by Rossini. It does, however, contain a good deal of Rossini's
music, so the attribution is not completely off the mark. The Cat Duet contains
elements of 1) the aria "Ah, come mai non senti," from the second act of
Rossini's opera Otello (1816), 2) a nearby duet between the characters
Otello and Iago, and 3) an earlier work in the same vein, the "Cat Cavatina"
of Danish opera and song composer C.E.F. Weyse.

"The compiler was probably Robert Lucas Pearsall, a British composer better
known for his output of hymns. In 1973, the Schott publishing house issued a
facsimile of an 1825 edition of the Cat Duet, published by Ewer & Johanning
and credited to Pearsall, but bearing the pseudonym G. Berthold. From Rossini's
day down to ours, the piece has never lost its appeal for singers, concertgoers,
and cat lovers; it often appears, of course, on compilations of classical music
pertaining to felines."

- James Manheim, Rovi