‘The Cat Duet’ by Gioachino Rossini

First, watch this performance of the piece of music:

Did you enjoy the piece of music? How did it make you feel? What did you like or not like about it? What were the two cats ‘doing’?

Background information

‘The Cat Duet’ was written by Italian composer Gioachino Rossini in 1825. It was composed to make the audience laugh. How does Rossini make it humorous?

1) Think of a sentence you might say to someone in your household. Can you say it like a cat only using ‘Miaow’ instead of words?

2) Can you say something angrily, or happily? Pleading or snapping etc. 

3) Can someone at home guess what you are trying to say with your miaows?

In the piece the human voice is being asked to perform acrobats, and is being asked to imitate a cat and be creative in how to produce these wonderful sounds.  The performers in this clip are two female singers, a soprano and a mezzo soprano or alto voice, the higher and the lower voices for the female range of classically trained voices. These two voices are not only different in range (the high or the lower notes they sing) but also in the timbre (the colour) of the voice they are able to produce.  All this has been cleverly put together by the composer in a very creative and contrasting manner. 

4) This activity is going to help you create your own musical composition using your very own symbols and signs, which is music we call GRAPHIC NOTATION.

Look at these symbols and try to make a sound with your voice answering these simple signs.

5) Think of a different animal and what noises it makes. Can you create symbols to match those noises? Write them down and try performing it.

You could upload it onto our blog if you have permission.