I'd be inclined to look into Wagner's early operas. I know there's a duet
for soprano and bass in his DIE FEEN, "Wie? Weh'ich recht", for Drolla
(sop) and Gernot (bass). I can't tell you a thing about it, except that
Drolla is Gernot's long-lost sweetheart, and the duet is their duet of
reunion.
Wagner's DAS LIEBESVERBOT is a true comedy (unlike DIE MEISTERSINGER,
which only a man as peculiar as Wagner would have called a comedy - and
did), based on Shakespeare's LOVES LABOURS LOST. There is a duet in act 1
for Isabella (soprano) and Friedrich (bass, "Nun, Isabella, sprich".
Again, I have no idea what the music is like in this opera, but it may be
worth investigating.
Frankly, Wagner wrote very, very few true duets in any of his operas.
Wagner's idea of a duet was one character singing at length, followed by
another character singing at length, and the first character answering at
length. There is precious little actual singing by two characters
simultaneously in any of his operas, and when there is, it's almost always
by an ensemble of same-sex characters, such as the Norns or the
Walkuere (or by the chorus). In any case, the only real (and few and
far between) Wagner duets (from opera and not) are sung by soprano and
tenor.
Karen Mercedes
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
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Verdi and Wagner delighted the crowds
With their highly original sound.
The pianos they played are still working,
But they're both six feet underground.
- Michael Palin
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