Everyone knows that cat videos are the best content on the internet. I mean, who doesn't love an adorable feline doing its adorable thang? I'm going to propose a close second, though. While not *quite* as perfect as a video of *actual* cats meowing, this video of two human boys pretending — brilliantly, I might add — to be cats in an a-meow-zing cat opera is a very close second.
Behold choir boys Régis Mengus and Hyacinthe de Moulins, members of the Little Singers of Paris who, during a choir tour in 1996, performed the Italian opera "Duetto buffo di due gatti," accompanied on the piano by Rodolphe Pierrepont. The song title translates to "Funny duet of two cats" and dates back to the 1800s. My Modern Met describes the origins of the song:
While it is not confirmed who created the cat duet, some believe it was the Italian composer Gioachino Rossini, the author of the comic opera The Barber of Seville, among many other famous works. Another theory suggests that the feline-inspired song was made by another musician, but based on Rossini's 1816 opera, Otello. Regardless of its origin, it's safe to say there's no other musical quite like it.
The opera, which consists solely of "meows," is weird, and delightful, and the boys performing it do an outstanding job. They somehow manage to keep their composure and solemnity throughout the entire piece, even while the audience laughs uproariously at their incredibly realistic meowing conversation. Only at around the 3:55 mark, while delivering the last meow of one section of the opera, does one of the boys break character and reveal a little smirky grin. Frankly, I'm surprised he made it that far, because I don't think I'd be able to stop laughing if I had to meow an entire opera. Needless to say, I'm super impressed with their performance! This, my friends, is also what the internet was made for.
Previously:
• Cat enthusiasts meow their way through 'cat-aoke'
• The Kiffness is back with 'I Go Meow,' featuring Cala the cat, who is having an existential crisis
