A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Duet
DUET (It. Duetto; Fr. Duo). A composition for two voices or instruments, either with or without accompaniments. Some writers use the form 'Duet' for vocal, and 'Duo' for instrumental compositions; this distinction, however, is by no means universally adopted. Strictly speaking, a duet differs from a two-part song in the fact that while in the latter the second voice is mostly a mere accompaniment to the first, in the duet both parts are of equal importance. In cases where it is accompanied, the accompaniment should always be subordinate to the principal parts. The most important form of the duet is the 'Chamber Duet,' of which the old German and Italian masters have left many excellent examples (see especially Handel's Chamber Duets'). These duets were often in several movements, sometimes connected by recitatives, and almost invariably in the polyphonic style. The dramatic duet, as we find it in the modern opera, is entirely unrestricted as to form, which depends upon the exigences of the situation. Among the finest examples of operatic duets may be named those in the first act of 'Guillaume Tell,' in the fourth act of 'Les Huguenots,' and in the second act of 'Masaniello,' in the more modern school; while the duets in 'Fidelio' and in the operas of Mozart and Weber are models of the older classical forms of the movement. Many of the songs in Bach's cantatas in which the voice and the obligato instrument are equally prominent are really duets in character, but the term is not applied to the combination of a voice and an instrument. The word is now often employed for a pianoforte piece à quatre mains, of which Schubert's 'Grand duo' (op. 140) is a splendid example.
[ E. P. ]