"The Cat Duet"

Have you ever wondered what "The Cat Duet" sounded like? I know I have! My curiosity was finally satisfied when this video was recently posted on the BetsyTacyTib Twitter.

Betsy and Tacy first sing this duet in Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, when they prepare it for the School Entertainment on the last day of fourth grade.

Betsy and Tacy were singing a duet made up entirely of "meows." They were going to wear cat costumes cut from shiny black cambric, with cat ears and tails. Mrs. Ray and Mrs. Kelly were busy making the costumes and Mrs. Ray was busy too rehearsing Betsy and Tacy. They ran into difficulties for Betsy was singing alto. It was altogether too easy for her to slide up into the soprano part and sing along with Tacy.
    When she did that, Tacy gave her a nudge which meant, "Get back to your alto!" Betsy's mother sounded the right note hard and Betsy got back to her alto as quickly as she could. (Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, 340-341)

Betsy's mother began to play the piano and Betsy and Tacy began to sing: "Mee-ee-ow! Mee-ee-ow!"

    Like a kettle  boiling over, the room foamed with laughter.

    And the louder the children laughed, the louder Betsy and Tacy made their caterwauls, the more they wiggled their ears and swished their tales. Sometimes Betsy slid up to the soprano and sang along with Tacy, but nobody cared. Tacy forgot to nudge her and Mrs. Ray forgot to pound the right note hard. When the Cat Duet ended, the children clapped and stamped. Mothers wiped tears of laughter from their eyes and Miss Dooley said:

    "Betsy and Tacy will have to sing the Cat Duet for us next year."

    And so they did. In fact they sang it every year until they graduated from high school. (Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, 345-346)

Thus the Cat Duet became an annual tradition for the two friends, one that continued well into high school (and is mentioned in these later books, as well).

So now you get to hear what it actually sounds like (though I'm sure Betsy and Tacy's version was much funnier, and probably a bit less professional)! 

This is the description on You Tube from the video below:

For cat lovers - and Gioachino Rossini lovers - everywhere, this is one of the better renditions of Duetto buffo di due gatti (Humorous Duet for Two Cats), which was likely written not by Rossini but by Robert Lucas de Pearsall and based on Rossini's 1816 opera Otello. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duetto_buffo_di_due_gatti for more info.