Julia Abadie dedicated this lovely carre to the flowers of the Opera, Fleurs de L’Opera.

In this stunning scarf various flowers abound, which in itself is lovely, but upon a closer look, one discovers along the hem names of various operas and their composers along with names of a flowers?

Now it all makes sense…The Flowers of the Opera!

Where shall I begin? Perhaps with the more “obscure” references, like one of my favorite fragrant flowers, the Lilac.

Lilac belongs to Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, where in the second act, Sachs, the main character, sings “Was duftet doch der Flieder…” (What scent but that of the lilac…) (link to the aria on youtube)

The Grand Opera Faust by Charles Gounod is loosely based on Goethe’s Faust and it is in the Flower Garden where young Marguerite forgoes the bouquet of flowers left by her young admirer in favor of jewels left by Faust, who had sold his soul to the devil, and who with such a lavish gift is trying to win, or more accurately, buy her heart.

In Bizet’s famous Carmen, it is its heroin herself, who wears a red Carnation (oeillets rouges) behind her ear.

The Wedding Bouquet (Bouquet de Noces), of course, goes to Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro.

And how can Puccini’s Madama Butterfly not be associated with Cherry Blossoms?

In act III of La Boheme, the Lily is mentioned along with the rose, but Madame Abadie chose the lily to represent Puccini’s other famous Opera, because the Rose must go to The Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss!

So what do we have left? Cavalleria Rusticana by Italian Pietro Mascagni takes the Orange Flowers. Why? This Opera is set in a Sicilian Village on Easter Morning when a young villager returns home from military service while the villager sing, “The air is sweet with orange blossoms” (youtube)

In Francesco Cilea’s opera Adriana Lecourvreur, Adriana, the main character gives her love interest a few violets to place on his lapel.

Last but not least, the Palm frond so prominent in this carre perfectly represents Aida, Verdi’s beloved Opera, the favorite of many.  Verdi’s love story is set in ancient Egypt amid the clash of ancient empires.  Aida takes center stage not just on this scarf but in the operatic canon, with numerous performances every season around the world.

Whether you sport this carre at the Met, LA Opera or the la Scala you will surely be a HIT!