L'Amico Fritz is an opera in three acts by Italian composer Pietro Mascagni, premiered in 1891. While the opera enjoyed some success in its day and is probably Mascagni's most famous work after ‘Cavalleria rusticana’, today it is performed far more rarely than ‘Cavalleria’, which remains Mascagni's only enduringly popular work outside Italy, where ‘L'amico Fritz’ and ‘Iris’ are still in the active repertoire. Only the ‘Intermezzo from the 3rd Act’ and the ‘Cherry Duet’ between Fritz and Suzel in Act 2 are the best known pieces in the opera and often performed separately in concerts.
Dutch arranger Jos van de Braak transcribed this ‘Cherry Duet’ for Soprano, Tenor and Symphonic Band.