A wandering adventurer arrives at a village of pearl
fishermen and meets up with a long-lost friend.
Years ago they both loved the same woman, a priestess, but renounced
that love to maintain their strong friendship.
Early in the story, before tensions develop, they sing one of the, if
not the, most well-known and well-loved
tenor-baritone duets in the Italian-French repertory – Au fond du temple saint. I
think the first version I ever heard was perhaps the most famous one of all, recorded
in 1951 by tenor Jussi Björling and baritone Robert Merrill.
Then the priestess surprisingly reappears, under a pledge of
chasteness, and conflict ensues. The
story is a relatively simple one, as opera goes, about love, loyalty, and honor. And all along the way we are treated to sumptuous
music and arresting visuals. In addition
to the famous duet already mentioned, of particular note are the wonderful
soprano-tenor duet and soprano and tenor arias, and plentiful chorus singing,
all a delight as our imagination is drawn to a faraway place and time.
This month the Lyric did a splendid job putting on this production. The sets and lighting were very well-done, and
those responsible deserve a special tip of the hat. In fact the sets were perhaps the most
colorful I've ever seen in an opera. The
singing was spectacular. Latvian soprano Marina
Rebeka was the priestess, American tenor Matthew Polenzani the fellow who wins
the girl, and Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien the odd man out. The rest of the singers and especially the
chorus were also terrific.
This isn't ballet-saturated French Grand Opera, but Bizet
was of that place so occasionally there was some dancing about, though it was
generally uninteresting and ended just before it got annoying.
The Pearl Fishers was
a flop when it premiered, standing it in good company with some other initial
sleepers. After an initial short run it
was not revived in Bizet’s lifetime. Well,
those same Parisians pooh-poohed Berlioz’s masterpiece The Trojans that same year (the insightful Berlioz was perhaps the
only music maven in Paris to have a good word to say about The Pearl Fishers). The
unfortunate Bizet went to his grave in his late 30s convinced that Carmen and The Pearl Fishers were both flops.
Eventually the opera found its way into the repertory, but
still today seems not highly regarded. Apparently
to the cognoscenti the libretto is not sophisticated enough and the score not complex
enough – the opera is not as good as it sounds, they say, to borrow a phrase. But after listening to the rich melodies while sitting
in a darkened theater captivated by colorful sets, all an inviting stimulative to
the imagination, I wonder – what do the experts really know? Opera is too important to be left just to
them.
R Balsamo
