Les pêcheurs de perles

Georges Bizet in the early 1860s,
at the outset of his career
as a composer of opera

I was trapped by utube today, first trying to find just a few arias or duets from The Pearl Fishers to listen to so that I will know the music on Saturday.

As one thing leads to another, then I found myself studying up on Bizet, and if that wasn’t enough I was off to Wiki to learn about the opera – the history, the libretto, the staging, even reading the iterations of people who have had starring roles.

At one point I was watching the duet “Au fond du temple saint” – not just watching it, but listening it sung by 3 different sets of tenors.  Domingo and Bocelli are hard to beat.

At one point I pulled out my earphones, begging Rebecca to listen along with me and spilling my water all over the table and my books. Opera is thrilling.  Spilling isn't that good.

 I read an article where Saturday's soprano (Diana Damrau) went to see some Mikimoto pearls – one perfectly matched string worth 1.1 million dollars, more than the opera cost to mount. The heroine doesn’t wear that perfectly matched set on stage, just a single pearl which can be seen by people at the back of the highest balcony at the Met.

I will be looking for that pearl during the performance.

Arta