Marlies' ArtBeat: Bizet's "Pearl Fishers" Revisited after 100 years, Now in Live-at-the-Met-in-HD

BY MARLIES WOLF (Star Patcher)

The Met’s premiere of George Bizet’s early opera Les Pêcheur de Perles, with no less than Caruso and De Luca in the leads, took place in 1916. It has taken a 100 years for the Met to revive it, and for us to see it in Live-at-the-Met-in-HD. Possibly, had it been staged as cleverly as the current production, the interim might not have been that long.

George Bizet (1838-1875) showed his talent early. He won the coveted Prix de Rome, and composed a one-act opera -- Le Docteur Miracle -- at the age of 18. He was not yet 25 when he was given a commission to compose a 3-act opera -- Les Pêcheur de Perles -- an opera with not the greatest story line, and a decidedly tepid libretto by Eugene Cormon and Michel Carre.

Premiered in Paris in 1863, under the baton of Hans von Bülow, it was given only 18 performances, although the public liked it. Von Bülow referred to it as a “tragic operetta” and the critics gave it short shrift, noting the influences of Wagner and Meyerbeer, and resenting that Bizet had the “audacity to take a curtain call” – a privilege only entitled to already famous composers.

They also attributed the definite approval by the audiences, as the work of a “claque” of Bizet’s friends. Even though Wagner was quoted saying: “Here, thank God, at last for a change is somebody with ideas in his head” and other prominent composers finding merit in the score, Bizet was never to see another performance of this opera in his life time.

He was unfortunately destined that way. He went to his grave, thinking his Carmen -- the work lauded universally as one of the greatest operas ever composed – was a failure. We can only hope that wherever he is -- in musician heaven perhaps -- he now knows what a success it has been and undoubtedly will be as long as operas are performed.

Les Pêcheur, however is a different story. It crept into the repertoires of selected opera companies, but never really took off. Some aficionados dismiss it as an opera having one great aria for soprano and one glorious duet for tenor and baritone. And they are bored by the unimpressive libretto. Admittedly there is something to that point of view, but I invite them to this inventive production. It might change their minds.

The story takes place in what today is Sri Lanca, in a village that survives only because its inhabitants dive for precious pearls in their sea. That sea can be marvelously giving or terribly punishing when it becomes a tsunami. Thus the sea is really a component of the cast of characters.

They are two lifelong friends who, when finding themselves rivals for the love of a Hindu Priestess, swear off pursuing her for the preservation of their friendship. This gives us the absolute highlight of the opera: a truly fabulous duet for tenor and baritone, which is performed in concert versions all over the world. (But more about that later.)

The town imports a priestess to pray to keep the sea calm. She comes veiled but I give you one guess as to who she is – and let you in on the fact that she and the tenor cheated, are in love, and will cheat again. And for every misstep in this opera, the punishment is death. But in a contrived bit of circumstance, the rival friend sacrifices himself by setting fire to the town to make the populace race to their homes to save their children. Thereby he gives the erring couple the chance to escape.

Besides the work, of what the HD hostess Patricia Racette and the enthusiastic conductor Gianandrea Noseda referred to as a “Dream cast”, the Met’s orchestra and excellent chorus made this a musical experience to be reckoned with.

Diana Damrau, the German soprano, who has been with the Met for the past ten years, has risen into such a Diva, that the Met revived Les Pecheurs for her, on her suggestion. She is called upon to use her lovely voice in a wide range of tessitura as Leila, the Hindu priestess. I was amused that one of her arias that calls for coloratura singing, ends with a definite Wagnerian finish.

Matthew Polenzani, the American tenor, who is another great Met favorite, with more than 300 performances to his credit, was in excellent voice and acted his cheating part with believable skill. His voice has luster and great warmth.

His rival, the Polish baritone, Mariusz Kwiecien with 17 leading roles a under his Met belt, sang with great beauty and authority.

That brings us back to the great tenor/baritone duet: “Au fond du temple saint” which brought the house down at this transmission. It had to compete with a concert performance of Jonas Kaufmann and Dmitri Hvoroskovsky in Russia, that has been watched on YouTube by hundreds of thousands and is always available. It has set the benchmark for this duet.

Polenzani and Kwiecien give a good run meeting it. To convince myself, when coming home, I watched it on my Ipad with Bose speaker. It is still the benchmark – possibly because the Russian conductor takes it at a much slower pace, allowing the rounding of each vocal tone. (Why not see/listen to it on your computer or other electronic device yourself? YouTube is a treasure trove for all opera lovers, as you undoubtedly know.)

But what was the absolute winner of this revival of Les Pecheur, is the ingenious production by the super-talented Argentinian director and filmmaker Penny Woolcock. The opening of the opera has us under the sea, with divers searching for oysters and swimming back up for air on the surface. It is incredible to behold, and is only topped, when the sea turns ugly and we, the audience, become threatened by the violence of a tsunami. During the intermission, we were shown the fabulous machinery, and met two of the “divers” who enable all this to become a remarkable “reality.”

The set designer, Dick Bird; the costume designer, Kevin Pollard; the lightening designer, Jen Schriever; the movement director Andrew Dawson and the projection work by 59 Productions, are to be congratulated for these astonishing visual effects.

I urge everyone who missed this performance, deciding to skip an early Bizet opera that was not revived at the Met for a hundred years, to catch the Evening Encore on Wednesday, January 20th or, in selected theaters, the Matinee Encore on Thursday, January 21st, 2016.

A special aside: In 1961, the Met’s own Musical Director, James Levine, just having graduated High School, (barely 18 years old,) conducted his first opera: The Pearl Fishers. Although the conductor Gianandrea Noseda gave us a wonderful performance, it might have been super-special for us – and Maestro Levine -- to have experienced it now under his mature baton.