19) Georges Bizet Les pêcheurs de perles

Leila, priestess - Janine Micheau
Nadir, fisherman - Nicolai Gedda
Zurga, leader of the fishermen - Ernest Blanc
Nourabad, high priest - Jaques Mars


Chorus and Orchestra of the Théâtre National de l'Opéra-Comique


Pierre Dervaux, conductor

Recording from October 1960 (Paris)


SYNOPSIS:
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In Ceylon Zurga is chosen leader of the fishermen and resumes his friendship with the young Nadir, who has been wandering in the forest, recalling their love for a girl they had once seen in Candy.
A veiled woman arrives, to pray for the pearl-fishers, accompanied by the priest Nourabad. She is recognised by Nadir as Leyla, the girl he had once seen, but not by Zurga. Leyla and Nourabad enter the Hindu temple, leaving Nadir, now alone, to admit his love for Leyla, whom he has followed. As she sings her temple prayer, she hears his voice and her song turns to a song of love. Nadir and Leyla meet at night in the temple where she is watching, but their discovery leads to popular anger and threats of death. Zurga intervenes to help Nadir and Leyla escape, but
when Nourabad reveals the identity of Leyla, Zurga changes to anger, and condemns the couple to death once more. Leyla pleads with Zurga for his friend Nadir's life, but in vain. It is, however, Zurga who saves them, as they are about to be killed, diverting the attention of the people by setting fire to their camp, thus allowing
them to escape.

Fashionably exotic in its story, Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl-Fishers) reflects various musical influences, including those of Verdi, Meyerbeer and, inevitably, Gounod. The best known music from the opera is found in the duet for Zurga and Nadir, when they recall their friendship and the girl they had once seen,
Au fond du temple saint (Within the sacred temple). Nadir's soliloquy, overheard by Leyla, Je crois entendre encore (I think I hear again), has a firm place in tenor repertoire, while sopranos may find their own sustenance in Leyla's moving cavatina, Comme autrefois dans la nuit sombre (As once in the dark forest), as she awaits her nocturnal meeting with Nadir.






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