Opera "Pearl Seekers": content, video, interesting facts, history

G. Bizet opera "Pearl Seekers"

First finished opera Georges Bizet Pearl-Seekers were destined to remain in the shadow of their more successful younger sister. However, this does not detract from its melodic beauty, elegant nuances of instrumentation, the magnificence of unforgettable arias and duets.

Summary of the opera Bizet "Pearl seekers"and many interesting facts about this work read on our page.

Summary of the "Pearl Seekers"

With singing and dancing, the Ceylon pearl hunters call upon the blessing of God for their dangerous trade and choose Zurgu as their leader. From distant wanderings Nadir returns - his old friend. Their relationship is overshadowed by the passion that both have for one woman. But they swear to each other in true friendship and renounce their love. The priestesses of Brahma come, they pray for the good fortune of the catchers of the sea. The new priestess under the cape gives a vow of chastity. Nadir recognizes her voice - the one he loves, Leila.

After the ceremony, Nurabad takes Leila to an impregnable temple on the top of a cliff. But the girl is not thinking about prayer, but about love. Nadir gets to her, lovers are found and sentenced to death for blasphemy. Zurga empathizes with his friend until he finds Leila in his companion. He feels cheated.

Zurgu is torn apart by contradictions - he feels sorry for Nadir, but his friend turned out to be a traitor. Leila comes and asks to have mercy on Nadir, not realizing that this only inflames Zurgi's jealousy. He orders to burn both at the stake, but he notices a pearl necklace from Leila. He recognizes the decoration - after all, he once made it himself and presented it to a girl who once saved his life.

Pearl hunters gathered for the execution of Nadir and Leyla. But Zurga announces that there is a fire in the village. People rush to save their homes and families, and in the meantime the leader frees prisoners, confessing that he set the fire. The lovers are running, Zurga is left alone.

A photo

Interesting Facts

• The theme of a priestess breaking a vow for the sake of love more than once became the basis of opera plots - this is what the story "Norm"V. Bellini and Vestalka G. Spontini.
• In one of the German productions of the 1930s, an alternative ending was conceived in which Leila commits suicide.
• In 1987 in England, the duet of Nadir and Zurgi led the hit parade of the best tunes.
• In January 2008, Pearl Seekers were first performed in Sri Lanka, the site of the opera. There were many Sri Lankans among the orchestra and singers.
• In the 1990s, Bizet's conductor score, created for the premiere of the opera, was discovered.
• Michel Carré, one of the librettists, participated in the creation of texts for "Faust"and "Romeo and Juliet" by S. Gounod and the play that served as the basis for "Tales of Hoffmann"J. Offenbach.

• Nowadays, "Pearl Seekers" are sometimes set up in the genre of romantic Indian cinema. Such is the performance of Yu. Aleksandrov in the "St. Petersburg Opera" and P. Vulkok in the English National Opera (moved to the Metropolitan Opera).
• In 1916, in the Metropolitan Opera, the part Nadir was sung by Enrico Caruso - the most famous of her performers. Three performances in Italian were given, after which the theater forgot about this work for 100 years - the next production took place only in 2015.
• In 1950, the opera was recorded in Russian. The part of Nadir was performed by Sergey Lemeshev, his interpretation of the song “In the Moonlight Radiance” instantly gained popularity.
• Hans von Bülow contemptuously dubbed this opera "the tragic operetta"and was outraged by the need to conduct its execution.

The best scenes from the opera Pearl Seekers

"Je crois entendre encore" - Nadir's romance (listen)

Along with Werther’s aria from Massenet’s opera of the same name, Nadir’s romance is the most famous tenor aria in French.

"Au fond du temple saint" - Nadir and Zurgi duet (listen)

One of the most beautiful duos of tenor and baritone in opera history, not inferior in popularity to the analogues from "Dona Carlos"Verdi and"Eugene Onegin"Tchaikovsky.

History of creation and productions

24 year old composer Georges Bizet he hadn't been lucky for a long time - he dreamed of writing a great opera, but every time something went wrong. His first work, "House of the Doctor", written by him at the age of 16, was never delivered. The second, the operetta "Doctor Miracle", participated in the competition organized by the luminous music Jacques Offenbach, and won, receiving the right to be staged at the Theater Buff-Parisien. In style "Don Pasquale" Donizetti The following opera, Don Procopio, was written, first performed after the death of Bizet. In 1862, the composer began writing "Ivan IV", an opera about the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible, but put it off for several years, since he finally received an order for staging at Opera-Comic on the libretto of famous authors Jules Barbier and Michel Carré Gusli ".

Rehearsals began, during which Bizet received a proposal from the rival Theater Lyric to create a full-fledged three-act opera. The libretto chose the theater - it turned out to be the work of Eugene Cormon and the same Michel Carré on the fashion theme of exotic countries. Initially, the action took place in Mexico, but then it was transferred to Ceylon. The composer immediately realized that he had been waiting for this chance all his life. But the generous offer had harsh conditions - the opera was supposed to be the stage debut of a novice author, so Bizet, without hesitation, canceled the production of the weak "Gusley of the Emir", embarking on the creation of "Pearl Seekers". The opera was written in less than 5 months.

The premiere took place on September 30, 1863 at the Lyric Theater. Criticism to the novelty was ruthless: the young composer was announced as an imitator Verdi and Wagner. Parisian musicologists liked the soft sound in the manner of Aubert and Offenbach, and the orchestration of Bizet seemed heavy, noisy, overloaded, it was called "fortissimo in three acts." But the audience was fascinated by the melodious melodies and exotic production. Famous spectators also sided with the opera: they spoke favorably and G. Berlioz, and L. Halevy. All 18 hits of Pearl Seekers have been a success. Despite this, during the life of the author, the opera was never again in the repertoire. Only in 1886, she translated it into Italian and put La Scala, after which the theaters seemed to notice this work by Bizet. Since the second birth of the opera took place in Italian, even in Paris in 1889 the Pearl Seekers returned translated. In French, the opera sounded again in 1893 on the stage of Opera-Comique. In 1889, the Pearl Seekers were presented to the Russian public in the private Nemetti Theater in St. Petersburg.

Interest in the opera spawned and many interpretations of its finale. The authors made it open - Zurga remained on the stage alone. But many theaters decided to clearly define the fate of the leader, why began to appear different endings. The most frequent was this: the secret witness to the release of the lovers was Nurabad, who betrayed Zurga to the people's court, and he died in the fire. The new finale was musically designed by composer Benjamin Godard. Today, the opera is performed in 110 theaters of the world.

Music "Pearl Seekers" in the cinema

The marvelous opera melodies sound in the films:

• "Match Point", 2005
• "The key to all doors", 2005
• "The Man Who Cried", 2000
• "Skins", 1992
• Gallipoli 1981
• "Obsession", 1943

Theatrical performances of "Pearl Seekers" remained on the video:

• The performance of the Metropolitan Opera, 2017, staged by P. Wolkok, in the main parts: D. Damrau (Leila), M. Polenziani (Nadir), M. Kwechen (Zurga)
• Performance Opera-Comic, 2013, staged by F. Roussillon, in major roles: S. Joncheva, D. Korchak, A. Eyboer
• Performance of the La Fenice Theater, 2005, production by T. Mancini, in the main parts: A. Masses, J. Nakima, L. Grassi

A life Georges Bizet he was not covered with roses - in order to earn by writing music, he did not spare himself, working 15-17 hours a day. This undermined his health, and he died at just 36. After the composer's death, most of his manuscripts were lost, which gave rise to various opera scores of scores, some of which were very far from the original. Only 20th century allowed "Pearl seekers"come closer to its original appearance. Since the 1970s, efforts have been made to recreate the score in accordance with the intentions of Bizet.