Audio By Carbonatix
The closest George Bizet ever got to Sri Lanka was Rome, where he studied for three years in his twenties. Naturally this didn’t stop him from using it as the locale for his opera, Le Pecheurs de Perles (The Pearl Catchers). Romantic-era European composers loved to write for foreign places about which they knew nothing. Never mind that the inhabitants of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) didn’t traffic much in opera back then. Composers of the era knew that exotic locales equaled lots of wild costumes and alien pageantry, which was like catnip to the tastemakers of a Europe in the midst of a colonization frenzy.
Utterly overshadowed by Carmen, Bizet’s final opera, Le Pecheurs, is rarely performed and even more rarely recorded. Even most opera people have never heard it, save the duet “Au Fond du Temple Saint.” It’s a regrettable situation. “Au Fond” is lovely, and despite a poor public reception upon its first performance, Le Pecheurs has since met with glowing reviews from those few who’ve experienced it. Perhaps sensing a revival in the offing, Florida Grand Opera is giving us a chance to hear it at the Ziff Ballet Opera House tonight at 8.
Wed., Jan. 30, 8 p.m., 2008
