Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers at Lyric Opera, 2008-2009

Separating a performance of an opera from the work itself requires extremely delicate surgery. I’ll essay this feat on The Pearl Fishers but please bear in mind that overall I enjoyed last night’s performance of Bizet’s first opera which is junior in every way to his masterwork, Carmen.

Bizet’s 1863 opera, The Pearl Fishers, is a very flawed work and in Bizet’s defense most of the blame belongs to Léon Carvalho, the director of the Théâtre-Lyrique, who commissioned the young composer to write the music and the librettists, Eugène Cormon and Michel Carré.

The Pearl Fishers takes place in an exotic location. It emphatically does not take place in Ceylon as suggested by the libretto any more than in takes place in Mexico (as the original conception of the work would have had it) or on Mars. It’s a place that exists only for the purposes of the opera.

The Pearl Fishers is confused. The primary plot device is coincidence. Why is the priestess assigned to pray over the pearl fishers on the island the girl, Leila, with whom both Nadir and his lifelong friend, Zurga, are in love? It’s a coincidence. Why does Nadir return after years’ absence just in time to encounter Leila? Coincidence. Why is Zurga a) in love with Leila and b) obligated to her for saving him from mysterious pursuers years before (one of the many loose threads in the plot). Coincidence.

This could have been transformed by clever writing to fate or the will of the gods or eternal justice or some such but the librettists weren’t concerned with such niceties.

I don’t think it’s entirely a coincidence that New York’s Metropolitan Opera hasn’t performed The Pearl Fishers since 1916 and the last tenor to portray Nadir there was Enrico Caruso.

What redeems The Pearl Fishers is the music, particularly gorgeous choral work and three beautiful duets: the famous Act I tenor-baritone duet, Au fond du temple saint, one of the finest if not the finest tenor-baritone duet in the repertory; the tenor-soprano duet of Act II, Ton coeur avait compris le mien, and the third act soprano-baritone duet, Pour moi je suis sans crainte. These are truly glorious works and in last night’s performance they were worthily executed by the the principals.

Last night’s principal players were extraordinarily attractive young performers: baritone Nathan Gunn as Zurga, tenor Eric Cutler as Nadir, and soprano Nicole Cabell as Leila. This was fortunate since Gunn and Cutler performed their parts bare chested and Ms. Cabell’s costume had an exposed midriff and décolletage, a style very becoming to her. There was quite a bit of body paint but not all of the men’s muscles were painted on. It was actually rather remarkable to see the working of their diaphragms during the performance.

Gunn’s and Cutler’s performance of the first act duet was very fine, alternately tender and rousing, and stylistically quite in the French tradition. The timbre of their voices was very complementary and harmonious which is not always the case in tenor-baritone duets. I love listening to this duet; I love singing it. It was a joy hearing it done well in a live performance.

Ms. Cabell performed her arias beautifully, with substantial technical finesse and, once again, substantial attention to the conventions of the French operatic voice.

Unfortunately, the staging of the chorus had returned to its old Lyric Opera standard. Basically, they stood in a line and sang their parts. Their sound was good and the principals, chorus, and orchestra were kept in good balance—not always the case at Lyric Opera.

This was a revival production and I honestly don’t remember these sets and costumes from the last production of The Pearl Fishers ten years ago. Why are there statues of Buddha in the purportedly Hindu Ceylon of the librettists’ imaginations? If we’re to have fantasy, let’s have grand fantasy rather than erroneous realism.

Advantage: Manon

The critics

Once again John von Rhein and I saw the same things:

Opera-goers are advised to forget this contrived story line and focus on the quality of the vocal performances by Lyric’s admirable all-American cast.

In her role debut as the priestess torn between love and her vows of chastity, the lithe and beautiful Nicole Cabell wrapped her radiant soprano around Leila’s fragrant music with taste and intelligence. The voice had an appealing float plus finespun phrasing that proved how well-schooled Lyric’s star alumna is in matters of French vocal style.

As the bare-chested hunks vying for her affection, tenor Eric Cutler as Nadir and baritone Nathan Gunn as Zurga both looked as if they had just stepped out of a rigorous workout at the Ceylonese branch of Bally.

Cutler finessed Nadir’s melting aria, “Je crois entendre encore,” with nicely applied head voice and not a trace of the tight, squeezed sound that passes for French singing these days. He took the evening’s vocal honors.

Gunn seemed to be holding back his baritone early in the evening but sang with burnished intensity later on. He and Cutler finessed their friendship duet beautifully.

Aha! Mr. von Rhein explains:

Lyric has freshened its 1998 production (originally credited to Nicolas Joel) with new stage direction by Herbert Kellner and colorful, representational sets and principal costumes by Scott Marr that replace the drab original designs. Apart from its curious mixing of Hindu and Buddhist deities, the show makes a lot better effect than the previous incarnation.

I’m not sure how that qualifies as a revival production but whatever it might have been it was certainly an improvement over the one I saw ten years ago.

Andrew Patner is even more critical than I am:

Although I’m a Bizet fan, and there are many pleasant surprises here, I’m not sure that they add up to a worthwhile project for Lyric, just 11 seasons since it first put on the scholarly edition of Bizet’s sophomore effort.

The kind word for the plot and libretto here is clunky. And spread out over three acts and two intermissions, this tale of two old pearl-diving friends in Ceylon in love with the same Hindu priestess goes from the predictable to the unintentionally comic.

Still, designer Scott Marr has replaced the original Hubert Monloup sets and costumes with a look that’s more colorful and handsome. And director Herbert Kellner turns the heat up on Nicolas Joel’s 1997-98 production.

The cast is young and all-American. The great duet “Au fond du temple saint” (as with most of the opera, translation into English only makes things worse) comes 15 minutes into the first act. Gunn was steady in the baritone half, but tenor Eric Cutler was both ardent and believable in his devotion to romantic and fraternal love. Cutler also delivered the goods sweetly in his “romance,” “Je crois entendre encore.”

As the veiled priestess/ love object, soprano Nicole Cabell tried to strike a balance between her pleasing singing and the “King Kong”-style acting demanded of her. Another Lyric training program alum, bass-baritone Christian Van Horn, was a solid, quick-to-anger priest Nourabad.

“Clunky” is exactly the word my wife used. Le bon mot.

Barbara Keer, writing in L. A. Splash is much kinder:

In this production, we found the staging and costuming captivating and beautiful. Each act brought a visual delight. Our seat neighbors had seen the production in 1997 and commented that they liked the sets in this production better. The male voices were perfection (even with a rather ill Eric Cutler). We had certainly found the “French tenor”, and an outstanding one, at that. Nicole Cabell as a beautiful Leila met the demands of the solos but the duets were irresistible. That each of these artists is wonderful to look added even more to the performance.

I found the “recurring theme” she refers to endless, needless repetition. Each to his or her own gout.

New City Stage

What is needed to give the work its due, such as it is, are three technically precise singers who can not only sing their hearts out emotionally but who are also able to blend well together for the work’s carefully crafted duets, trios and ensembles. Unfortunately, this Lyric Opera revival of its production from a decade ago is seldom able to deliver on either count. The famous Act I “friendship” duet is a piece so popular that it was once not uncommon for audience members to duck out after the first act. Here, at least on opening night, the duet was squandered by baritone Nathan Gunn as Zurga and Eric Cutler as Nadir, as the baritone line was inaudible next to the straining, over-loud tenor line; the usual show-stopping raucous reaction was substituted for polite applause of mere recognition. Although the casting of soprano and former Ryan Center alumna Nicole Cabell as priestess Lelia is serviceable, Cabell does not have the floating coloratura that Maureen O’Flynn had the last time around, essential for revealing this role at its best.

This staging of the work, which was hopelessly confused the last time around, has been given a facelift with more colorful sets that make for more visual appeal, but unfortunately, the design team never bothered to read the libretto: the story concerns a Hindu priestess yet the scenery portrays Theravada Buddhism, which has no gods, a central plot device in the story. (Dennis Polkow)

The tenor wasn’t overbearing in the performance I heard but otherwise I think that’s a pretty fair commentary.

3 comments… add one
  • Passa Caglia Link

    I’d like the full and complete translation into English of the Bizet je croix ententre encore. Every one I can find stops it short in the second verse. What is the rest of it!? Thank you so much whoever can answer this. I’ll check back from time to time. Maybe some one can answer it. Here is the one that usually shows up: First the French then the translation that is incomplete.

    Je crois entendre encore,
    Caché sous les palmiers,
    Sa voix tendre et sonore
    Comme un chant de ramiers !
    Ô nuit enchanteresse !
    Divin ravissement!
    Ô souvenir charmant!
    Folle ivresse! Doux rêve!

    Aux clartés des étoiles,
    Je crois encor la voir,
    Entr’ouvrir ses longs voiles
    Aux vents tièdes du soir!
    Ô nuit enchanteresse!
    Divin ravissement!
    Ô souvenir charmant!
    Folle ivresse! Doux rêve!

    Translation:

    I still believe I hear
    hidden beneath the palm trees
    her voice, tender and deep
    like the song of a dove
    oh enchanting night
    divine rapture
    delightful memory
    mad intoxication, sweet dream

    in the clear starlight
    I still believe I see her
    half drawing her long veil
    to the warm night breeze
    oh night…etc.
    ?????

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