Les Pêcheurs de perles, an opera in three acts with a libretto by Michel Carrè and Eugène Cormon, was composed by Georges Bizet in 1863. The young French musician, who had won the prestigious Prix de Rome a few years earlier, was hired by the director of the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris, Léon Carvalho, to compose an opera for his theatre. Bizet, who was just over twenty at the time, gladly accepted, but since it was his first prestigious experience, he found himself setting the libretto provided by Carvalho to music without having any say in the matter. The exotic subject of Les Pêcheurs de perles was part of a long series of oriental-inspired operas that had already been very fashionable in France for some years.

The island of Ceylon is the backdrop to a love story centered on the traditional triangle: Léïla, a priestess of Brahma, is loved by both the pearl fisherman Nadir and Zurga, a fisherman leader linked to Nadir by a long-standing friendship. But Léïla loves Nadir and Zurga will therefore be forced to sacrifice his feelings by giving up both the woman he loves and his friend. Already at the first performance on September 29, 1863, critics mercilessly attacked the libretto, considering it rather banal and lacking in originality. It was Carvalho himself who requested a plot that abounded in traditional melodramatic situations to facilitate the work of the young debutante.

However, despite his inexperience and a libretto of little value, Bizet managed to create for the Pêcheurs de perles a fascinating musical dress full of unusual rhythms, languid harmonies and precious timbres that masterfully evoke the mysterious Orient so longed for at that end of the century.

Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin staging
More characters TBD (updated: August 22)

Poster © Gianluigi Toccafondo

Pics of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin staging