Video: Duet from "The Pearl Fishers"

Update:

Go here to see the duet. I learned to embed the YouTube video and put it in the blog. I didn't remove this post because it is in the Google cache already and I didn't want it to get lost.
Enjoy!

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Having just posted one of the most offensive videos ever linked to this blog, I now refer, courtesy of The Anchoress, to one of the most romantic, lyrically soaring creations ever composed for male duet. Marcelo Alvarez and Bryn Terfel at the Faenol Festival 2000 sing this famous heart-lifting piece. The link disappeared. Drat!

The Anchoress found another with Roberto Alagna & Bryn Terfel. Go YouTube!

"Au fond du temple saint"
from The Pearl Fishers (Les Pêcheurs de Perles)
Music by Georges Bizet

Libretto in French by Michel Carré and Eugène Cormon

Scene: The coast of Ceylon. Zurga, the newly elected leader of the little world of Cingalese fishermen, has scarcely been inaugurated when Nadir, a long-lost friend of his youth, appears. After greeting one another with affection, they recall the time when they were foolish enough to quarrel over a beautiful priestess in the temple of Brahma, Leila.

In the duet, "Au fond du temple saint" the two men sing rapturously about falling in love at first sight with a beautiful woman as she was revealed to them for an instant in the dim, incense-clouded temple. For each it was an almost mystical experience. When they realize they were in love with the same woman, they are alarmed. Believing themselves cured of the old infatuation, they swear eternal friendship.


It has been my pleasure to listen three or four times while putting together this post. Even without lyrics, which can be found at the other link, this is one of my favorites of all time.

You Tube is taking over. Maybe America can start breathing a bit more as blog and email readers pause for a moment during hectic days to take a deep breath and chill for a few minutes. C'mon, DSL and WiFi! We're almost there...