About the work
Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers) is an opera in three acts by Georges Bizet, premiered on 30 September 1863 at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris. The libretto by Eugène Cormon and Michel Carré is set in exotic Ceylon and is Bizet's first significant stage work, composed long before his worldwide success Carmen.
Plot
On the island of Ceylon, the pearl fishers Zurga and Nadir once swore, for the sake of their friendship, that both would renounce their love for the beautiful priestess Leïla. Years later Zurga is elected leader of the fishers; a veiled priestess is to calm the sea with her singing — it is Leïla. When Nadir recognises her, the old feelings reawaken, and the two meet in secret. Discovered and convicted of breaking the vow, Nadir and Leïla are condemned to death. Zurga, at first torn by jealousy, recognises in Leïla the woman who once saved his life; he sets fire to the camp so that the lovers may flee in the confusion, sacrificing his own life in doing so.
Cultural significance
Les pêcheurs de perles was at first received with reserve by the critics at its premiere, but is today regarded as a jewel of French operatic Romanticism. The tenor-baritone duet "Au fond du temple saint" — the hymn of friendship between Nadir and Zurga — is among the most famous duets in all of opera. The work appears regularly on the schedules of international opera houses and already shows the melodic inventiveness that Bizet would later bring to perfection in Carmen.