Putting The Class Back In Classical

What we’re listening to today

Before I get started, just let me mention that is a fantastic compilation of opera arias and duets.  Especially for the novice opera aficionado, I would consider this album a must own.  It’s 2 CD’s, and covers many of the most famous classics.

I don’t really understand why people don’t like opera.  What is it about opera that turns you off?  Perhaps it’s a preconceived notion of a fat lady in a viking hat, singing simply for the result of shattering the goblet.  Opera isn’t all squeal and vibrato.  It’s a good thing I’m here to help you, isn’t it!

While I like many opera pieces that feature the women, it’s the male voices I really enjoy.  Even then, I enjoy the the baritones and bass more than the tenor.  I suppose the same can be said for women.  Works that feature the mezzo-soprano or contralto are far more appealing to me than the standard tenor/soprano fair.  I appreciate the unexpected in music, and I just love the depth and richness that the lower notes have to offer.

Besides, having always been an alto confined to the role of accompaniment for most of my life, I love it when the ones who are usually singing the harmony parts get a chance to be featured.  I’m a sucker for rooting for the little guys.

So, for my first post about opera, we’re going to listen to my most favorite duet in the whole wide world.  This one sends chills up my spine.  It is track 14 on the above CD, a selection from Georges Bizet .  And no.  It’s not from Carmen.

This is from Les pêcheurs de perles, or The Pearl Fishers.  The duet is Au fond du temple saint, and is sung with a baritone and a tenor.  If this piece of music doesn’t just take your heart, toss it around, shove it up your throat and back again, then I don’t know what will.

Remember to check the rules!

And so we begin…

Note that this recording is ok, but not the best.  The recording on the above album is MUCH better.

Let’s start with a little back story.  Zurga is our baritone and Nadir is our tenor.  At the point of the story when this duet occurs, Zurga has just been elected as head honcho of his village.  The richness and maturity of a baritone makes it an ideal match for this sort of part.  Nadir and Zurga are very old friends, but Nadir has been away, and returns just in time for Zurga’s appointment.

The friends are very happy to see each other, and as boys are known to do, they immediately launch into reminiscing old tales.  I suppose a modern day comparison would be to head down to the local watering hole and share a story over a cold brewski.  After knocking a few back, the boys would clap each other on the back and declare “I love you man.”

Well, our protagonists are not that different.  They swear eternal friendship.  Sounds nice, but this isn’t a comedy.  This can only mean the friendship is doomed.

Nadir begins, and you can hear the fondness of his memory as he recollects to Zurga a young woman who claimed his heart.  Zurga is reminded of his own memory of falling in love, and wistfully relates his own version back to Nadir.

Both of them are so enraptured with the memory.  We can only imagine how beautiful this woman was to be adored so completely by these men.  Nadir is very simply accompanied with a harp and flute, as if to punctuate the purity of his love.  What could be foul about this?

But listen closely.  Zurga’s memory is so similar to Nadir’s.  Together their voices join to sing of a “goddess” of whom they caught only a glimpse.  When the come together, they transcend to the high note crescendo, and our hearts start to flutter with the emotional beauty of it, yet we know something is wrong.  Their memory is so similar; it can only mean they are in love with the same woman.  We’ve started to realize it, but it’s a few more bars of wistful reminiscing before our heroes begin to perceive a problem with their newly rekindled friendship.

Suddenly, the music changes.  We go from all that is tranquil and blue with the innocence of the harp, to the red and anger of the scratching strings.  Nadir declares that they must be enemies, for they cannot love the same woman.

But Zurga hasn’t been elected leader for nothing.  He answers Nadir’s declaration with a mature offer of truce, expressively singing out that they should not let anything part them again.  When he sings out that non…hear that richness?  This is why I prefer a baritone.

Nadir agrees.  So long they’ve been separated, and he doesn’t want to give up on his friend for an elusive goddess.  They swear to each other to remain friends.  They come together again to finish out the duet, and once again our hearts are twisted into knots.  The glory of the friendship is so beautiful, but so very doomed.  You can hear both the happiness to be reunited, yet the heartsickness they both feel for having to give up their love.  It’s an incredibly bittersweet chorus.

That is the end of our duet, but of course the opera goes on.  I’m not going to tell you how it ends, and really I shouldn’t have to.  The fate of our pair is as doomed as any other tragic libretto, which is why I love this piece so much.  The tragedy is layered beneath a false sense of exuberance.  It just lifts us up and gives us that much farther to fall.

And yes, even in 19th century French opera, it’s bros before hos.

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