Bizet–Pearl Fishers, Je crois

It is Wednesday and that means that I can play with music from different worlds but still make a point: the themes are quite similar. In opera and country music, the themes of lost love, of sorrow and regret are so prevalent that it is hard to find anything to cheer about. However, we listen to both forms of music because the presentation of loss is so compelling.

We are going to start with an aria that I have played before. It is sung by the tenor as he remembers the intoxicating effect of the wrong kind of love; love that is not returned in kind. It is the opposite of shared love, such as found in the lover’s duet in La Boheme (O soave fanchiulla).

The aria in The Pearl Fishers by Bizet has been sung in French (Je crops entendre encore) and in Italian (Mi par d’udir anchor). Here is the English translation:

I believe I hear again, hidden beneath the palm trees, her tender, resonant voice, like a dove’s song, o enchanting night, divine rapture, o charming memory, mad intoxication, sweet dream. In the starlight, I believe I see her again, parting her long veils, in the warm breezes of the evening, o enchanting night, divine rapture, o charming memory, mad intoxication, sweet dream.