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Opera Dijon's New Production of Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles Uses Bärenreiter's Critical Edition

Mar. 31, 2025

The love triangle between two longtime friends, Zurga and Nadir, and their love for the Brahmin Leïla, is one of the favorites of the operatic canon. What few know: The source material of Georges Bizet’s first major opera Les Pêcheurs de perles is tricky, as the autograph manuscript is not available. It is fitting, therefore that the Opéra de Dijon used the edition by Hugh Macdonald from Bärenreiter Verlag for its premiere on March 19. The opera was conducted by Pierre Dumoussaud and directed by Mirabelle Ordinaire. It's hard to believe that the premiere of Les pêcheurs de perles on September 30, 1863, at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris, met with little enthusiasm. The subject matter and music were apparently too exotic; at least, the press described the music as "bizarreries harmoniques." After the premiere, the libretto and the vocal score (arranged by Bizet himself) were published, but there was no further new production during Bizet’s lifetime – neither in Paris nor elsewhere. In addition, the autograph of the score is in private hands and not accessible to the public. The Bärenreiter edition fills this desideratum and establishes the text of the opera as Bizet wrote it, with certain parts of the opera newly orchestrated by the editor Hugh Macdonald on the basis of the vocal score and the Violon-Conducteur. This makes the edition an important basis for the musical engagement of orchestras and opera houses around the world, as the premiere in Dijon demonstrated. Click here to read more about Bärenreiter's excellent and informative edition of Les Pêcheurs de perles in [t]akte.


Trailer – Les Pêcheurs de perles at Opéra de Dijon

Georges Bizet
Les Pêcheurs de perles
opéra en trois actes
libretto: Michel Carré and Eugène Cormon
edited by Hugh Macdonald. 
Soloists: Leila (soprano), Nadir (tenor), Zurga (baritone), Nourabad (bass), chorus
Orchestra: pic.2.2(2.eh).2.2-4.2crt.3.1-timp-perc-2hp-str; stage music: 2pic-tamb-hp

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