I had a nice time at the Opera last night. The Pearl Fishers was performed. Despite its title, the story has nothing to do with actually fishing. Rather it is an age old love story involving two friends who have a falling out over a girl. One of the friends leaves the village for a year. The friend who remains becomes the King of the village. When the long lost friend returns he makes up with his friend the King, and of course they promise to never let a girl come between them again. But that promise doesn't last long. In their fictional culture there is a "goddess" who is brought in to pray over the village and the fishermen. This "goddess" it is discovered is the very girl who came between the friends. She swears an oath to forsake the pursuit of a husband or lover. The penalty for violating the oath is death. No sooner does she make the oath then she realizes her long lost love has returned. Quickly the oath is broken as the two lovers reunite. They are caught and are prepared to die when suddenly the King sets them free. Unfortunately for the King since he let the two lovers go he is put to death instead.
Of course the story line fails miserably at expressing the beauty of the event. The song between the two Friends captivates those feelings of friendship that we all know so well and cherish in life. The song that the returned friend sings about the lovely goddess creates a sensuous, passionate almost erotic sense of love, that leaves you speechless. The performance that I attended was complimented with ballet dancers performing a silhouetted semi-erotic ballet to accompany the love song.
The night reminded me of the very high value that should be placed on friendship, love and loyalty. And is a shining example of how to passionately love others.
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