Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers) is an opera by the French
composer Georges Bizet, with a libretto by Eugène Cormon and Michel
Carré, first performed on 30 September 1863 at the Théâtre Lyrique
in Paris. Set in ancient Ceylon, it tells how two men's vow of eternal
friendship is threatened by their love for a woman, who is herself
conflicted between secular love and her sacred oath as a priestess. The
duet "Au fond du temple saint", generally known as "The Pearl Fishers
Duet", is one of the best-known numbers in Western opera. Although the
opera was well received by the public and by other composers, initial
press reaction was generally hostile, and it was not revived in Bizet's
lifetime. However, it later achieved popularity in Europe and America,
and eventually became a staple part of the repertory of opera houses
worldwide. The loss of Bizet's original score meant that, until the
1970s, productions were based on versions with significant departures
from the original; recently, efforts have been made to reconstruct the
score in accordance with Bizet's intentions. Modern critics have
detected premonitions of the composer's genius which would culminate,
10 years later, in Carmen.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_p%C3%AAcheurs_de_perles>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1399:
Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, deposed Richard II to
become Henry IV of England, merging the Duchy of Lancaster with the
crown.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_IV_of_England>
1882:
The Vulcan Street Plant, the first hydroelectric central
station to serve a system of private and commercial customers in North
America, went on line in Appleton, Wisconsin, US.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_Street_Plant>
1939:
World War II: General Władysław Sikorski became Prime
Minister of the Polish government-in-exile.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C5%82adys%C5%82aw_Sikorski>
1966:
Seretse Khama became the first President of Botswana when the
Bechuanaland Protectorate gained independence from the United Kingdom.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seretse_Khama>
2009:
A 7.6 MW earthquake struck off the southern coast of Sumatra,
Indonesia, killing 1,115 people and impacting an estimated 1.25 million
people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Sumatra_earthquakes>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
cutify:
1. (from the Latin word for skin, "cutis") To form skin, as, the wound area
was left to cutify.
2. (from "cute" + "-ify", perhaps modeled on "beautify") To
make cute, as,
she cutified her room.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cutify>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Love said to me, there is nothing that is not me. Be silent.
--Rumi
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rumi>