Hey, it's my second opera by a female composer! It's also, embarrassingly, only the second to be produced at the Met (the first being this, which you'd be hard-pressed to find any video of, which seems somehow symptomatic of the problem).
This is allegedly based on a true story. There's this troubadour prince, Jaufré Rudel (who was a real person), who's feeling vaguely dissatisfied with life. An unnamed Pilgrim who travels back and forth across the sea tells him about a woman named Clémence from across the sea (the Countess of Tripoli), and he falls in love with her without seeing her or meeting her or interacting with her in any way. The Pilgrim then goes back and talks to Clémence, telling her that this dude is in love with her, and after a certain amount of ambivalence she accepts this. Jaufré decides he needs to go meet this woman (which, you know, if you're going to be in love with someone, you might as wellmeet them), and the Pilgrim takes him across the sea, but then as he gets closer he gets sicker until he dies in her arms. The Pilgrim posits that this happened because his amour was no longer de loin.
Interesting, striking stuff, is this. The music is very sparkly and subdued, kind of ambient. I have to admit there were times when I felt it got a little monotonous, but I dug it overall. And huge, huge props to the Met's production, by Robert Lepage (he of the controversial Ring productions): the characters stand on one or the other side of a mobiles staircase that can tilt in either direction, and the omnipresent ocean is represented by a bunch of moving slats (the man certainly loves him some slats), which project different colored lights to represent different times of day or internal or external conditions. It's very striking, and it perfectly complements the music. Well done, all, though the bits with people sticking their heads out of the sea can look a little silly, as does a part with hand-claps emerging from the water. That's okay, though! It's not a big part of anything! I have no complaints about the cast: there are only the three characters plus the chorus, and everyone is good my favorite being mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford as the Pilgrim.
Seriously, Met, I am not kidding: more operas by women. This is a moral imperative, and I don't mean that as hyperbole. I really do think it's that important. And at least one Met in HD broadcast per season. Get on it.
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