L'Amour de Loin

Ken Howard, Metropolitan Opera

"L'Amour de Loin", at the Metropolitan Opera, is supposed to be the 12th century tale of Jaufré, Prince of Blaye's heroic pursuit of unattainable love but the setting and the music led to more direct associations with the existential and metaphysical roots of it all. The whole thing was enacted on a vast ocean swell, flowing from the back of the huge Metropolitan Opera stage and down over the orchestra pit, with the principals on little undulating boats. From time to time the chorus poked up their heads, haloed in ripples, through the waves but their ceaseless chants came mostly from underwater. The score was one endlessly enchanting tune, like a gemelan orchestra, and tonight's audience was transfixed, maybe even mesmerized. The people sitting next to me are leaving for Rome tomorrow. They asked me if the Italians celebrate Christmas.