Opalescence
“noun, literary
UK /ˌəʊ.pəlˈes.əns/
US /ˌoʊ.pəlˈes.əns/
“the quality of reflecting light and changing colour like an opal:
the milky opalescence of the northern sea the hedge rose against the pale opalescence of the lower sky.
To be frank, I’ve always been attracted to objects that shine. I’m thinking of the shimmer of sunlight that enhances the luster of fine silver, not to mention the magic of candlelight, or lighted Christmas trees, or of course a favorite: the charm of moist, glowing eyes…
Opalescense is of course a distinct aspect of pearls, a kind of luster that contains warmth and sensuality. Once I sang a series of ‘Messiah’ in Singapore (my first trip to Asia, and it was the holiday season), and brought back a nice string of pearls for my mother, which she proudly wore for the best occasions. It’s still impossible for me to separate from them. Don’t know why…
Glass can also have this pearly aspect, for example when flecked with gold as in Venetian crafts from Murano; I have lots of those, too, brought back from many travels to the canaled city of Titian and Vivaldi. When the sun catches it just right, the colors of the rainbow are reproduced, and might luckily be deflected in every direction around the room. That was what prompted me suddenly to take this picture, by the front windows, a kind of looking into the soul. Blanche DuBois looking into the soul, so to speak. (Update: I mixed up my Tennessee Williams: I meant Laura Wingfield, of course, gazing at her glass menagerie!).
The dromedary pictured on the left is by Baccarat. It was a gift I proudly display, received after an all-Poulenc solo concert, where I sang ‘Le Bestiaire’ and ‘Chansons Villageoises,’ with full orchestra, in Paris. A whirlwind of a night I’ll have to write about sometime, as my distant memory of it still glows with these same kind of iridescent hues. For that night I also performed a song group with piano called ‘Mouvements du Coeur,’ for bass, by six distinct composers. In it, the song ‘Mazurka’ (by Poulenc) evokes perfectly the heady sensuality of waltzing at a candle-lit, fancy ball: imagine of you please the sparkling jewels, the low-cut opaline gowns, the inebriating perfumes, and the temptations yielding inevitably to desire.
Since it’s impossible to do justice by translating the poem by Louise de Vilmorin to English, suffice it to say that inevitably the bodies unite, as the flame of love’s passion requires, the waltz and all time stops; and like the snow, eventually love’s opalescence melts away, too.
‘Mazurka’ – Francis Poulenc
Poème de Louise de Vilmorin
Les bijoux aux poitrines,
Les soleils aux plafonds
Les robes opalines,
Miroirs et violons
Font ainsi, font, font, font
Des mains tomber l’aiguille
L’aiguille de raison
Des mains de jeunes filles
Qui s’envolent et font
Font ainsi, font, font,
D’un regard qui s’appuie,
D’une ride à leur front
Le beau temps ou la pluie
Et d’une soupire larron
Font ainsi, font, font, font
Du bal une tourmente
Où sage et vagabond
D’entendre l’inconstante
Dire oui, dire non
Font ainsi, font, font, font
Danser l’incertitude
Dont les pas compteront,
Oh! le doux pas des prudes,
Leurs silences profonds
Font ainsi, font, font, font,
Du bal une contrée
Où les feux s’uniront.
Des amours rencontrées
Ainsi la neige fond, fond, fond.
