The 12th-century troubadour Jaufré Rudel falls in love with the Countess of Tripoli, a woman he has never met, knowing her only through the reports of a Pilgrim who travels between them. When Jaufré finally sets sail to meet her, he falls gravely ill, arriving only to die in her arms. Kaija Saariaho's luminous opera, based on a medieval legend, is a shimmering meditation on idealized love, longing, and the impossible distance between desire and fulfilment.
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