Harem of European women forcibly taken into Oriental harems—evident for example in the Mozart opera "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" ("The Abduction from the Seraglio") concerning the attempt of the hero Belmonte to rescue his beloved Konstanze from the "seraglio"/harem of the Pasha Selim; or in Voltaire's "Candide", in chapter 12 of which the old woman relates her experiences of being sold into harems across the Ottoman Empire. Much of Verdi's opera "Il corsaro" takes place in the harem of the Pasha Seid—where Gulnara, the Pasha's favorite, chafes at life in the harem, and longs for freedom and true love. Eventually
Christiane Eda-Pierre Chicago, and New York. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1980 as Konstanze, and went on to sing other roles there: Antonia in "Les contes d'Hoffmann" and Gilda in "Rigoletto". She became a teacher at the Paris Conservatory in 1977, while continuing her career in opera and in concert. The possessor of a beautiful, rich and agile voice, which enabled her to succeed in a wide variety of roles, Eda-Pierre can be heard on several recordings, her three most famous being on the Philips label, as Konstanze in "Abduction from the Seraglio" and Teresa in "Benvenuto Cellini", both under