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Review and Analysis of the Opera Carmen by Bizet

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Opera past Georges Bizet

Carmen
Opera by Georges Bizet
Prudent-Louis Leray - Poster for the première of Georges Bizet's Carmen.jpg

Poster by Prudent-Louis Leray for the 1875 première
Librettist
  • Ludovic Halévy
  • Henri Meilhac
Language French
Based on Carmen
past Prosper Mérimée
Premiere

3 March 1875 (1875-03-03)

Opéra-Comique, Paris

Carmen (French: [kaʁ.mɛn]) is an opera in iv acts by French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 3 March 1875, where its breaking of conventions shocked and scandalized its start audiences.

Bizet died suddenly after the 33rd performance, unaware that the piece of work would achieve international acclaim within the post-obit ten years. Carmen has since become one of the most popular and often performed operas in the classical catechism; the "Habanera" from human action 1 and the "Toreador Song" from deed 2 are amongst the best known of all operatic arias.

The opera is written in the genre of opéra comique with musical numbers separated by dialogue. It is set in southern Spain and tells the story of the downfall of Don José, a naïve soldier who is seduced by the wiles of the fiery gypsy Carmen. José abandons his childhood sweetheart and deserts from his military duties, nevertheless loses Carmen'due south love to the glamorous torero Escamillo, after which José kills her in a jealous rage. The depictions of proletarian life, immorality, and lawlessness, and the tragic death of the primary graphic symbol on phase, bankrupt new footing in French opera and were highly controversial.

Afterwards the premiere, most reviews were critical, and the French public was mostly indifferent. Carmen initially gained its reputation through a series of productions outside France, and was not revived in Paris until 1883. Thereafter, information technology rapidly caused popularity at habitation and away. Later commentators have asserted that Carmen forms the bridge between the tradition of opéra comique and the realism or verismo that characterised late 19th-century Italian opera.

The music of Carmen has since been widely acclaimed for brilliance of melody, harmony, atmosphere, and orchestration, and for the skill with which Bizet musically represented the emotions and suffering of his characters. After the composer's decease, the score was subject field to significant amendment, including the introduction of recitative in place of the original dialogue; there is no standard edition of the opera, and different views exist every bit to what versions best express Bizet's intentions. The opera has been recorded many times since the starting time acoustical recording in 1908, and the story has been the subject of many screen and stage adaptations.

Background [edit]

Prosper Mérimée, whose novella Carmen of 1845 inspired the opera

In the Paris of the 1860s, despite existence a Prix de Rome laureate, Bizet struggled to get his stage works performed. The capital'south two main state-funded opera houses—the Opéra and the Opéra-Comique—followed conservative repertoires that restricted opportunities for young native talent.[1] Bizet'due south professional relationship with Léon Carvalho, manager of the contained Théâtre Lyrique visitor, enabled him to bring to the stage two full-calibration operas, Les pêcheurs de perles (1863) and La jolie fille de Perth (1867), only neither enjoyed much public success.[2] [3]

When artistic life in Paris resumed after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, Bizet plant wider opportunities for the performance of his works; his one-deed opera Djamileh opened at the Opéra-Comique in May 1872. Although this failed and was withdrawn afterwards 11 performances,[4] it led to a farther commission from the theatre, this time for a total-length opera for which Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy would provide the libretto.[v] Halévy, who had written the text for Bizet's student opera Le docteur Miracle (1856), was a cousin of Bizet'southward wife, Geneviève;[6] he and Meilhac had a solid reputation equally the librettists of many of Jacques Offenbach's operettas.[vii]

Bizet was delighted with the Opéra-Comique commission, and expressed to his friend Edmund Galabert his satisfaction in "the accented certainty of having institute my path".[v] The subject of the projected piece of work was a affair of discussion between composer, librettists and the Opéra-Comique management; Adolphe de Leuven, on behalf of the theatre, made several suggestions that were politely rejected. It was Bizet who first proposed an adaptation of Prosper Mérimée'due south novella Carmen.[8] Mérimée'south story is a blend of travelogue and adventure yarn, mayhap inspired by the writer'southward lengthy travels in Spain in 1830, and had originally been published in 1845 in the periodical Revue des deux Mondes.[9] It may accept been influenced in part by Alexander Pushkin's 1824 poem "The Gypsies",[10] a work Mérimée had translated into French;[n 1] it has likewise been suggested that the story was developed from an incident told to Mérimée by his friend the Countess Montijo.[9] Bizet may starting time have encountered the story during his Rome sojourn of 1858–60, since his journals tape Mérimée as 1 of the writers whose works he absorbed in those years.[12]

Roles [edit]

  • Bandage details are equally provided by Curtiss[16] from the original piano and vocal score. The phase designs are credited to Charles Ponchard.

Instrumentation [edit]

The orchestration consists of two flutes (doubling piccolo), ii oboes (the second doubling cor anglais), two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, 2 trumpets, three trombones, a harp and strings. The percussion section consists of timpani, side drum[ clarification needed ], a triangle, a tambourine, cymbals, castanets, and a bass drum.[17] The orchestral complement for the premiere run was 62 or 57 musicians in total (depending on whether the pit trumpet and trombone players doubled off-stage music).[18]

Synopsis [edit]

Place: Seville, Spain, and surrounding hills
Time: Around 1820

Act 1 [edit]

A foursquare, in Seville. On the right, a door to the tobacco manufactory. At the back, a bridge. On the left, a guardhouse.

A group of soldiers relax in the square, waiting for the irresolute of the guard and commenting on the passers-past ("Sur la place, chacun passe"). Micaëla appears, seeking José. Moralès tells her that "José is not yet on duty" and invites her to expect with them. She declines, saying she will render later. José arrives with the new guard, who is greeted and imitated past a crowd of urchins ("Avec la garde montante").

As the factory bong rings, the cigarette girls emerge and exchange banter with young men in the oversupply ("La cloche a sonné"). Carmen enters and sings her provocative habanera on the untameable nature of love ("L'amour est un oiseau rebelle"). The men plead with her to choose a lover, and after some teasing she throws a flower to Don José, who thus far has been ignoring her but is now annoyed past her insolence.

As the women go back to the factory, Micaëla returns and gives José a letter and a kiss from his mother ("Parle-moi de ma mère!"). He reads that his mother wants him to return domicile and ally Micaëla, who retreats in shy embarrassment on learning this. But equally José declares that he is prepare to heed his mother's wishes, the women stream from the mill in great agitation. Zuniga, the officer of the guard, learns that Carmen has attacked a woman with a pocketknife. When challenged, Carmen answers with mocking defiance ("Tra la la... Coupe-moi, brûle-moi"); Zuniga orders José to tie her hands while he prepares the prison warrant. Left alone with José, Carmen beguiles him with a seguidilla, in which she sings of a dark of dancing and passion with her lover—whoever that may be—in Lillas Pastia's tavern. Dislocated yet mesmerised, José agrees to free her hands; as she is led away she pushes her escort to the ground and runs off laughing. José is arrested for dereliction of duty.

Act 2 [edit]

Lillas Pastia's Inn

2 months have passed. Carmen and her friends Frasquita and Mercédès are entertaining Zuniga and other officers ("Les tringles des sistres tintaient") in Pastia's inn. Carmen is delighted to learn of José's release from two months' detention. Outside, a chorus and procession announces the arrival of the toreador Escamillo ("Vivat, vivat le Toréro"). Invited inside, he introduces himself with the "Toreador Song" ("Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre") and sets his sights on Carmen, who brushes him bated. Lillas Pastia hustles the crowds and the soldiers away.

When only Carmen, Frasquita and Mercédès remain, smugglers Dancaïre and Remendado arrive and reveal their plans to dispose of some recently caused contraband ("Nous avons en tête une affaire"). Frasquita and Mercédès are smashing to help them, just Carmen refuses, since she wishes to wait for José. After the smugglers leave, José arrives. Carmen treats him to a private exotic trip the light fantastic ("Je vais danser en votre honneur... La la la"), but her song is joined by a afar bugle call from the billet. When José says he must return to duty, she mocks him, and he answers past showing her the flower that she threw to him in the foursquare ("La fleur que tu m'avais jetée"). Unconvinced, Carmen demands he evidence his dearest by leaving with her. José refuses to desert, but as he prepares to depart, Zuniga enters looking for Carmen. He and José fight. Carmen summons her gypsy comrades, who restrain Zuniga. Having attacked a superior officeholder, José now has no pick only to join Carmen and the smugglers ("Suis-nous à travers la campagne").

Deed 3 [edit]

A wild spot in the mountains

Carmen and José enter with the smugglers and their booty ("Écoute, écoute, compagnons"); Carmen has now become bored with José and tells him scornfully that he should go dorsum to his female parent. Frasquita and Mercédès amuse themselves by reading their fortunes from the cards; Carmen joins them and finds that the cards are foretelling her death, and José'south. The smugglers depart to transport their goods while the women distract the local customs officers. José is left behind on guard duty.

Micaëla enters with a guide, seeking José and adamant to rescue him from Carmen ("Je dis que rien ne grand'épouvante"). On hearing a gunshot she hides in fear; information technology is José, who has fired at an intruder who proves to be Escamillo. José's pleasure at coming together the bullfighter turns to anger when Escamillo declares his infatuation with Carmen. The pair fight ("Je suis Escamillo, toréro de Grenade"), simply are interrupted by the returning smugglers and girls ("Holà, holà José"). As Escamillo leaves he invites anybody to his adjacent bullfight in Seville. Micaëla is discovered; at first, José volition not get out with her despite Carmen's mockery, but he agrees to become when told that his mother is dying. He departs, vowing he will return. Escamillo is heard in the distance, singing the toreador'south song.

Act iv [edit]

Human action four: A square in Seville

A square in Seville. At the dorsum, the walls of an ancient amphitheatre

Zuniga, Frasquita and Mercédès are among the oversupply awaiting the arrival of the bullfighters ("Les voici ! Voici la quadrille!"). Escamillo enters with Carmen, and they limited their mutual love ("Si tu thou'aimes, Carmen"). As Escamillo goes into the loonshit, Frasquita and Mercédès warn Carmen that José is nearby, merely Carmen is unafraid and willing to speak to him. Alone, she is confronted by the desperate José ("C'est toi !", "C'est moi !"). While he pleads vainly for her to return to him, thanks are heard from the arena. Equally José makes his last entreaty, Carmen contemptuously throws down the ring he gave her and attempts to enter the arena. He then stabs her, and as Escamillo is acclaimed past the crowds, Carmen dies. José kneels and sings "Ah! Carmen! ma Carmen adorée!"; as the crowd exits the arena, José confesses to killing Carmen.

Creation [edit]

Writing history [edit]

Ludovic Halévy and Henri Meilhac, who together wrote the libretto for Carmen

Meilhac and Halévy were a long-standing duo with an established sectionalization of labour: Meilhac, who was completely unmusical, wrote the dialogue and Halévy the verses.[14] There is no articulate indication of when work began on Carmen.[19] Bizet and the two librettists were all in Paris during 1873 and easily able to meet; thus in that location is little written tape or correspondence relating to the commencement of the collaboration.[xx] The libretto was prepared in accordance with the conventions of opéra comique, with dialogue separating musical numbers.[n 3] It deviates from Mérimée's novella in a number of significant respects. In the original, events are spread over a much longer period of time, and much of the main story is narrated by José from his prison cell, as he awaits execution for Carmen's murder. Micaëla does not feature in Mérimée'southward version, and the Escamillo character is peripheral—a picador named Lucas who is but briefly Carmen's grand passion. Carmen has a husband called Garcia, whom José kills during a quarrel.[22] In the novella, Carmen and José are presented much less sympathetically than they are in the opera; Bizet'south biographer Mina Curtiss comments that Mérimée's Carmen, on stage, would have seemed "an unmitigated and unconvincing monster, had her grapheme not been simplified and deepened".[23]

With rehearsals due to begin in October 1873, Bizet began composing in or around Jan of that year, and past the summertime had completed the music for the kickoff act and mayhap sketched more. At that point, according to Bizet'south biographer Winton Dean, "some hitch at the Opéra-Comique intervened", and the project was suspended for a while.[24] I reason for the filibuster may have been the difficulties in finding a vocalist for the championship role.[25] Another was a split that developed betwixt the joint directors of the theatre, Camille du Locle and Adolphe de Leuven, over the advisability of staging the work. De Leuven had vociferously opposed the entire notion of presenting so risqué a story in what he considered a family unit theatre and was sure audiences would exist frightened away. He was bodacious by Halévy that the story would exist toned down, that Carmen'southward grapheme would exist softened, and offset by Micaëla, described by Halévy as "a very innocent, very chaste young girl". Furthermore, the gypsies would be presented as comic characters, and Carmen's death would be overshadowed at the finish by "triumphal processions, ballets and joyous fanfares". De Leuven reluctantly agreed, but his continuing hostility towards the projection led to his resignation from the theatre early on in 1874.[26]

After the various delays, Bizet appears to have resumed work on Carmen early on in 1874. He completed the draft of the composition—1,200 pages of music—in the summer, which he spent at the artists' colony at Bougival, simply outside Paris. He was pleased with the result, informing a friend: "I accept written a piece of work that is all clarity and vivacity, total of color and melody."[27] During the period of rehearsals, which began in October, Bizet repeatedly altered the music—sometimes at the request of the orchestra who plant some of it impossible to perform,[25] sometimes to meet the demands of individual singers, and otherwise in response to the demands of the theatre'due south management.[28] The vocal score that Bizet published in March 1875 shows significant changes from the version of the score he sold the publishers, Choudens [fr], in January 1875; the conducting score used at the premiere differs from each of these documents. In that location is no definitive edition, and there are differences among musicologists about which version represents the composer's truthful intentions.[25] [29] Bizet also changed the libretto, reordering sequences and imposing his own verses where he felt the librettists had strayed too far from the character of Mérimée'due south original.[xxx] Among other changes, he provided new words for Carmen'southward "Habanera",[29] and rewrote the text of Carmen's solo in the human activity 3 card scene. He also provided a new opening line for the "Seguidilla" in act 1.[31]

Characterisation [edit]

Most of the characters in Carmen—the soldiers, the smugglers, the Gypsy women and the secondary leads Micaëla and Escamillo—are reasonably familiar types within the opéra comique tradition, although drawing them from proletarian life was unusual.[nineteen] The two principals, José and Carmen, prevarication outside the genre. While each is presented quite differently from Mérimée's portrayals of a murderous brigand and a treacherous, amoral schemer,[23] even in their relatively sanitised forms neither corresponds to the norms of opéra comique. They are more akin to the verismo way that would find fuller expression in the works of Puccini.[32]

Dean considers that José is the central effigy of the opera: "Information technology is his fate rather than Carmen's that interests us."[33] The music characterizes his gradual decline, deed by deed, from honest soldier to deserter, vagabond and finally murderer.[25] In act 1 he is a simple countryman aligned musically with Micaëla; in act 2 he evinces a greater toughness, the effect of his experiences as a prisoner, but it is clear that by the terminate of the act his infatuation with Carmen has driven his emotions beyond control. Dean describes him in act 3 as a trapped creature who refuses to leave his cage fifty-fifty when the door is opened for him, ravaged by a mix of conscience, jealousy and despair. In the concluding act his music assumes a grimness and purposefulness that reflects his new fatalism: "He will brand one more appeal; if Carmen refuses, he knows what to practice."[33]

Carmen herself, says Dean, is a new type of operatic heroine representing a new kind of dearest, not the innocent kind associated with the "spotless soprano" school, but something altogether more vital and unsafe. Her capriciousness, fearlessness and dearest of freedom are all musically represented: "She is redeemed from whatever suspicion of vulgarity by her qualities of courage and fatalism so vividly realised in the music".[25] [34] Curtiss suggests that Carmen's character, spiritually and musically, may be a realisation of the composer's own unconscious longing for a freedom denied to him past his stifling marriage.[35] Harold C. Schonberg likens Carmen to "a female Don Giovanni. She would rather die than be false to herself."[36] The dramatic personality of the character, and the range of moods she is required to express, call for infrequent acting and singing talents. This has deterred some of opera'southward about distinguished exponents; Maria Callas, though she recorded the office, never performed it on stage.[37] The musicologist Hugh Macdonald observes that "French opera never produced another femme equally fatale as Carmen", though she may take influenced some of Massenet's heroines. Macdonald suggests that outside the French repertoire, Richard Strauss'south Salome and Alban Berg'southward Lulu "may be seen as distant degenerate descendants of Bizet'due south temptress".[xiii]

Bizet was reportedly contemptuous of the music he wrote for Escamillo: "Well, they asked for ordure, and they've got it", he is said to accept remarked about the toreador'south song—simply, as Dean comments, "the triteness lies in the graphic symbol, not in the music".[33] Micaëla's music has been criticised for its "Gounodesque" elements, although Dean maintains that her music has greater vitality than that of whatever of Gounod'due south own heroines.[38]

Operation history [edit]

Assembling the cast [edit]

The search for a singer-actress to play Carmen began in the summer of 1873. Press speculation favoured Zulma Bouffar, who was perhaps the librettists' preferred choice. She had sung leading roles in many of Offenbach'due south operas, but she was unacceptable to Bizet and was turned downwardly past du Locle as unsuitable.[39] In September an approach was made to Marie Roze, well known for previous triumphs at the Opéra-Comique, the Opéra and in London. She refused the part when she learned that she would be required to die on stage.[40] The role was and so offered to Célestine Galli-Marié, who agreed to terms with du Locle after several months' negotiation.[41] Galli-Marié, a demanding and at times tempestuous performer, would prove a staunch marry of Bizet, ofttimes supporting his resistance to demands from the management that the work should be toned downwards.[42] At the time information technology was generally believed that she and the composer were conducting a love affair during the months of rehearsal.[19]

The leading tenor role of Don José was given to Paul Lhérie, a rising star of the Opéra-Comique who had recently appeared in works by Massenet and Delibes. He would later go a baritone, and in 1887 sang the function of Zurga in the Covent Garden premiere of Les pêcheurs de perles.[43] Jacques Bouhy, engaged to sing Escamillo, was a young Belgian-born baritone who had already appeared in enervating roles such as Méphistophélès in Gounod's Faust and as Mozart's Figaro.[44] Marguerite Chapuy, who sang Micaëla, was at the beginning of a curt career in which she was briefly a star at London'south Theatre Royal, Drury Lane; the impresario James H. Mapleson thought her "one of the most charming vocalists it has been my pleasance to know". However, she married and left the stage altogether in 1876, refusing Mapleson's considerable cash inducements to return.[45]

Premiere and initial run [edit]

Considering rehearsals did not start until October 1874 and lasted longer than anticipated, the premiere was delayed.[46] The final rehearsals went well, and in a generally optimistic mood the beginning nighttime was fixed for three March 1875, the day on which, coincidentally, Bizet'due south appointment as a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour was formally announced.[due north iv] The premiere, which was conducted past Adolphe Deloffre, was attended past many of Paris's leading musical figures, including Massenet, Offenbach, Delibes and Gounod;[48] during the performance the last-named was overheard complaining bitterly that Bizet had stolen the music of Micaëla's deed 3 aria from him: "That melody is mine!"[49] Halévy recorded his impressions of the premiere in a letter of the alphabet to a friend; the beginning act was evidently well received, with applause for the primary numbers and numerous curtain calls. The kickoff part of human action ii too went well, but after the toreador'southward song there was, Halévy noted, "coldness". In act 3 but Micaëla's aria earned applause as the audience became increasingly disconcerted. The final deed was "glacial from first to terminal", and Bizet was left "just with the consolations of a few friends".[48] The critic Ernest Newman wrote later that the sentimentalist Opéra-Comique audience was "shocked by the desperate realism of the activity" and by the low continuing and defective morality of most of the characters.[50] According to the composer Benjamin Godard, Bizet retorted, in response to a compliment, "Don't you see that all these bourgeois have not understood a wretched word of the work I have written for them?"[51] In a unlike vein, presently after the work had ended, Massenet sent Bizet a congratulatory notation: "How happy you must be at this time—it'southward a not bad success!"[52]

The general tone of the side by side 24-hour interval'south press reviews ranged from disappointment to outrage. The more conservative critics complained almost "Wagnerism" and the subordination of the vocalisation to the noise of the orchestra.[53] There was consternation that the heroine was an amoral seductress rather than a adult female of virtue;[54] Galli-Marié's interpretation of the role was described by one critic as "the very incarnation of vice".[53] Others compared the work unfavourably with the traditional Opéra-Comique repertoire of Auber and Boieldieu. Léon Escudier in L'Art Musical called Carmen 's music "irksome and obscure... the ear grows weary of waiting for the cadency that never comes."[55] It seemed that Bizet had generally failed to fulfill expectations, both of those who (given Halévy's and Meilhac'due south past associations) had expected something in the Offenbach mould, and of critics such as Adolphe Jullien who had anticipated a Wagnerian music drama. Amidst the few supportive critics was the poet Théodore de Banville; writing in Le National, he applauded Bizet for presenting a drama with existent men and women instead of the usual Opéra-Comique "puppets".[56]

In its initial run at the Opéra-Comique, Carmen provoked little public enthusiasm; it shared the theatre for a while with Verdi's much more popular Requiem.[57] Carmen was oft performed to one-half-empty houses, fifty-fifty when the management gave abroad big numbers of tickets.[25] Early on 3 June, the day later on the opera's 33rd functioning, Bizet died of a sudden of heart illness, at the age of 36. It was his wedding anniversary. That nighttime'due south performance was cancelled; the tragic circumstances brought a temporary increase in public interest during the brief menstruum before the season ended.[nineteen] Du Locle brought Carmen back in November 1875, with the original cast, and information technology ran for a farther 12 performances until 15 Feb 1876 to give a year's total for the original production of 48.[58] Amongst those who attended one of these later performances was Tchaikovsky, who wrote to his benefactor, Nadezhda von Meck: "Carmen is a masterpiece in every sense of the give-and-take... 1 of those rare creations which expresses the efforts of a whole musical epoch."[59] After the final functioning, Carmen was not seen in Paris again until 1883.[25]

Early revivals [edit]

Shortly before his decease Bizet signed a contract for a product of Carmen by the Vienna Court Opera. For this version, outset staged on 23 October 1875, Bizet'south friend Ernest Guiraud replaced the original dialogue with recitatives, to create a "grand opera" format. Guiraud also reorchestrated music from Bizet's L'Arlésienne suite to provide a spectacular ballet for Carmen 's second act.[60] Shortly before the initial Vienna operation, the Court Opera's managing director Franz von Jauner decided to use parts of the original dialogue along with some of Guiraud's recitatives; this hybrid and the full recitative version became the norms for productions of the opera outside France for nearly of the next century.[61]

Many distinguished artistes sang the role of Carmen in early productions of the opera.

Despite its deviations from Bizet's original format, and some critical reservations, the 1875 Vienna production was a keen success with the urban center'south public. It also won praise from both Wagner and Brahms. The latter reportedly saw the opera twenty times, and said he would have "gone to the ends of the globe to embrace Bizet".[60] The Viennese triumph began the opera's rapid ascent towards worldwide fame. In Feb 1876 it began a run in Brussels at La Monnaie; it returned in that location the post-obit year, with Galli-Marié in the title role, and thereafter became a permanent fixture in the Brussels repertory. On 17 June 1878 Carmen was produced in London, at Her Majesty'south Theatre, where Minnie Hauk began her long association with the office of Carmen. A parallel London production at Covent Garden, with Adelina Patti, was cancelled when Patti withdrew. The successful Her Majesty's production, sung in Italian, had an equally enthusiastic reception in Dublin. On 23 October 1878 the opera received its American premiere, at the New York University of Music, and in the same twelvemonth was introduced to Saint petersburg.[58]

In the following five years performances were given in numerous American and European cities. The opera found particular favour in Germany, where the Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, manifestly saw it on 27 dissimilar occasions and where Friedrich Nietzsche opined that he "became a better man when Bizet speaks to me".[62] [63] Carmen was also acclaimed in numerous French provincial cities including Marseille, Lyon and, in 1881, Dieppe, where Galli-Marié returned to the role. In August 1881 the vocalizer wrote to Bizet'southward widow to report that Carmen 'south Spanish premiere, in Barcelona, had been "another smashing success".[64] But Carvalho, who had assumed the management of the Opéra-Comique, thought the work immoral and refused to reinstate it. Meilhac and Hálevy were more than prepared to countenance a revival, provided that Galli-Marié had no part in it; they blamed her estimation for the relative failure of the opening run.[63]

In April 1883 Carvalho finally revived Carmen at the Opéra-Comique, with Adèle Isaac featuring in an nether-apposite product that removed some of the controversial aspects of the original. Carvalho was roundly condemned by the critics for offering a travesty of what had come to be regarded as a masterpiece of French opera; nevertheless, this version was acclaimed past the public and played to total houses. In October Carvalho yielded to force per unit area and revised the production; he brought back Galli-Marié, and restored the score and libretto to their 1875 forms.[65]

Worldwide success [edit]

On 9 January 1884, Carmen was given its beginning New York Metropolitan Opera performance, to a mixed disquisitional reception. The New York Times welcomed Bizet's "pretty and constructive work", but compared Zelia Trebelli's interpretation of the title role unfavourably with that of Minnie Hauk.[66] Thereafter Carmen was quickly incorporated into the Met'south regular repertory. In February 1906 Enrico Caruso sang José at the Met for the starting time time; he continued to perform in this part until 1919, ii years earlier his death.[66] On 17 April 1906, on tour with the Met, he sang the role at the Grand Opera Business firm in San Francisco. Afterwards he sat up until 3 am reading the reviews in the early editions of the following 24-hour interval's papers.[67] Two hours later he was awakened past the commencement violent shocks of the 1906 San Francisco convulsion, after which he and his fellow performers made a hurried escape from the Palace Hotel.[68]

The popularity of Carmen continued through succeeding generations of American opera-goers; by the first of 2011 the Met lonely had performed information technology most a thousand times.[66] It enjoyed similar success in other American cities and in all parts of the world, in many unlike languages.[69] Carmen's habanera from act i, and the toreador'southward song "Votre toast" from human activity 2, are amid the well-nigh popular and best-known of all operatic arias,[70] the latter "a first-class slice of swagger" co-ordinate to Newman, "against which the voices and the eyebrows of purists have long been raised in vain".[71] Most of the productions outside France followed the example created in Vienna and incorporated lavish ballet interludes and other spectacles, a exercise which Mahler abandoned in Vienna when he revived the work there in 1900.[50] In 1919, Bizet'southward anile contemporary Camille Saint-Saëns was notwithstanding complaining about the "strange thought" of adding a ballet, which he considered "a hideous blemish in that masterpiece", and he wondered why Bizet's wife had permitted it.[72]

At the Opéra-Comique, after its 1883 revival, Carmen was always presented in the dialogue version with minimal musical embellishments.[73] By 1888, the year of the 50th anniversary of Bizet's birth, the opera had been performed in that location 330 times;[69] past 1938, his centenary year, the full of performances at the theatre had reached two,271.[74] However, outside France the do of using recitatives remained the norm for many years; the Carl Rosa Opera Visitor's 1947 London production, and Walter Felsenstein'southward 1949 staging at the Berlin Komische Oper, are among the first known instances in which the dialogue version was used other than in French republic.[73] [75] Neither of these innovations led to much change in practise; a similar experiment was tried at Covent Garden in 1953 but hurriedly withdrawn, and the first American production with spoken dialogue, in Colorado in 1953, met with a like fate.[73]

Dean has commented on the dramatic distortions that arise from the suppression of the dialogue; the consequence, he says, is that the action moves forwards "in a series of jerks, rather instead of by smooth transition", and that nearly of the minor characters are substantially diminished.[73] [76] Just belatedly in the 20th century did dialogue versions become common in opera houses outside French republic, but at that place is still no universally recognised full score. Fritz Oeser's 1964 edition is an attempt to make full this gap, but in Dean'southward view is unsatisfactory. Oeser reintroduces fabric removed by Bizet during the outset rehearsals, and ignores many of the tardily changes and improvements that the composer made immediately before the first performance;[25] he thus, co-ordinate to Susan McClary, "inadvertently preserves as definitive an early on draft of the opera".[29] In the early 21st century new editions were prepared by Robert Didion and Richard Langham-Smith, published past Schott and Peters respectively.[77] Each departs significantly from Bizet'south song score of March 1875, published during his lifetime after he had personally corrected the proofs; Dean believes this vocal score should exist the ground of any standard edition.[25] Lesley Wright, a gimmicky Bizet scholar, remarks that, different his compatriots Rameau and Debussy, Bizet has not been accorded a critical edition of his primary works;[78] should this transpire, she says, "we might expect yet some other scholar to attempt to refine the details of this vibrant score which has then fascinated the public and performers for more than a century."[77] Meanwhile, Carmen 'south popularity endures; according to Macdonald: "The memorability of Bizet's tunes will keep the music of Carmen live in perpetuity," and its status every bit a popular classic is unchallenged by any other French opera.[xiii] A 2018 performance at the Teatro Comunale, Florence, changed the ending to take a stand against violence against women. Instead of being killed, Carmen kills Don José with a pistol she grabs from him.[79] Many applauded the change, seeing it every bit way to suspension the tradition of representing misogyny in opera while and then many women continue to suffer from violence and abuse.[80]

Music [edit]

Hervé Lacombe, in his survey of 19th-century French opera, contends that Carmen is one of the few works from that large repertory to have stood the test of time.[81] While he places the opera firmly within the long opéra comique tradition,[82] Macdonald considers that it transcends the genre and that its immortality is bodacious by "the combination in abundance of hit tune, deft harmony and perfectly judged orchestration".[xix] Dean sees Bizet'south master achievement in the demonstration of the principal actions of the opera in the music, rather than in the dialogue, writing that "Few artists accept expressed and then vividly the torments inflicted by sexual passions and jealousy." Dean places Bizet'due south realism in a dissimilar category from the verismo of Puccini and others; he likens the composer to Mozart and Verdi in his power to engage his audiences with the emotions and sufferings of his characters.[25]

Carmen sings the "Habanera", act i

Bizet, who had never visited Espana, sought out appropriate ethnic material to provide an authentic Spanish flavour to his music.[25] Carmen'south habanera is based on an idiomatic vocal, "El Arreglito", by the Spanish composer Sebastián Yradier (1809–65).[n five] Bizet had taken this to exist a genuine folk melody; when he learned its recent origin he added a note to the song score, crediting Yradier.[84] He used a genuine folksong as the source of Carmen's defiant "Coupe-moi, brûle-moi" while other parts of the score, notably the "Seguidilla", utilise the rhythms and instrumentation associated with flamenco music. However, Dean insists that "[t]his is a French, non a Spanish opera"; the "foreign bodies", while they undoubtedly contribute to the unique atmosphere of the opera, form merely a small ingredient of the complete music.[83]

The prelude to act ane combines three recurrent themes: the entry of the bullfighters from act four, the refrain from the Toreador Song from act ii, and the motif that, in 2 slightly differing forms, represents both Carmen herself and the fate she personifies.[n vi] This motif, played on clarinet, bassoon, cornet and cellos over tremolo strings, concludes the prelude with an abrupt crescendo.[83] [85] When the curtain rises a light and sunny atmosphere is soon established, and pervades the opening scenes. The mock solemnities of the changing of the guard, and the flirtatious exchanges betwixt the townsfolk and the factory girls, precede a mood alter when a brief phrase from the fate motif announces Carmen's entrance. After her provocative habanera, with its persistent insidious rhythm and changes of cardinal, the fate motif sounds in full when Carmen throws her flower to José before parting.[86] This action elicits from José a passionate A major solo which Dean suggests is the turning-signal in his musical characterisation.[33] The softer vein returns briefly, every bit Micaëla reappears and joins with José in a duet to a warm clarinet and strings accompaniment. The serenity is shattered by the women's noisy quarrel, Carmen'south dramatic re-entry and her defiant interaction with Zuniga. Subsequently her beguiling "Seguidilla" provokes José to an exasperated loftier A precipitous shout, Carmen's escape is preceded by the brief but disconcerting reprise of a fragment from the habanera.[83] [86] Bizet revised this finale several times to increment its dramatic effect.[29]

Act two begins with a short prelude, based on a melody that José will sing offstage before his next entry.[33] A festive scene in the inn precedes Escamillo's tumultuous entrance, in which contumely and percussion provide prominent bankroll while the crowd sings along.[87] The quintet that follows is described by Newman as "of unequalled verve and musical wit".[88] José's appearance precipitates a long mutual wooing scene; Carmen sings, dances and plays the castanets; a distant cornet-telephone call summoning José to duty is composite with Carmen'due south melody then as to be barely discernible.[89] A muted reference to the fate motif on an English horn leads to José's "Flower Vocal", a flowing continuous melody that ends pianissimo on a sustained loftier B-flat.[90] José's insistence that, despite Carmen's blandishments, he must return to duty leads to a quarrel; the arrival of Zuniga, the consequent fight and José's unavoidable ensnarement into the lawless life culminates musically in the triumphant hymn to freedom that closes the act.[87]

The prelude to act 3 was originally intended for Bizet's L'Arlésienne score. Newman describes it as "an exquisite miniature, with much dialoguing and intertwining between the woodwind instruments".[91] As the action unfolds, the tension between Carmen and José is evident in the music. In the card scene, the lively duet for Frasquita and Mercédès turns ominous when Carmen intervenes; the fate motif underlines her premonition of death. Micaëla'south aria, after her entry in search of José, is a conventional piece, though of deep feeling, preceded and concluded by horn calls.[92] The center part of the act is occupied by Escamillo and José, now acknowledged as rivals for Carmen's favour. The music reflects their contrasting attitudes: Escamillo remains, says Newman, "invincibly polite and ironic", while José is sullen and ambitious.[93] When Micaëla pleads with José to go with her to his female parent, the harshness of Carmen's music reveals her nigh unsympathetic side. As José departs, vowing to render, the fate theme is heard briefly in the woodwind.[94] The confident, off-stage sound of the parting Escamillo singing the toreador's refrain provides a singled-out contrast to José's increasing desperation.[92]

The final act is prefaced with a lively orchestral piece derived from Manuel García'southward short operetta El Criado Fingido.[83] After the opening crowd scene, the bullfighters' march is led by the children's chorus; the crowd hails Escamillo earlier his curt dearest scene with Carmen.[95] The long finale, in which José makes his last pleas to Carmen and is decisively rejected, is punctuated at critical moments by enthusiastic off-stage shouts from the bullfighting arena. Equally José kills Carmen, the chorus sing the refrain of the Toreador Song off-stage; the fate motif, which has been suggestively present at various points during the act, is heard fortissimo, together with a brief reference to Carmen's card scene music.[29] Jose's concluding words of love and despair are followed by a final long chord, on which the curtain falls without further musical or vocal comment.[96]

Musical numbers [edit]

Numbers are from the song score (English version) printed by G. Schirmer Inc., New York, 1958 from Guiraud'southward 1875 arrangement.

Recordings [edit]

Carmen has been the subject of many recordings, beginning with early wax cylinder recordings of excerpts in the 1890s, a nigh consummate operation in German language from 1908 with Emmy Destinn in the championship role,[97] [98] and a complete 1911 Opéra-Comique recording in French. Since then, many of the leading opera houses and artistes have recorded the work, in both studio and live performances.[99] Over the years many versions take been commended and reissued.[100] [101] From the mid-1990s numerous video recordings have get available. These include David McVicar's Glyndebourne production of 2002, and the Royal Opera productions of 2007 and 2010, each designed by Francesca Zambello.[99]

Adaptations [edit]

In 1883, the Spanish violinist and composer Pablo de Sarasate (1844–1908) wrote a Carmen Fantasy for violin, described as "ingenious and technically difficult".[102] Ferruccio Busoni's 1920 piece, Piano Sonatina No. vi (Fantasia da camera super Carmen), is based on themes from Carmen.[103] In 1967, the Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin adjusted parts of the Carmen music into a ballet, the Carmen Suite, written for his wife Maya Plisetskaya, then the Bolshoi Ballet's principal ballerina.[104] [105]

In 1983 the stage manager Peter Brook produced an adaptation of Bizet's opera known every bit La Tragedie de Carmen in collaboration with the writer Jean-Claude Carrière and the composer Marius Constant. This 90-minute version focused on four main characters, eliminating choruses and the major arias were reworked for chamber orchestra. Brook first produced it in Paris, and it has since been performed in many cities.[106]

The character "Carmen" has been a regular discipline of film treatment since the earliest days of cinema. The films were made in various languages and interpreted by several cultures, and have been created by prominent directors including Gerolamo Lo Savio [it] (1909) [it], Raoul Walsh (1915) with Theda Bara,[107] Cecil B. DeMille (1915),[108] and The Loves of Carmen (1948) with Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford, directed past Charles Vidor. Otto Preminger'south 1954 Carmen Jones, with an all-blackness bandage, is based on the 1943 Oscar Hammerstein Broadway musical of the same proper name, an accommodation of the opera transposed to 1940s North Carolina extending to Chicago.[109] The Wild, Wild Rose is a 1960 Hong Kong moving picture which adapts the plot and main character to the setting of a Wanchai nightclub, including striking renditions of some of the almost famous songs past Grace Chang.[110] [111] Other adaptions include Carlos Saura (1983) (who made a flamenco-based trip the light fantastic motion-picture show with two levels of story telling), Peter Brook (1983) (filming his compressed La Tragédie de Carmen) and Jean-Luc Godard (1984).[112] [113] Francesco Rosi'southward moving-picture show of 1984, with Julia Migenes and Plácido Domingo, is by and large faithful to the original story and to Bizet'due south music.[112] Carmen on Ice (1990), starring Katarina Witt, Brian Boitano and Brian Orser, was inspired by Witt's gold medal-winning performance during the 1988 Winter Olympics.[114] Robert Townsend'southward 2001 film, Carmen: A Hip Hopera, starring Beyoncé Knowles, is a more recent attempt to create an African-American version.[115] Carmen was interpreted in modern ballet by the Southward African dancer and choreographer Dada Masilo in 2010.[116]

References [edit]

Notes [edit]

  1. ^ In her act one defiance of Zuniga, Carmen sings the words "Coupe-moi, brûle-moi", which are taken from Mérimée'southward translation from Pushkin.[xi]
  2. ^ The term "bass-baritone is somewhat ambiguous. In the Grove Music Online article on "Baritone", Escamillo is included in various lists of baritone roles,[15] however, the Grove Music Online article on "Carmen", lists Escamillo every bit a bass-baritone.[13] This article uses the latter, as it more directly identifies Escamillo's voice blazon.
  3. ^ The term opéra comique, every bit applied to 19th-century French opera, did not imply "comic opera" but rather the employ of spoken dialogue in identify of recitative, equally a distinction from grand opera.[21]
  4. ^ Bizet had been informed of the impending award early in February, and had told Carvalho's wife that he owed the honor to her hubby'due south promotion of his work.[47]
  5. ^ Dean writes that Bizet improved considerably on the original melody; he "transformed it from a cartoon-room piece into a stiff musical instrument of characterisation". Likewise, the tune from Manuel García used in the human activity 4 prelude has been developed from "a rambling recitation to a taut masterpiece".[83]
  6. ^ The form in which the motif appears in the prelude prefigures the dramatic act 4 climax to the opera. When the theme is used to represent Carmen, the orchestration is lighter, reflecting her "fickle, laughing, elusive character".[83]

Footnotes [edit]

  1. ^ Steen, p. 586
  2. ^ Curtiss, pp. 131–142
  3. ^ Dean 1965, pp. 69–73
  4. ^ Dean 1965, pp. 97–98
  5. ^ a b Dean 1965, p. 100
  6. ^ Curtiss, p. 41
  7. ^ Dean 1965, p. 84
  8. ^ McClary, p. 15
  9. ^ a b "Prosper Mérimée'due south Novella, Carmen". Columbia University. 2003. Archived from the original on 19 Oct 2012. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  10. ^ Dean 1965, p. 230
  11. ^ Newman, pp. 267–268
  12. ^ Dean 1965, p. 34
  13. ^ a b c d Macdonald, Hugh. "Carmen". Oxford Music Online . Retrieved 29 March 2012. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  14. ^ a b Dean 1965, pp. 112–113
  15. ^ Jander, Owen; Sawkins, Lionel; Steane, J.B.; Forbes, Elizabeth. "Baritone". Grove Music Online . Retrieved 19 March 2021. (subscription or United kingdom public library membership required)
  16. ^ Curtiss, p. 390
  17. ^ Georges Bizet. Carmen. Opéra comique en quatre actes. Critical Edition edited by Robert Didion. Ernst Eulenberg Ltd, 1992, 2003, pXVIII.
  18. ^ de Solliers, Jean. Commentaire litteraire et musical. In: Carmen, Bizet. L'Avant Scène Opéra, no 26. Paris, Editions Premières Loges, 1993, p. 23.
  19. ^ a b c d east Macdonald, Hugh. "Bizet, Georges (Alexandre-César-Léopold)". Oxford Music Online . Retrieved 18 Feb 2012. (subscription or Great britain public library membership required)
  20. ^ Curtiss, p. 352
  21. ^ Bartlet, Elizabeth C. "Opéra comique". Oxford Music Online . Retrieved 29 March 2012. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  22. ^ Newman, pp. 249–252
  23. ^ a b Curtiss, pp. 397–398
  24. ^ Dean 1965, p. 105
  25. ^ a b c d e f one thousand h i j k Dean 1980, pp. 759–761
  26. ^ Curtiss, p. 351
  27. ^ Dean 1965, pp. 108–109
  28. ^ Dean 1965, p. 215(n)
  29. ^ a b c d eastward McClary, pp. 25–26
  30. ^ Nowinski, Judith (May 1970). "Sense and Sound in Georges Bizet's Carmen". The French Review. 43 (half-dozen): 891–900. JSTOR 386524. (subscription required)
  31. ^ Dean 1965, pp. 214–217
  32. ^ Dean 1965, p. 244
  33. ^ a b c d e Dean 1965, pp. 221–224
  34. ^ Dean 1965, pp. 224–225
  35. ^ Curtiss, pp. 405–406
  36. ^ Schonberg, p. 35
  37. ^ Azaola, pp. 9–10
  38. ^ Dean 1965, p. 226
  39. ^ Curtiss, p. 355
  40. ^ Dean 1965, p. 110
  41. ^ Curtiss, p. 364
  42. ^ Curtiss, p. 383
  43. ^ Forbes, Elizabeth. "Lhérie [Lévy], Paul". Oxford Music Online . Retrieved one March 2012. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  44. ^ Forbes, Elizabeth. "Bouhy, Jacques(-Joseph-André)". Oxford Music Online . Retrieved 1 March 2012. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  45. ^ Mapleson, James H. (1888). "Marguerite Chapuy". The Mapleson Memoirs, Volume I, Chapter XI . Chicago, New York and San Francisco: Belford, Clarke & Co. Archived from the original on xx December 2014.
  46. ^ Dean 1965, pp. 111–112
  47. ^ Curtiss, pp. 386–387
  48. ^ a b Dean 1965, pp. 114–115
  49. ^ Curtiss, p. 391
  50. ^ a b Newman, p. 248
  51. ^ Dean 1965, p. 116
  52. ^ Curtiss, pp. 395–396
  53. ^ a b Dean 1965, p. 117
  54. ^ Steen, pp. 604–605
  55. ^ Dean 1965, p. 118
  56. ^ Curtiss, pp. 408–409
  57. ^ Curtiss, p. 379
  58. ^ a b Curtiss, pp. 427–428
  59. ^ Weinstock, p. 115
  60. ^ a b Curtiss, p. 426
  61. ^ Dean 1965, p. 129(n)
  62. ^ Nietzsche, p. 3
  63. ^ a b Curtiss, pp. 429–431
  64. ^ Curtiss, p. 430
  65. ^ Dean 1965, pp. 130–131
  66. ^ a b c "Carmen, 9 Jan 1884, Met Performance CID: 1590, performance details and reviews". Metropolitan Opera. Retrieved 28 July 2018. )
  67. ^ Winchester, pp. 206–209
  68. ^ Winchester, pp. 221–223
  69. ^ a b Curtiss, pp. 435–436
  70. ^ "Ten Pieces". BBC. 2016. Archived from the original on 23 September 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  71. ^ Newman, p. 274
  72. ^ Curtiss, p. 462
  73. ^ a b c d Dean 1965, pp. 218–221
  74. ^ Steen, p. 606
  75. ^ Neef, p. 62
  76. ^ McClary, p. 18
  77. ^ a b Wright, pp. xviii–xxi
  78. ^ Wright, pp. 9–10
  79. ^ "Italy gives world-famous opera Carmen a defiant new ending in stand against violence to women" by Nick Squires, The Daily Telegraph, London, 2 Jan 2018
  80. ^ "Plot twist: opera Carmen altered in anti-violence protest", 11 Jan 2028, CBC News, Associated Press
  81. ^ Lacombe, p. ane
  82. ^ Lacombe, p. 233
  83. ^ a b c d eastward f Dean 1965, pp. 228–232
  84. ^ Carr, Bruce; et al. "Iradier (Yradier) (y Salaverri), Sebastián de". Oxford Music Online . Retrieved 18 February 2012. (subscription or United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland public library membership required)
  85. ^ Newman, p. 255
  86. ^ a b Azaola, pp. 11–14
  87. ^ a b Azaola, pp. 16–18
  88. ^ Newman, p. 276
  89. ^ Newman, p. 280
  90. ^ Newman, p. 281
  91. ^ Newman, p. 284
  92. ^ a b Azaola, pp. 19–20
  93. ^ Newman, p. 289
  94. ^ Newman, p. 291
  95. ^ Azaola, p. 21
  96. ^ Newman, p. 296
  97. ^ "Carmen: The Starting time Consummate Recording". Marston Records. Archived from the original on 15 February 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  98. ^ "Recordings of Carmen by Georges Bizet on file". Operadis. Archived from the original on eight April 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  99. ^ a b "Bizet: Carmen – All recordings". Presto Classical. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  100. ^ March, Ivan (ed.); Greenfield, Edward; Layton, Robert (1993). The Penguin Guide to Opera on Compact Discs. London: Penguin Books. pp. 25–28. ISBN0-fourteen-046957-5.
  101. ^ Roberts, David, ed. (2005). The Classical Adept CD & DVD Guide. Teddington: Haymarket Consumer. pp. 172–174. ISBN0-86024-972-seven.
  102. ^ "Sarasate, Pablo de". Oxford Music Online . Retrieved 5 June 2012. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  103. ^ "Busoni: Sonatina No. 6 (Chamber Fantasy on Themes from Bizet's Carmen)". Presto Classical. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. Retrieved five June 2012.
  104. ^ Walket, Jonathan, and Latham, Alison. "Shchedrin, Rodion Konstantinovich". Oxford Music Online . Retrieved 14 March 2012. (subscription or United kingdom public library membership required)
  105. ^ Greenfield, Edward (Apr 1969). "Bizet (arr. Shchedrin). Carmen – Ballet". Gramophone: 48.
  106. ^ "La Tragédie de Carmen, Naples, Florida; Opera Naples, Arts Naples World Festival; Opera News, 1 May 2015; accessed 13 April 2019
  107. ^ Carmen (1915, Walsh) at IMDb
  108. ^ Carmen (1915, DeMille) at IMDb
  109. ^ Crowther, Bosley (29 October 1954). "Up-dated Translation of Bizet Work Bows". The New York Times. Archived from the original on xv May 2012.
  110. ^ "The Wild, Wild Rose". Melbourne International Movie Festival. 2006. Retrieved 21 Feb 2021.
  111. ^ "TIFF 2005: Days Seven and Eight". 2005. Retrieved 25 Feb 2021.
  112. ^ a b Canby, Vincent (xx September 1984). "Bizet's Carmen from Francesco Rosi". The New York Times. Archived from the original on ane December 2016.
  113. ^ Canby, Vincent (iii Baronial 1984). "Screen: Godard's First Name: Carmen Opens". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 23 June 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  114. ^ Carmen on Water ice (1990) at IMDb
  115. ^ Carmen: A Hip Hopera at IMDb
  116. ^ Curnow, Robyn. "Dada Masilo: South African dancer who breaks the rules". CNN. Archived from the original on vii November 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2017.

Sources [edit]

  • Azaola, Juan Ramon, ed. (2003). A Season of Opera on DVD:, Part 4: Carmen. Madrid: Del Prado. ISBN84-9798-071-9.
  • Curtiss, Mina (1959). Bizet and His World. London: Secker & Warburg. OCLC 505162968.
  • Dean, Winton (1965). Georges Bizet: His Life and Work. London: J. M. Dent & Sons. OCLC 643867230.
  • Dean, Winton (1980). "Bizet, Georges (Alexandre César Léopold)". In Sadie, Stanley (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol. 2. London: Macmillan. ISBN0-333-23111-ii.
  • Lacombe, Hervé (2001). The Keys to French Opera in the Nineteenth Century. Berkeley: University of California Printing. ISBN0-520-21719-5.
  • McClary, Susan (1992). Georges Bizet: Carmen. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-39897-5.
  • Neef, Sigrid, ed. (2000). Opera: Composers, Works, Performers (English ed.). Cologne: Könemann. ISBNiii-8290-3571-three.
  • Newman, Ernest (1958). Great Operas. Vol. 1. New York: Vintage Books. OCLC 592622247.
  • Nietzsche, Friedrich (1911). The Case of Wagner (Vol. 8 in The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche). Translated past Anthony M. Ludovici. London and Edinburgh: T. North. Foulis. OCLC 418505.
  • Schonberg, Harold C. (1975). The Lives of the Great Composers: Volume ii . London: Futura Publications Ltd. ISBN0-86007-723-3.
  • Steen, Michael (2003). The Life and Times of the Smashing Composers. London: Icon Books. ISBN978-1-84046-679-ix.
  • Weinstock, Herbert (1946). Tchaikovsky. London: Cassel. OCLC 397644.
  • Winchester, Simon (2005). A Scissure in the Edge of the World. London: Penguin Books. ISBN0-fourteen-101634-5.
  • Wright, Lesley A. (2000). "Introduction: Looking at the Sources and Editions of Bizet's Carmen". In Dibbern, Mary (ed.). Carmen: A Operation Guide. New York: Pendragon Press. ISBN1-57647-032-vi.

External links [edit]

  • Carmen: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project These include:
    • Full orchestral score, Choudens 1877 (republished by Könemann, 1994)
    • Total orchestral score, Peters 1920 (republished by Kalmus, 1987)
    • Vocal score, Choudens 1875
  • Bizet, Georges (1958). Carmen: Opera in Four Acts. New York: K. Schirmer. OCLC 475327. (Vocal score, with words provided in English and French, based on the 1875 arrangement of Ernest Guiraud)
  • Carmen by Prosper Mérimée (1845), Project Gutenberg
  • Libretto (in French and English)
  • Carmen on IMDb

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen

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