Photographed by Etienne Carjat in 1875
Yesterday was the birthday, in 1838, of Georges Bizet, a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, which has become one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertoire.
Bizet struggled through his entire career to gain recognition. He found that the main Parisian opera theatres preferred the established classical repertoire to the works of newcomers. His keyboard and orchestral compositions were likewise largely ignored; as a result, his career stalled, and he earned his living mainly by arranging and transcribing the music of others.
After his death, his work, apart from Carmen, was generally neglected. Manuscripts were given away or lost, and published versions of his works were frequently revised and adapted by other hands. He founded no school and had no obvious disciples or successors. After years of neglect, his works began to be performed more frequently in the 20th century. Later commentators have acclaimed him as a composer of brilliance and originality whose premature death was a significant loss to French musical theater.
In June 1872, Bizet informed Galabert: “I have just been ordered to compose three acts for the Opéra-Comique. [Henri] Meilhac and [Ludovic] Halévy are doing my piece”. The subject chosen for this project was Prosper Mérimée’s short novel, Carmen. Bizet began the music in the summer of 1873, but the Opéra-Comique’s management was concerned about the suitability of this risqué story for a theatre that generally provided wholesome entertainment, and work was suspended.
Adolphe de Leuven, the co-director of the Opéra-Comique most bitterly opposed to the Carmen project, resigned early in 1874, removing the main barrier to the work’s production. Bizet finished the score during the summer and was pleased with the outcome: “I have written a work that is all clarity and vivacity, full of color and melody.
When rehearsals began in October 1874, the orchestra had difficulties with the score, finding some parts unplayable. The chorus likewise declared some of their music impossible to sing and were dismayed that they had to act as individuals, smoking and fighting onstage rather than merely standing in line. Bizet also had to counter further attempts at the Opéra-Comique to modify parts of the action which they deemed improper. Only when the leading singers threatened to withdraw from the production did the management give way. Resolving these issues delayed the first night until 3 March 1875.
Much of the press comment was negative, expressing consternation that the heroine was an amoral seductress rather than a woman of virtue. Others complained of a lack of melody and made unfavourable comparisons with the traditional Opéra-Comique fare. The public’s reaction was lukewarm, and Bizet soon became convinced of its failure: “I foresee a definite and hopeless flop”.
Tragically, believing his work was a failure, Bizet died three months later. After a special performance of Carmen at the Opéra-Comique that night, the press, which had almost universally condemned the piece three months earlier, now declared Bizet a master.
Carmen has since become one of the most popular and frequently performed operas in the classical canon; the “Habanera” and “Seguidilla” from act 1 and the “Toreador Song” from act 2 are among 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, yet loses Carmen’s 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 main character on stage, broke new ground in French opera and were highly controversial.
Here is the “Habanera” being performed by the amazing Latvian Mezzo-Soprano Elina Garanca in a Metropolitan Opera performance. This is where Carmen makes her initial entrance.
and here is the Toreador Song from the same production.
But, of course, Carmen is killed in the end.
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