Carmen, The Opera

Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The script (libretto) of Carmen is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novel of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies (1824) by Alexander Pushkin.The Carmen opera premiered at the Opéra-Comique of Paris on 3 March 1875, but its opening run was denounced by the majority of critics. Carmen was almost withdrawn after its fourth or fifth performance, and although this was avoided, ultimately having 48 performances in its first run, Carmen did little to bolster sagging receipts at the Opéra-Comique. In October 1875 it was produced in Vienna, to critical and popular success, which began its path to worldwide popularity. Carmen was not staged again at the Opéra Comique until 1883. Since the 1880s it has been one of the world's most performed operas and a staple of the operatic repertoire. Carmen appears as number four on Opera America's list of the 20 most-performed operas in North America.

Storyline of Carmen:

The story is set in Seville, Spain, c. 1830, and concerns the eponymous Carmen, a beautiful Gypsy with a fiery temper. Free with her love, she woos the corporal Don José, an inexperienced soldier. Their relationship leads to his rejection of his former love, mutiny against his superior, and joining a gang of smugglers. His jealousy when she turns from him to the bullfighter Escamillo leads him to murder Carmen.

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Video Gallery of Carmen

Opera Carmen Habanera Rinat Shaham 2005

Carmen Prelude by Bizet Berlin Philharmonic Abbado

Carmen BIZET Choral Extract Berlin Abbado

Carmen (Bizet) - Habanera

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Music at Start of Each Act

Act I: The curtain rises with a pedal F which resolves to a tonic B flat only at the first cadence of the chorus; Moralès's solo leads back to a repeat of the chorus. After Micaëla's entry to a chromatic figure in the strings, the soldiers sing a mock military march (in E) to inform her about José's return at the change of guard. She mimics this chorus but jumps to G major as she leaves. The pantomime for Moralès (Bizet composed three versions for Duvernoy) was performed at the first 30 performances until cut, possibly with Bizet's consent, at the end of May 1875.

Act II: contains the song for José later in Act II when he approaches the tavern. The Act opens with a Gypsy song in E minor and celebrates Carmen's singing and dancing.
The ‘fate’ theme on the cor anglais leads to a wide-raging solo – the ‘flower song’, where his passion for Carmen is more profound than his love for Micaëla ever was; the modulation in the last bars show his emotions have grown beyond his control. This long sequence which includes Carmen's dance, her quarrel with José, his flower song and the duet ‘La-bas, la bas dans la montagne’ – which Bizet refused to break into sections for applause and which leads straight into the finale – is a miracle of musical and dramatic development without recourse to recitative.

Act III: The second entr’acte paints the landscape of Act with a serene arching melody on the flute over a harp accompaniment, with other instruments entering to converse with the flute. The act opens with a furtive march for the smugglers, who join in during the ‘trio’ section, their sliding back portrayed by a series of descending chromatic chords.

Act IV: Act IV is the most exotic, with sharp rhythms, exotic percussion, chromaticism and descending tetrachords. A sense of excitement is generated with constant quaver accompaniment; as the toreros enter, the crowds celebrate with the theme from the opening of the Prelude.

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Adaptation of Carmen Music

A number of classical composers have used themes from Carmen as the basis for works of their own.

Some of these, such as Pablo de Sarasate's Carmen Fantasy (1883) for violin and orchestra, Franz Waxman's Carmen Fantasie (1946) for violin and orchestra and Vladimir Horowitz's Variations on a theme from Carmen for solo piano are virtuoso showpieces in the tradition of fantasias on operatic themes.

Ferruccio Busoni wrote a Sonatina (No. 6) for piano named Fantasia da camera super Carmen (1920), which uses themes from the opera. There are also two suites of music drawn directly from Bizet's opera, often recorded and performed in orchestral concerts.


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Music Details of Carmen

Dean affirms that Bizet's score is a masterpiece of dramatic detachment. Bizet never interposes himself between the audience and his characters whose sufferings move us without intervention. In this classical approach his model was his favourite composer, Mozart, though there are parallels with Verdi as well. Mozartian likewise is the compound of richness and clarity in the orchestration and the unfailing aptness of musical form to dramatic situation.

The Prelude of Carmen is in three sections: in A major the flamboyant Act IV ‘Spanish’ music of the bull-fight, then the ‘Toreador Song’, and finally a plunge into D minor and the motive marked by the augmented second, linked both to Carmen, and to Don José's fatal attraction to her, finishing on a diminished 7th chord.

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Performance History of Carmen

The first performance of Carmen took place on 3 March 1875. In the audience were Charles Gounod, Jules Massenet, Vincent d'Indy, Léo Delibes and Jacques Offenbach. According to Halévy's diary, the premiere did not go well. The critics were scathing, claiming that the libretto was inappropriate for the Comique. However, a few critics, such as Joncières and the poet Théodore de Banville, praised the work for its innovation. Banville lauded the librettists for writing characters that were more realistic than those normally seen at the Opéra-Comique. Nevertheless, with the negative reviews, the opera struggled to make 48 performances in the first production and closed the following January. Towards the end of the run, the management was giving away tickets wholesale in a vain attempt to fill the seats. Despite the critical reaction, the principals enjoyed successful careers, with Galli-Marié re-creating her portrayal of the title role in the first performance in Italy (Naples) in 1879, in Spain and England, and then from 27 October 1883 in Paris again.

At this second production at the Hofoper in Vienna on 23 October 1875, the public had no stake in the traditions of the Opéra-Comique or the genre and on the home turf of German music nothing recalled Wagner in the least, so they were able to appreciate Carmen on its own terms.

Following the well-received run in Vienna, the opera was seen in 1876 in Brussels (February), Antwerp (April) and Budapest (October); by 1878 it was being performed in St Petersburg, Stockholm, London, Dublin, New York and Philadelphia and in 1879 it reached Australia (Opera House, Melbourne, 14 May). The first performance in Spain was on 2 August 1881 at the Teatro Lirico Barcelona with Galli-Marié; Madrid saw it on 2 November 1887 at the Teatro de la Zarzuela.

The title role was written for a mezzo-soprano, but the full score published in 1877 introduced higher (soprano) alternatives for Carmen, and this has led to sopranos performing and recording the role; contraltos have also occasionally portrayed Carmen. The singer must not only have a great range, but also exhibit superior dramatic skills in order to portray Carmen's complex character, and be able to dance convincingly on stage.

Several pieces from this opera have become popular away from the stage. The Flower song, the Toréador's Song and the Habanera are favourites with singers.

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Picture Gallery of Carmen

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