Home > Carmen Bizet, G. (1838-1875) Carmen Composed 1873-1875. First performed March 3, 1875. Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy (in French), after Merimee. A Summary of “Carmen” Act 1 Around 1820, in Seville, Spain, the most provocative gypsy, Carmen, is of all the girls at a place near a cigarette factory. There are a lot of men and women. She sings ‘Habanera’ and, she fascinates the young men there. But, only a soldier of the guard, Don Jose isn’t interested in her. Carmen provocatively throws a flower to him, and leaves. The girls who went back to the cigarette factory, cause a quarrel. Carmen is to blame, and she is arrested. However, Carmen seduces the guard, Jose, and runs away. Act 2 A month later, Jose who was imprisoned for letting Carmen slip away, has just been released, and he goes to meet her at a tavern. With that flower in his hand, He tells her his feelings. Carmen requires Jose not to report for roll call, but to stay with her. Jose is worried. He can’t help himself to join the smugglers with her. Act 3 Carmen’s group members are smugglers. Jose later regrets his choice. Carmen is already in love another man, Escamillo who is a bullfighter. Then, Jose’s childhood friend, Micaela, visits him. She informs him that his mother is seriously ill. Jose decides to go home. The following month, at the square in front of the bullfight arena, Escamillo who is Carmen’s lover, is welcomed by spectators. He enters the arena. Carmen remains at the square, then, Jose appears. He demands she leave with him, but she refuses to. In rejection to his persistence, Carmen throws away the ring that Jose once gave her. Jose stabs her to death with a dagger, and he is then dumbfounded by his actions. A Comment on “Carmen” “Carmen” is one of the most famous operas in the world. But, for Georges Bizet who composed this opera, “Carmen” is his only hit opera. Bizet was successful through his own orchestral work, “L'Arlesienne.” He concentrated his attention on composing this opera. The world premiere of this opera failed because of trouble with the staff in the theater. After three months, Bizet died suddenly at the age of 37. One of Bizet’s friends, Ernest Guiraud, rearranged Bizet’s opera a little over the  three months after Bizet’s death, and everyone appreciated this version of  the opera. There are a lot of reasons why Carmen gained popularity. One of them is the fascinating music by Bizet. And, this opera was composed using the “realism” method. Carmen blazed the path to “verismo opera” which is a kind of realism opera. This opera is the most important in opera history. There are a lot of famous melodies in this opera, for example, the famous prelude, “Habanera” sung by title role, Carmen, and other songs. You would never be bored by this opera, though operas generally are long. “Toreador Song” sung by Escamillo who is a bullfighter in Act 2 is outstanding, and the Aria sung by Micaela in Act 3 is lyrical and beautiful. Many first time opera-goers would enjoy seeing this opera. Recommended Recordings and Videos [CD] Karajan; Berlin Philharmoniker, Choeur de l’Opera de Paris; Baltsa, Carreras, van Dam, Ricciarelli. (1983, Deutsche Grammophon) [CD] Sinopoli; Bavarian State Opera Orchestra and Chorus; Larmore, Moser, Ramey, Gheorghiu. (1996, Teldec) [DVD] Kleiber; Zeffirelli; Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Vienna State Opera Choir; Obraztsova, Domingo, Masurok, Buchanan. (1978, TDK) [DVD] Pappano; Zambello; The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, The Royal Opera Chorus; Antonacci, Kaufmann, d'Arcangelo, Amsellem. (2007, Decca) Gluck, C. W. (1714-1787) 　- Orpheus and Eurydice Mozart, W. A. (1756-1791) 　- The Marriage of Figaro 　- Don Giovanni 　- Cosi fan tutte 　- The Magic Flute Beethoven, L. v. (1770-1827) 　- Fidelio Weber, C. M. v. (1786-1826) 　- The Magic Bullets Rossini, G. (1792-1868) 　- The Barber of Seville Donizetti, G. (1797-1848) 　- The Elixir of Love Verdi, G. (1813-1901) 　- Macbeth 　- Rigoletto 　- Il trovatore 　- La Traviata 　- Un ballo in maschera 　- Don Carlo 　- Aida 　- Otello 　- Falstaff Wagner, R. (1813-1883) 　- The Flying Dutchman 　- Tannhauser 　- Lohengrin 　- Tristan und Isolde 　- Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg 　- The Rhinegold 　- Die Walkure 　- Siegfried 　- Twilight of the Gods 　- Parsifal Offenbach, J. (1819-1880) 　- The Tales of Hoffmann Strauss, J. (1825-1899) 　- Die Fledermaus (The Bat) Bizet, G. (1838-1875) 　- Carmen Tchaikovsky, P. J. (1840-1893) 　- Eugene Onegin Massenet, J. (1842-1912) 　- Werther Humperdinck, E. (1854-1921) 　- Hansel and Gretel Puccini, G. (1858-1924) 　- La Boheme 　- Tosca 　- Madama Butterfly 　- Turandot Leoncavallo, R. (1858-1919) 　- Pagliacci Mascagni, P. (1863-1945) 　- Cavalleria Rusticana Debussy, C. (1862-1918) 　- Pelleas et Melisande Strauss, R. (1864-1949) 　- Salome 　- The Cavalier of the Rose Copyright (C) 2005-2011 Yusuke Kamiki. All Rights Reserved.