Bizet Carmen
Posted on 22nd February 2025 at 17:53
Bizet’s opera, ‘Carmen’, has become a favourite with opera fans and its music is known to many through use in adverts, TV programmes and films.
It was premiered on 3rd March 1875 at the Opéra Comique in Paris. Despite a poor reception at the premiere, the work has gone on to become one of the most popular operas and has inspired films and a musical with many musicians being inspired by the now highly recognisable arias.
The Toreador Song's is recommended listening for Year 6 in the Model Music Curriculum for England.
We discuss key moments from Bizet’s life and explore the music and the stories behind the opera.
Georges Bizet
Bizet was born in Paris on 25th October 1838. His parents were musicians, with his father a singing teacher and his mother a pianist. Young Bizet was a natural musician and was admitted to the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 9, despite the minimum age being 10 years old.
Bizet won the Prix de Rome, a prestigious composition competition, in 1857. This funded him to study and compose, initially in Rome and later in Paris. When back in Paris he was commissioned to write an opera which became ‘Les pêcheurs de perles’ (The Pearl Fishers); although it initially had a muted reception, it included what went on to be one of Bizet’s most loved arias, ‘The Pearl Fishers’ Duet’.
When Bizet’s time as the Prix de Rome laureate ended, he struggled to earn a living as a composer. He took on pupils, teaching piano and composition as well as arranging others’ work.
When war was declared in July 1870 by Napoleon III, Bizet signed up to the National Guard. He stayed in Paris for as long as he thought safe, but left with his wife in 1871, returning later that year after the war and the unrest that followed it had died down.
An important commission for Bizet came from Carvalho, manager of the Paris Vaudeville theatre. He hired Bizet to write incidental music for a play entitled ‘L'Arlésienne’. Although the play was not a success, Bizet used the music to create a four-movement suite from the music. Now known as ‘L'Arlésienne Suite No. 1’, the work is still popular, along with a second suite created by Guiraud and performed after Bizet’s death.
In June 1872, Bizet was commissioned to write an opera for the Opéra-Comique. The subject for this project was ‘Carmen’, a short novel by Prosper Mérimée; however the theatre’s management were concerned about the risqué story, which focused on the seductive, free-spirited Carmen and her ultimate violent end, and so the composition was suspended. But in 1874 one of the biggest critics of the project, Adolphe de Leuven, left his post as Co-Director of the Opéra-Comique, and Bizet took the opportunity to return to the work.
Work on the production began in the autumn of 1874 with Célestine Galli-Marié creating the role of Carmen.
However, some members of the orchestra and chorus claimed the music was unplayable and unsingable, and these challenges, along with the Opera House’s management concerns about the improper nature of some of the content, delayed the premiere. The first night took place on 3rd March 1875. On the morning of the premier, Bizet was appointed as a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour.
The opera was not well received, with complaints about the content and criticism of the music, and Bizet stated "I foresee a definite and hopeless flop". This perceived failure fed Bizet’s depression and along with physical ailments, impacted his health. He had struggled for a while with issues with his throat and following a swim in the Seine, he developed a fever and pain, leading to an initial heart attack. A few days later, on 3rd June, he suffered a fatal second attack and died at the age of 36.
On the evening of his funeral on 5th June, the Opéra-Comique performed ‘Carmen’ – this time it was almost universally acclaimed with Bizet praised as a “master”.
Carmen
The scandalous story of Carmen is set in Seville. Carmen’s opening aria has her singing about the untameable nature of love and is a traditional Spanish Habanera. When she is arrested for attacking a colleague at the Tabacco Factory, she seduces the police officer Don José, allowing her to escape.
In Act II, toreador Escamillo arrives and sings the ‘Toreador Song’. When Don José appears looking for Carmen, he initially refuses to leave with her, but after fighting with his superior officer, he flees with Carmen and her smuggler friends.
Act III is set in the mountains. Carmen is now bored with José and tells him to return to his sweetheart Micaëla and his mother. Micaëla arrives, planning to persuade José to return home with her, but she hides when Escamillo appears. José is angered when Escamillo shares his passion for Carmen and they fight. Micaëla is discovered and she tells José that his mother is dying, so he returns with her.
Back in Seville for Act IV, the bullfight is about to begin, and Escamillo and Carmen state their love for each other. José arrives as Escamillo enters the bullring; he argues with Carmen and stabs her. He sings of his love for her as she dies.
Legacy
Despite the early challenges, Bizet’s ‘Carmen’ is now regularly performed around the World, both as an opera and in the concert hall as the ‘Carmen’ Suites.
ClassicFM list the Habanera in their Top 20 best opera arias.
The Glenn Miller Band performed a cover of the aria.
As did the Muppets...
In film, it inspired Charlie Chaplin’s ‘Burlesque on Carmen’, as well as films starring Pola Negri and Theda Bara. In 2001, it was the key influence in Beyoncé’s first feature film: Carmen: A Hip Hopera.
The 1943, Broadway musical ‘Carmen Jones’ featured music from the opera and had an all black cast. It was later turned into a film featuring Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge.
Toreador Song – Year 6
Escamillo’s ‘Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre’, commonly known as the ‘Toreador Song’, is a popular aria sung by a bass-baritone accompanied by other principal singers and the chorus. The lyrics celebrate the excitement of bullfighting.
The song’s legacy has seen it featured in TV programmes such as Sesame Street and Dr Who, games such as Five Nights at Freddy's and as celebratory music at Formula 1 and the World Rally Championship. It even featured in a KFC advert.
The BBC Ten Pieces resources give a listening guide and arrangements of the piece from the ‘Carmen Suite No. 2’ - https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ten-pieces/articles/zjk8jty
Further Reading
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