Carmen

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Lore & Background

The opera is set in southern Spain around 1820 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 murder of the main character on stage, broke new ground in French opera and were highly controversial. The opera is written in the genre of opéra comique with musical numbers separated by dialogue. The music of Carmen has since been widely acclaimed for brilliance of melody, harmony, atmosphere, and orchestration, and for the skill with which the emotions and suffering of the characters are represented.

In Their Own Story

In Act 1, a square in Seville: soldiers relax, waiting for the changing of the guard. Micaëla appears seeking José, but declines to wait. José arrives with the new guard. The cigarette girls emerge and Carmen enters, singing her provocative habanera on the untameable nature of love ('L'amour est un oiseau rebelle'). She throws a flower to Don José, who is annoyed by her insolence. Micaëla returns with a letter and kiss from José's mother, asking him to return home and marry Micaëla. After Carmen attacks a woman with a knife, Zuniga orders José to tie her hands. Left alone, Carmen beguiles José with a seguidilla about a night of dancing and passion. Confused 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. In Act 2, two months later at Lillas Pastia's Inn, Carmen learns of José's release. The toreador Escamillo arrives and introduces himself with the 'Toreador Song' ('Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre'), setting his sights on Carmen. Smugglers Dancaïre and Remendado arrive with plans to dispose of contraband. When José arrives, Carmen treats him to a private exotic dance, but a distant bugle call from the barracks reminds him he must return to duty. José shows her the flower she threw to him ('La fleur que tu m'avais jetée'). When Zuniga enters looking for Carmen, José fights him. Having attacked a superior officer, José now has no choice but to join Carmen and the smugglers. In Act 3, in the mountains, Carmen has become bored with José. Frasquita and Mercédès read fortunes from cards; Carmen joins them and finds the cards foretelling her death, and José's. Micaëla enters seeking José. José fires at an intruder who proves to be Escamillo, who declares his infatuation with Carmen. The pair fight.

Reader's Guide

The opera was first performed by the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 3 March 1875. After the premiere, most reviews were critical, and the French public was generally indifferent. Carmen initially gained its reputation through a series of productions outside France, and was not revived in Paris until 1883. Thereafter, it rapidly acquired popularity at home and abroad. 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. At his death Bizet was still in the midst of revising his score, and because of other later changes (notably the introduction of recitatives composed by Ernest Guiraud in place of the original dialogue), there is still no definitive edition of the opera. The opera has been recorded many times since the first acoustical recording in 1908, and the story has been the subject of many screen and stage adaptations. The 'Habanera' and 'Seguidilla' from act 1 and the 'Toreador Song' from act 2 are among the best known of all operatic arias.

Did You Know?

• Bizet died suddenly after the 33rd performance, unaware that the work would achieve international acclaim within the following ten years.
• The opera was not revived in Paris until 1883, eight years after its premiere.
• The first acoustical recording of the opera was made in 1908.
• The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, who had a solid reputation as the librettists of many of Jacques Offenbach's operettas.
• 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.