Bizet etc 2012

October 22, 2012. Bizet, Liszt, Scarlatti, Paganini. This week yet again we commemorate the anniversaries of several extraordinary composers: Franz Liszt was born on October 22, 1811, Georges Bizet on October 25, 1838, Domenico Scarlatti on October 26, 1685 and Niccolò Paganini on October 27, 1782. Last year we celebrated Liszt’s 200^th anniversary with a detailed account of his life. We’ve written about Paganini and Scarlatti on more than one occasion. Now we’ll focus on Georges Bizet.

Georges Bizet Bizet was born in Paris. His mother was a fine amateur pianist, and his father a singing teacher. He was admitted to the Paris Conservatory before turning 10. A brilliant student, in 1857 he won the prestigious Prix de Rome and in 1857 went to Rome. He enjoyed his life at the French Academy in Rome as much as Debussy would come to hate it some years later. He returned to Paris in 1860. Throughout the 1860s, he had little success. His opera Les pêcheurs de perles was performed 18 times at the Théâtre Lyrique and then withdrawn (the next time it was staged was in 1886, after Bizet’s death). The two principal opera houses, the Opéra and Opéra-Comique, catered mostly to conservative tastes. However, a staging of his one-act opera Djamileh at the Opéra-Comique in 1872, though a disaster itself, led to a further commission for a full-length opera. Partnered with librettists Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, Bizet began discussions with the theater’s representative, Aldophe de Leuven, on the selection of an appropriate story. After politely turning down suggestions made by De Leuven, Bizet suggested Carmen, a novella by Prosper Mérimée, which he possibly read during his trip to Rome. De Leuven, however, had several misgivings about it, particularly the risqué nature and amorality of Mérimée’s story. Despite assurances from the librettists that the characters would be softened and even contrasted with morally upright counterparts, he still thought the planned opera to be unsuited for the Opéra-Comique. Though he reluctantly agreed to go forward with the project, De Leuven eventually resigned from the theater in 1874 because of Carmen. The premiere of Carmen took place on March 3, 1875. Despite promising final rehearsals and an enthusiastic response from the audience during the first act, by the end of the night the reception was poor. Critics pounded Bizet for his “Wagnerian” score and the amoral nature of the title role, despite it being heavily toned down by the librettists from Mérimée’s original character. Even the introduction of the virtuous Micaëla could not offset the seductive Carmen. Furthermore, the audience was hard pressed to sympathize with the decline of Don José from upstanding soldier to a madman enslaved by his uncontrolled emotions. Consequently, the opera was cancelled after its first year at the Opéra-Comique.

Bizet would not live to see the success that Carmen would eventually become. After only its thirty-third performance, Bizet died suddenly from heart disease. Before his death, however, he had signed a contract to stage Carmen at the Vienna Court Opera. The Vienna production became the impetus for Carmen’s success. The opera won praise from both Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms. Within three years, Carmen appeared in Brussels, London, New York and St. Petersburg. After winning the international stage, Carmen triumphantly returned to Paris in 1883.

Here is Carmen Fantasy, a piece by Franz Waxman based on the themes from Carmen. It’s performed by Irmina Trynkos, violin and Giorgi Latsabidze, piano. And here is the final scene from Carmen, sung in Russia by the mezzo Lidiya Zakharenko and the tenor Zurab Andjaparidze. Vladimir Fedoseev conducts the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra.