Recommended for Grades 6-12
In this resource, you’ll:
- Learn the opera’s background and synopsis
- Meet the opera’s composer
Carmen
by Georges Bizet
Carmen
by Georges Bizet
A quick overview of Bizet’s 1875 fiery tragic opera.
Background
Carmen is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet, with a French libretto written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera is written in the genre of opéra comique with musical numbers separated by dialogue. The opera was first performed by the Opéra-Comique in Paris in 1875, where its breaking of conventions shocked and scandalised its first audiences.
Carmen is a new type of operatic heroine representing a new kind of love, not the innocent kind associated with classical opera, but something altogether more vital and dangerous. Her capriciousness, fearlessness and love of freedom are all musically represented: New York Times critic Harold C. Schonberg likens Carmen to “a female Don Giovanni. She would rather die than be false to herself.”
After the premiere, most reviews were critical, and the French public was generally indifferent. Bizet died suddenly after the thirty-third performance, unaware that the work would achieve international acclaim within the following years.
At his death, Bizet was still in the midst of revising his score; and because of other later changes, there is still no definitive edition of the opera.
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. 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.
Carmen has since become one of the most popular and frequently performed operas in the classical canon; the “Habanera” from Act 1 and the “Toreador Song” from Act 2 are among the best known of all operatic arias.
Synopsis
Act I
In a square in Seville, soldiers survey the crowd. A young woman approaches, asking for Don José. Moralès tells her that he will arrive soon. Sorry to see her go, the soldiers resume their watch.
When Don José arrives, Moralès tells him that he has had a visitor. Don José explains to his captain, Zuniga, that she was Micaëla, his childhood sweetheart. Zuniga is more interested in ogling the women from the cigarette factory, who saunter out for a break. Among them is Carmen, who toys with her many admirers. As the women return to work, Carmen throws a
flower at the one man who has ignored her, Don José. Micaëla returns with a letter from Don José’s mother, which urges him to marry Micaëla.
There is uproar in the cigarette factory, and Zuniga asks Don José to investigate. Carmen has fought with and wounded another factory worker. Don José ties Carmen’s hands as Zuniga goes to write a prison order. Carmen promises to meet Don José for a private rendezvous later if he lets her escape. Spellbound, he agrees. With Don José’s help, Carmen throws her captors into confusion and escapes.
Act II
At an inn, Carmen and her friends dance and sing a gypsy song. Zuniga mentions that Don José is out of jail, where he has served two months for helping Carmen escape. The popular matador Escamillo passes by in a procession and is soon smitten with Carmen’s beauty. After the inn has closed for the night, the gypsies plan their smuggling activities.
Don José shows up, and Carmen is overjoyed to see him. When he hears the bugles calling him back to his quarters, Don José prepares to go. Carmen is furious, but Don José swears his devotion.
Zuniga returns, hoping for a tryst with Carmen, and Don José angrily draws his sword against his captain. Don José has no choice but to join Carmen and the gypsies.
Act III
The gypsies set up camp in the mountains. After several months together, all is not well between Carmen and Don José. Carmen and her friends tell fortunes with a deck of cards. Carmen’s cards predict death—first for her, then for Don José. She deals again, but the message is the same.
Micaëla comes into the now-deserted camp, sent by Don José’s mother to persuade him to give up his shameful life. She hides when Escamillo arrives in search of Carmen. When Don José learns of Escamillo’s amorous intent, he pulls out a dagger. The two men fight until Carmen stops them. Promising to finish the fight later, Escamillo leaves.
When Micaëla is discovered, she begs Don José to return with her. He agrees only when he learns that his mother is dying. He warns Carmen that their paths will cross again.
Act IV
The procession into the Seville arena begins. Carmen swears that she has never loved another man as much as she loves Escamillo. Carmen’s friends see Don José lurking in the crowd, and she stays behind to face him.
Don José asks her to start a new life with him, but Carmen insists that everything is over between them and tells him that she loves Escamillo. Beside himself with rage, Don José stabs her as the crowd inside cheers the triumphant matador.
Meet the Artists
Read the Student Guide
Read the Educator Guide
Read the Cuesheet
Listen to the Story
German Lithograph, 1900, drawing by Luigi Morgani with a scene from the opera Carmen by Georges Bizet.
Presented by Washington National Opera, host Saul Lilienstein takes you through the musical world of Bizet’s 1875 fiery tragedy, Carmen.
Watch an Excerpt
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