blessednxs65
03-08-2008, 05:34 PM
The innovative French opera Carmen, dramatizing the life of a beautiful gypsy cigar roller, premiered at the Opéra Comique of Paris this week on March 3, 1875.
Based on Part III of an 1846 novella by Prosper Mérrimée, the now popular opera by George Bizet initially shocked audiences and critics alike with its frank depictions of 19th century Seville inhabitants. Though chock full of mesmerizing melodies and lush orchestrations, the opera’s romantic, comedic and ultimately tragic depictions of Carmen’s brazen sexuality, her discarded and tormented lover who seals her fate, and the tobacco factory co-workers who smoke and fight …were a bit too realistic for genteel audiences used to one dimensional comic characters. Carmen was performed a mere 48 times in its first year…with tickets reportedly being a tough sale.
However, praise for the “immoral” work from Bizet contemporaries’ Claude Debussy, Johannes Brahms, Richard Wagner, and Pyort Tchaikovsky proved prophetic- as Carmen is now a staple in opera repertoires worldwide.
Based on Part III of an 1846 novella by Prosper Mérrimée, the now popular opera by George Bizet initially shocked audiences and critics alike with its frank depictions of 19th century Seville inhabitants. Though chock full of mesmerizing melodies and lush orchestrations, the opera’s romantic, comedic and ultimately tragic depictions of Carmen’s brazen sexuality, her discarded and tormented lover who seals her fate, and the tobacco factory co-workers who smoke and fight …were a bit too realistic for genteel audiences used to one dimensional comic characters. Carmen was performed a mere 48 times in its first year…with tickets reportedly being a tough sale.
However, praise for the “immoral” work from Bizet contemporaries’ Claude Debussy, Johannes Brahms, Richard Wagner, and Pyort Tchaikovsky proved prophetic- as Carmen is now a staple in opera repertoires worldwide.