Carmen: An Opera in Four Acts

Carmen: An opera in four acts

Arts & Photography

Bizet, Georges

Music

Schirmer

When he first heard Carmen, Tchaikovsky enthusiastically predicted it would become the world's most popular opera. Wagner, too, was an admirer of this dramatic masterpiece, and Brahms claimed to have seen it 29 times. At its premiere in Paris in 1873, however, Carmen did not succeed with the public or the critics. Indeed, it created a scandal. But in time, as Tchaikovsky foresaw, it would become the favorite opera of audiences worldwide. And in over a century Carmen has never relinquished its position as one of the most performed and recorded operas in the repertoire. Conceived and composed as an opèra comique (a genre it completely transformed), Carmen was converted after Bizet's tragic early death to grand opera with the addition of recitatives composed by Ernest Guiraud. This superbly produced full-score edition replicates this grand-opera version, the one most commonly produced on operatic stages today. Accustomed to the light and sentimental subjects and conventions of opèra comique, Bizet's public and critics were at first horrified by Carmen's lurid plot and characters. Critics pronounced its story, dominated by sexual passion and jealousy, too "obscene" for the stage, called for the mezzo-soprano portraying Carmen to be hauled into court, and disparaged the music as unoriginal and undramatic. Soon, fortunately, this hysteria subsided, further productions were mounted, and the world embraced this towering music drama with its compelling flesh-and-blood characters and the tragic fate their unruly passions make inevitable. Musicians and music lovers alike will find in this inexpensive yet well-made edition an ideal way to study and savor the unique merits of Carmen, whose central struggle is so movingly expressed and advanced in the rich and dramatic themes and textures of the music itself, not merely in the libretto. With this score in hand, they can enjoy both live and recorded performances of what is perhaps the best-known and most beloved opera in the world.

Carmen in Full Score (Dover Opera Scores)

Dover Publications

The vitality, rich color, abundant and varied melody, and masterly orchestration of Bizet's Carmen also enliven his incidental music for Alphonse Daudet's play L'Arlésienne (The Woman of Arles). Despite hostile reviews at its premiere, one critic proclaimed the score a masterpiece and urged all young musicians to study it. L'Arlésienne Suites Nos. 1 and 2 consist of selections from Bizet's incidental music. For Suite No. 1, Bizet chose four sections from the original score of 27 episodes, extensively modifying and rescoring the music in the process. The pieces for Suite No. 2 were selected and reorchestrated by Bizet's close friend Ernest Guiraud following the composer's death in 1875. Reproduced here from the authoritative Breitkopf &amp; Härtel editions, they will delight musicians and music lovers.

L'Arlésienne Suites Nos. 1 & 2 Full Score (Dover Music Scores)

Music Scores

Incredible as it seems today, Bizet’s opera Carmen was coolly received at its 1875 premiere at the Paris Opéra-Comique; critics condemned its subject matter as lurid and its music as overly Wagnerian. Now hailed as the composer's supreme achievement, this colorful, passionate work continues to delight listeners around the world with its emotional, atmospheric music and the originality of its conception. The compilation of popular highlights in the present edition offers two suites from the opera in full score: Suite No. 1 features the Prélude, Aragonaise, Intermezzo, Séguedille, Les Dragons d’Alcala, and Les Toréadors; Suite No. 2 includes the Marche des Contrebandiers, Habanera, Nocturne, Chanson du Toréador, La Garde Montante, and Danse Bohême. Reproduced from authoritative editions, these melodious and vivacious suites include all of the best and most memorable moments from Bizet's great opera.

Carmen Suites Nos. 1 and 2 in Full Score (Dover Orchestral Music Scores)

The musical story of a gypsy girl and the bullfighter and a soldier who vie for her favors, Carmen offers an irresistible combination of highly original music in a romantic and exotic setting. This inexpensive, authoritative edition of one of the world's most popular operas presents the classic Schirmer edition of 1895 in the original French with a complete English singing version by Dr. Teodore Baker. Indispensable for singers, chorus, and rehearsal pianists, this beautiful engraved volume will delight performers and all devotees of great operatic literature. Lists of credits, characters, and contents. English stage directions. Text in French and English. Amateur and professional performers alike will appreciate this handsome, moderately priced practice and performance edition of the opera's vocal score. Ideal for study, rehearsals, and recitals, it contains the complete music for voices with a piano reduction of the vocal score. Lyrics appear in the original Italian only.

Carmen Vocal Score (Dover Vocal Scores)

Dover `

A pair of men take an oath of eternal friendship but their vow is threatened by their attraction to the same woman. The object of their rivalry faces her own dilemma, torn between worldly passion and her calling as a priestess. Their romantic triangle forms the heart of this 1863 opera, Les Pêcheurs de Perles (The Pearl Fishers), in which the composer of Carmen, the world's most popular opera, made his first mark.Set in ancient Ceylon, this enchanting tale of friendship, love, and betrayal has been performed in opera houses around the world. The famous baritone/tenor duet in the second act is among the most recorded of opera highlights, and a copy of the full score is essential for conductors as well as for students of composition and orchestration. This large-format version of Bizet's three-act opera offers musicians an affordable alternative to high-priced, hard-to-find editions.

Les Pêcheurs de Perles in Full Score (Dover Opera Scores)

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

Meilhac, Henri

Halévy, Ludović

SIMON SCHUSTER (TRADE DIVISION)

English National Opera Guides are ideal companions to the opera. They provide stimulating introductory articles together with the complete text of each opera in English and the original. Bizet describes himself as 'pagan' and Carmen has a savage Mediterranean beauty quite unique in music. The essays included in this Guide suggest some reasons for its legendary theatrical appeal. Martin Cooper describes the traditional mixture of spoken words and song that stimulated Bizet to exclaim 'I want to revolutionise opera-comique!': the translators show the ingenious and inspired ways in which he set about it. Lesley Wright analyses the score and Michael Rabaud shows the uncanny appropriateness of Nietzche's support for Bizet in his famous attacks on the decadence of Wagner. This is the first time that the complete text of the verses that Bizet set to music and the full dialogue (much of it especially translated for this Opera Guide), have ever been published.

Carmen: English National Opera Guide 13 (English National Opera Guides)

Oneworld Classics

English National Opera Guides are ideal companions to the opera. They provide stimulating introductory articles together with the complete text of each opera in English and the original. Bizet describes himself as 'pagan' and Carmen has a savage Mediterranean beauty quite unique in music. The essays included in this Guide suggest some reasons for its legendary theatrical appeal. Martin Cooper describes the traditional mixture of spoken words and song that stimulated Bizet to exclaim 'I want to revolutionise opera-comique!': the translators show the ingenious and inspired ways in which he set about it. Lesley Wright analyses the score and Michael Rabaud shows the uncanny appropriateness of Nietzche's support for Bizet in his famous attacks on the decadence of Wagner. This is the first time that the complete text of the verses that Bizet set to music and the full dialogue (much of it especially translated for this Opera Guide), have ever been published.

Carmen (Opera Guides, 13)

Reference

Overture Publishing

Georges Bizet's final opera, Carmen, has become one of the best-known plots with the most memorable of music, despite its initial rejection by Paris critics following its scandalous 1875 premiere at the Opera-Comique, a theatre known for works of a lighter flavour. Basing their work on Prosper Merimee's novella, librettists Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy have fashioned a timeless story of love, jealousy, and violence in the Spanish city of Seville, all set into motion by Carmen, a seductive, free-spirited femme fatale."

Carmen

Abbeville Press

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