Program Notes

Program Notes

by April L. Racana

Georges Bizet (1838-1875)
Opera "Carmen" (concert-style opera with Japanese supertitles)

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The opera Carmen was to be composer Georges Bizet’s final work in alife that was cut short at a very young age. It has become one of the world’s
most well loved operas in spite of its rough start, where in Paris at the OpéraComique its premiere was postponed by a number of delays, and the first
performances received much criticism from both the audiences and theatre
critics of the time.
Following the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-1871, Bizet among otherFrench artists began anew, composing music for their compatriots. He wascommissioned to collaborate with Alphonse Daudet, on his play L’arlésienne(The Girl from Arles). Using a small chamber orchestra Bizet created theincidental music for the play, and the two artists created a production bothwere satisfied with, even though it too was not received well by the public.
In spite of this poor reception, Bizet (with the encouragement of a few
local musicians, including Massenet), arranged four sections of the original
music entitling it the First Suite from L’arlésienne, which was scored for alarger orchestra and performed in concert in November of 1872 with greatsuccess. It was at about this time that he began work on Carmen. Later a
Second Suite from L’arlésienne was arranged in 1879, after Bizet’s death, by
his friend and colleague Ernest Guiraud, who had also collaborated with thecomposer on Carmen.
The directors at the Opéra-Comique, du Locle and de Leuven, hadproposed that Bizet collaborate with librettists Meilhac and LudovicHalévy. It was apparently Bizet’s idea to create a production based on
Mérimée’s novel, “Carmen”, written in 1845. However, Bizet apparently

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took some liberties with the original plot and made a number of changes
to the libretto. There were serious concerns about the risqué themes andviolence in the storyline for the more conservative audiences that generallyattended the theatre, but after numerous delays, finally in December of1873, soprano Marié Celestine Galli-Marié, was cast in the title role. And
although rehearsals continued to be delayed (due to complaints from themusicians as well as chorus members regarding the demands being placedon them), both lead singers for the roles of Carmen and Don José, supportedthe composer in his efforts to stage the work as written, threatening toresign if changes were made.

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On March 3rd, 1875 the work was premiered with seemingly goodreviews following Act I, but as the production went on, the audience’sreaction was less warm: “The first night audience, which expected acharming operetta, was stunned instead by one of the greatest tragic operasof the nineteenth century. That audience was understandably cool and someof the critics were scandalized by what they considered to be the immoralityof the plot. The story of the irresistibly fascinating gypsy girl who deserts
her soldier-lover for a strutting bull fighter and is murdered in the final
scene by the jealous soldier was indeed something new to the world ofopera.” [NY Phil Archives 1964]
Bizet commented: “I sense defeat, I foresee a definite and hopeless flop.
This time I am really sunk. …All these bourgeois have not understood awretched word of the work I have written for them.” The press was even lessgenerous the next day stating that Carmen was “obscene” and the music was“obscure and devoid of colour,” “unoriginal and undistinguished in melody.”
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In spite of these dismal reviews, the production continued to run
for forty-eight performances, seemingly attracting audiences for sheer
shock value. Bizet’s death on June 3rd of the same year also increased
interest in the work before it closed there. But it wasn’t until Carmen wasperformed in Vienna in October that the work would begin its worldwide
tour of acclaim: “…the new realism took hold and the dashing brillianceof Bizet’s orchestra, the emotional intensity of his melody, and the subtly
Spanish character of his rhythms did the rest. Carmen triumphed… as it has
triumphed ever since.” [NY Phil Archives 1964].
The opera (originally composed in four acts), is in the opera-comiquestyle, which features both spoken dialogue and sung sections, howeveroutside of Paris it is typically presented with recitatives, scored by Bizet’sfriend Ernest Guiraud (who had also arranged the Second Suite fromL’arlésienne). And even though the composer himself had never been toSpain, after researching the various musical forms and idiosyncratic soundsof the region in depth, he incorporated many of these elements, including
those of popular Spanish and Latin American songs of the time. The TPO will
be performing from the Alkor Edition for this concert series, with limited
spoken dialogue, and presented as an extended three-act version, with Act 3
divided into two parts.
The Prelude of Act 1 sets the scene with a festive march and introduces
the audience to the ‘toreador’ theme as well as the contrasting ‘fate’ theme
in a minor key that will be heard throughout the work. A children’s chorus
displays a playful mockery of a military march before the ‘cigarette’ girls andtheir suitors join in with swirling melodies intended to represent the smoke
rising in the air around them. Carmen joins in, but in spite of the demands
from the suitors, she puts them off after her signature flirtatious gestures.
The “Habanera” is considered by many to be the most famous aria sung in
the opera, presented by Carmen in Act 1 as she seductively lures Don José
into her affections. The melody was apparently taken from a popular tune
composed by Sebastián Yradier, which had become so popular it appears it
may have been initially mistaken for a traditional folk song.

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Act 2 features a rustic folk tune on the bassoon to set the change of scene.
Carmen then sings another aria, this time with bohemian overtones andincluding a gypsy dance with her compatriots Frasquita and Mercedes. “LesToreadors” is one of the most recognizable pieces in the entire opera in a fast
march style, presented next in Act 2. It depicts the energetic procession ofmatadors on the way to the bullring in Seville, as well as signals the entranceof the toreador, portrayed by Escamillo who also sings the ‘Toreador Song’,
describing the many adventures of a bull-fighter in the bullring. In a quintet
setting, the smuggler characters plan their next escapades before Don Joséapproaches the gypsy camp singing the tune from the opening of the act.

Program Notes

Also in Act 1 we hear a duet between Mikaela and Don José, where heis given a letter from his mother which has him reminiscing and pledging
to make her proud. The “Seguedilla” is a Spanish song and dance that isheard near the end of Act 1 which Carmen uses to seduce Don José into
releasing her from prison. In the finale of the first act, Carmen escapes after
devising a scheme to push Don José aside as a distraction, which has thecrowd cheering for her.

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In the finale of Act 2, there are five pieces presented without break toclose this portion of the opera. Carmen continues to capture Don José’sattention with seemingly simple, (yet flirtatious) “tra la la’s” before thetrumpets announce retreat as he prepares to leave. Don José then takes
his turn reminiscing about the feelings stirred when Carmen first tossed
a flower his way, and proclaims his love for her. Carmen then attempts tolure Don José to abandon his mission and follow her into the mountains,
without success. The Lieutenant arrives in search of Don José where afight ensues, and Carmen even playfully tries to convince him to jointhem as well. The act closes with a glorious tribute to liberty in spite ofthe fact that Don José no longer has his own liberty.

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The prelude to Act 3 is believed to have been originally intended forthe composer’s score for the play L’arlésienne and features flute and harp.
Next, a mysterious march accompanies the smugglers as they enter. Carmen,Mercedes and Frasquita follow, reading their fortunes in a ‘card scene trio’,
which turns up good fortunes for the two, but foretells of Carmen’s fate when
she repeatedly turns over symbols of death. As the gypsies depart they singtaunts, before Mikaela sings a beautiful, and yet mournful aria lamenting
what has become of Don José. The increasing tensions between the two leadcharacters, Carmen and José, can be heard in the music throughout this act,
as Carmen’s attention is drawn more and more toward Escamillo. Before Don
José’s reluctant departure, Mikaela reveals that his mother is dying.
The entr’acte to the final section highlights the lively rhythms of a
traditional Spanish dance featuring castanets and tambourines, and setting
the scene on the lively streets of Seville just before the start of the bullfight. The winds play a melody that is based on an Andalusian folk dance
while the strings add a pizzicato accompaniment below before joining inwith the catchy tune. A chorus joins in to celebrate the festivities, before aparade leads Escamillo into the arena after he and Carmen have professed
their love for each other. Mercedes and Frasquita attempt to warn Carmenof her impending doom before reluctantly leaving her to her fate.
In the final scene of the opera, Carmen and José are alone on the stage
which is set outside of the bullring. Their eventual fatal confrontation isinterrupted with interjections of loud cries from inside the arena cheering
Escamillo’s supposed triumph there — a metaphoric mirror. Many scholars
consider this scene to be ‘one of opera’s most remarkable and brilliantly
constructed scenes’.

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Perhaps in fitting tribute, as had been done with Bizet’s incidental
music to L’arlésienne, two orchestral suites were arranged, posthumously.
As musicologist Hugh MacDonald states, this was not to be the last tribute:“[Carmen] has been adapted in a bewildering variety of different screen andstage presentations and its music has been arranged for every imaginableensemble.” (Grove) A fitting tribute indeed to a composer whose life wascut short in time but extended as his music lives on.

Original work: Prosper Mérimée “Carmen”Libretto: Ludovic Halévy, Henri Meilhac
Work composed: 1872-1874 World premiere: 3rd, Mar. 1875, at theOpéra-Comique in Paris
Instrumentation: 2 flutes (doubling on piccolo), 2 oboes (2nd doubling onEnglish horn), 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 cornets, 3 trombones,timpani, percussion (castanets, tambourine, snare drum, bass drum,triangle, cymbals), harp, strings

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April L. Racana / As a Music Specialist, Ms. Racana completed her undergraduate
studies at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana (BS/Piano Pedagogy) and her
graduate studies at San Francisco State University (MA/Music). In addition, she wasaccepted as part of a post-graduate fellowship at Northwestern University ’s Bienen
School of Music, as well as for the Japan Studies Program at International Christian
University. Having been a Music Specialist teaching both in California for nearly a decade,and at Nishimachi International School where she taught for more than 25 years, shefeels she has learned as much from her many students as she has taught them overmore than three decades, and especially appreciates the opportunity to share hermusical insights to an even wider community, as program annotator for the TPO.

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