Question: Was the famous opera comique that was based on a Prosper Merimee novella a comedy or a tragedy? 

Passages:
The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert.  The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences and critics.  Its London debut was on 3 April 1880, at the Opera Comique, where it ran for 363 performances, having already been playing successfully for more than three months in New York. Venus is a 1922 German-language opera by Othmar Schoeck, to a libretto by Armin Rueger after Prosper Merimee's "La Vénus d'Ille" and Eichendorff's "Das Marmorbild". Carmen (] ; ] ) is an opera in four acts by French composer Georges Bizet.  The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on a novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée.  The opera was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 3 March 1875, where its breaking of conventions shocked and scandalized its first audiences. H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert.  It opened at the Opera Comique in London, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical theatre piece up to that time.  "H.M.S. Pinafore" was Gilbert and Sullivan's fourth operatic collaboration and their first international sensation. Carmen is a novella by Prosper Mérimée, written and first published in 1845.  It has been adapted into a number of dramatic works, including the famous opera of the same name by Georges Bizet. The Spectre Knight is a one-act "fanciful operetta" with a libretto by James Albery and music by Alfred Cellier.  It was first performed on 9 February 1878 at the Opera Comique by the Comedy Opera Company as a companion piece to "The Sorcerer".  The piece continued to run until 23 March 1878 and was revived by the company from 28 May 1878 to 10 August 1878 as a companion piece to "H.M.S. Pinafore".  The piece had a run in New York in 1880 and was toured in Britain and America. Opéra comique (] ; plural: "opéras comiques") is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias.  It emerged from the popular "opéra comiques en vaudevilles" of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent (and to a lesser extent the Comédie-Italienne), which combined existing popular tunes with spoken sections.  Associated with the Paris theatre of the same name, "opéra comique" is not always comic or light in nature; "Carmen", perhaps the most famous "opéra comique", is a tragedy. McCaull Comic Opera Company, sometimes called the McCaull Opera Comique Company, was founded by Colonel John A. McCaull in 1880.  The company produced operetta, comic opera and musical theatre in New York City and on tour in the eastern and midwestern U.S. and Canada until McCaull's death in 1894.  It nurtured such stars, in their early careers, as Lillian Russell and DeWolf Hopper. David Squibb (born 28 November 1935- 21 April 2010) was the head of music at Trinity School of John Whitgift.  He is most known for founding Trinity School Boys' Choir, one of the busiest and most successful school choirs in the world.  It has a high professional profile, both in the UK and abroad.  Members have appeared at Glyndebourne, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, English National Opera and many opera houses abroad, including the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the Opera Comique, Paris, and La Fenice, Venice.  The choir is well known for its part in Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in which they have appeared in over one hundred and fifty professional performances, and they feature in the Warner DVD and Virgin Classics CD. Éric Vuillard (4 May 1968, Lyon) is a French writer and film director.  He has made two films, "L’homme qui marche" and "Mateo Falcone", the latter based on a story by Prosper Merimee.  He is the author of "Conquistadors" (2009) which won the Prix de l'inaperçu in 2010.  His other works include:

Supporting sentences:
 Associated with the Paris theatre of the same name, "opéra comique" is not always comic or light in nature; "Carmen", perhaps the most famous "opéra comique", is a tragedy. Carmen (] ; ] ) is an opera in four acts by French composer Georges Bizet.  The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on a novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée.