Category: Theatre
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies (1824) by Alexander Pushkin. Mérimée had read the poem in Russian by 1840 and translated it into French in 1852.
The opera premiered at the Opéra-Comique of Paris on March 3rd 1875, but its opening run was denounced by the majority of critics. It was almost withdrawn after its fourth or fifth performance, and although this was avoided, ultimately having 48 performances in its first run, it did little to bolster sagging receipts at the Opéra-Comique. Near the end of this run, the theatre was giving tickets away in order to stimulate attendance. Bizet died of a heart attack, aged 36, on June 3rd 1875, never knowing how popular Carmen would become. In October 1875 it was produced in Vienna, to critical and popular success, which began its path to worldwide popularity. It was not staged again at the Opéra Comique until 1883.
Since the 1880s it has been one of the world's most performed operas and a staple of the operatic repertoire. Carmen appears as number four on Opera America's list of the 20 most-performed operas in North America.
Bizet's final opera not only transformed the opéra comique genre that had been static for half a century, it virtually killed it. Within a few years, the traditional distinction between opera (serious, heroic and declamatory) and opéra comique (light-hearted, bourgeois and conversational with spoken dialogue) disappeared. Moreover, Carmen nourished a movement that was to win both celebrity and notoriety first in Italy and then elsewhere: the cult of realism known as verismo.
The early death of Bizet and the negligence of his immediate heirs and publisher led, as with most of Bizet's operas, to major textual problems for which scholars and performers only began to find solutions since the 1960s.
The story is set in Seville, Spain, c. 1830, and concerns the eponymous Carmen, a beautiful Gypsy with a fiery temper. Free with her love, she woos the corporal Don José, an inexperienced soldier. Their relationship leads to his rejection of his former love, mutiny against his superior, and joining a gang of smugglers. His jealousy when she turns from him to the bullfighter Escamillo leads him to murder Carmen.
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Event |
Date |
Venue |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Carmen Tickets Oct 13 | Wed. Oct 13 7:30 PM |
Civic Opera House Chicago, IL |
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| Carmen Tickets Oct 16 | Sat. Oct 16 7:30 PM |
Civic Opera House Chicago, IL |
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| Carmen Tickets Oct 20 | Wed. Oct 20 2:00 PM |
Civic Opera House Chicago, IL |
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| Carmen Tickets Oct 22 | Fri. Oct 22 7:30 PM |
Civic Opera House Chicago, IL |
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| Carmen Tickets Oct 25 | Mon. Oct 25 7:30 PM |
Civic Opera House Chicago, IL |
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| Carmen Tickets Oct 29 | Fri. Oct 29 2:00 PM |
Civic Opera House Chicago, IL |
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| Carmen Tickets Nov 4 | Thu. Nov 4 8:00 PM |
Metropolitan Opera New York , NY |
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| Carmen Tickets Nov 8 | Mon. Nov 8 8:00 PM |
Metropolitan Opera New York , NY |
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| Carmen Tickets Nov 12 | Fri. Nov 12 8:00 PM |
Metropolitan Opera New York , NY |
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| Carmen Tickets Nov 16 | Tue. Nov 16 8:00 PM |
Metropolitan Opera New York , NY |
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| Carmen Tickets Nov 20 | Sat. Nov 20 8:00 PM |
Metropolitan Opera New York , NY |
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| Carmen Tickets Nov 24 | Wed. Nov 24 8:00 PM |
Metropolitan Opera New York , NY |
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| Carmen Tickets Nov 27 | Sat. Nov 27 1:00 PM |
Metropolitan Opera New York , NY |
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| Carmen Tickets Nov 30 | Tue. Nov 30 8:00 PM |
Metropolitan Opera New York , NY |
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| Carmen Tickets Dec 4 | Sat. Dec 4 8:30 PM |
Metropolitan Opera New York , NY |
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| Carmen Tickets Dec 9 | Thu. Dec 9 8:00 PM |
Metropolitan Opera New York , NY |
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| Carmen Tickets Jan 5 | Wed. Jan 5 8:00 PM |
Metropolitan Opera New York , NY |
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| Carmen Tickets Jan 8 | Sat. Jan 8 8:30 PM |
Metropolitan Opera New York , NY |
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| Carmen Tickets Jan 13 | Thu. Jan 13 8:00 PM |
Metropolitan Opera New York , NY |
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| Carmen Tickets Mar 12 | Sat. Mar 12 7:30 PM |
Civic Opera House Chicago, IL |
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| Carmen Tickets Mar 15 | Tue. Mar 15 7:30 PM |
Civic Opera House Chicago, IL |
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| Carmen Tickets Mar 18 | Fri. Mar 18 7:30 PM |
Civic Opera House Chicago, IL |
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| Carmen Tickets Mar 24 | Thu. Mar 24 2:00 PM |
Civic Opera House Chicago, IL |
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| Carmen Tickets Mar 27 | Sun. Mar 27 2:00 PM |
Civic Opera House Chicago, IL |
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Information for Carmen
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