Bizet's Carmen is a real gem of musical theatre, an unattainable pinnacle and a unique phenomenon in French opera. There is not a single flaw in it: in some miraculous way, all the ingredients for an incredible success were combined in this opera.
The plot from the short story of the same name by Prosper Merimee in the 19th century seemed completely unthinkable for the opera stage. Although the public has already accepted the high society courtesan from Verdi's La Traviata and the frivolous Manon Lescaut, the opera has not yet descended to such a social bottom - the life of gypsies and smugglers rejected by society. The experienced playwrights Ludovic Halévy and Henri Meilhac, who wrote the texts of Offenbach's most famous operettas, wrote the libretto "Carmen" truly masterfully. Before that, the 35-year-old composer Georges Bizet was disastrously unlucky with the literary component of his works. All his previous operas - The Pearl Fishers, The Beauty of Perth, Jamile, Ivan the Terrible - precisely because of the stilted, and in some places even ridiculous plot, were not included in the repertoire of theaters, despite significant musical merits.
In the story of a freedom-loving gypsy who captivates men with her beauty and sensuality, there is everything: suffering, seduction, fury and drama. This allowed Bizet to present to the public a special type of opera, which was not about historical events, there was no pathos or solemnity. Instead, real life appeared in its entirety.
In Carmen, Bizet was a real innovator for his time. By the ingenious conciseness of artistic means, the composer achieved amazing effects. Having never been to Spain, Bizet captured the characteristic features of the music of this nation so subtly that the flavor of Seville he created in the opera instantly immerses the viewer in this exotic and exciting world. The tasks for the choir were also new for the opera house: in Carmen it is not just a crowd, but active characters in the action. And the composer's bold act of giving a solo number to the children's choir aroused admiration not only among the public, but also inspired Pyotr Tchaikovsky to include a similar scene in his opera The Queen of Spades. It was against the backdrop of lively mass scenes and noisy folk festivals that the real tragedy of the denouement of the personal relationships of the main characters manifested itself.
As I. Sollertinsky noted, the opera "Carmen" is "an excellent example of combining the deep content of music with the truly mass power of its influence." Even those who have never been to the opera house know her fantastic melodies that instantly cut into the memory. The entire Carmen – from the brilliant overture, the famous Habanera and the sultry Seguidilla, the spectacular Couplets of the Toreador, the lyrical arias of José and Micaela, to the orchestral interludes – is filled with real musical hits that ensured the opera a permanent place in the popular and most frequently performed works in the world. Numerous incarnations in ballet, cinema and even the media reflected the fact that Bizet's Carmen is not just a favorite of the operatic repertoire, but "an art myth for all time" (M. Muginshtein).
Natalya Rogudeeva
