• Georges Bizet. Opéra comique in four acts. 1874.
• Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, after the novel by Prosper Mérimée.
• First performance by the Opéra-Comique at the Salle Favart, Paris, on 3rd March 1875.

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CHARACTERS

Carmen, a gypsy	mezzo-soprano
Don José, a corporal of dragoons	tenor
Escamillo, a matador	baritone
Micaëla, a peasant girl	soprano
Zuniga, a lieutenant	bass
Moralès, a sergeant	baritone
Frasquita, a gypsy	soprano
Mercédès, a gypsy	soprano
Lillas Pastia, an innkeeper	speaking part
Andrès, a lieutenant	tenor
Le Dancaïre, a smuggler	tenor or baritone
Le Remendado, a smuggler	tenor

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Set in Seville around the year 1830, the opera deals with the love and jealousy of Don José, who is lured away from his duty as a soldier and his beloved Micaëla by the gypsy factory girl Carmen, whom he allows to escape from custody. He is later induced to join the smugglers with whom Carmen is associated, but is driven wild by jealousy. This comes to a head when Carmen makes clear her preference for the bull-fighter Escamillo. The last act, outside the bull-ring in Seville, brings Escamillo to the arena, accompanied by Carmen, there stabbed to death by Don José, who has been awaiting her arrival.

Carmen, the most famous of Bizet’s operas, with its exotic Spanish setting, introduced a note of realism into opera that proved unacceptable to many who saw the first performances. Objection was taken to the wild and immoral behaviour of Carmen, the chorus of cigarette-factory girls and their smoking and the final murder of Carmen on the stage. Orchestral suites have been derived from the score, while popular excerpts must include Carmen’s seductive Habanera and Seguidilla, the famous Toreador’s Song and Don José’s later reference to the flower Carmen had once thrown him, La fleur que tu m’avais jetée (The flower that you threw me), with Micaëla’s moving aria Je dis que rien ne m’épouvante (I say that nothing frightens me).