The article explores the various ways in which Bizet’s opera Carmen has been understood. The cultural agenda of the 19th century fin de siècle can explain the opera’s reception by the public, as well as the changing perception of its eponymous heroine, who came to be seen as a (fictional) icon of femininity and freedom. The changes in the cultural context, brought about by the advent of postcolonial, feminist, post-structuralist and deconstructionist ideologies, have given rise to a new way of reading this oeuvre which highlights the themes of resistance to domination, and emancipation. Regardless of the context and mode of reading, Bizet’s heroine remains one of the best-known fictional Romani characters in European culture, whose gender and ethnical identity continues to elicit an ambiguous attitude, both positive and negative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Pearl Fishers (Bizet) Mini Guide. 2006, p9-14. 6p.
Subjects
OPERA, ART & opera, MUSIC, and COMPOSERS
Abstract
A profile of Georges Bizet, a music composer from Paris, France, is presented. It highlights Bizet as the music composer of "The Pearl Fishers," "Djamileh," and "Carmen." It cites Bizet's musical training and his admission to the Paris conservatory. It talks about the criticism among opera enthusiasts of the opera "The Pearl Fisher."
COMPOSERS, MUSICAL composition, OPERAS, and DRAMATIC music
Abstract
An encyclopedia entry for composer Georges Bizet is presented. He was born on October 25, 1838 in Paris, France and he died on June 3, 1875 in Bougival, near Paris. He grew in a family of musicians. His father was a voice teacher and composer, while her mother was a pianist. This entry also presents information on the highlights of his music education, career, compositions and awards.
By 1883 Carmen had triumphed in the cities of Europe and the Americas. Many felt the time had come to repair an injustice to Georges Bizet by bringing his masterpiece back to the Opera-Comique, where it had been created in 1875. Criticism of the toned-down revival of April 1883 and of the true reprise with the original Carmen in October of the same year provides fascinating insights into the dynamics of reception history in Paris, the administration of the influential director Leon Carvalho, and the power of the mesmerizing singer/actress Celestine Galli-Marie. While many have interpreted the 1875 reception, the complexities and meanings of the 1883 reactions have been less explored. The controversial issues of 1875 still hung in the air when Carmen returned to the French capital. Carvalho remembered all too well what had transpired earlier and knew he had to please Bizet's relatives, not to mention the audiences who made his theater profitable. But the critics faced a more daunting task—the need to construct strategies that maintained their authority as tastemakers while explaining away their own and their colleagues' previous views. Examination of a broad spectrum of the press chronicles their creative responses to this challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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