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Carmen Juárez
''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 3 March 1875, where its breaking of conventions shocked and scandalised its first audiences. Bizet died suddenly after the 33rd performance, unaware that the work would achieve international acclaim within the following ten years. ''Carmen'' has since become one of the most popular and frequently performed operas in the classical Western canon, canon; the "Habanera (aria), Habanera" from act 1 and the "Toreador Song" from act 2 are among the best known of all operatic arias. The opera is written in the genre of ''opéra comique'' with musical numbers separated by dialogue. It is set in southern Spain and tells the story of the downfall of Don José, a naïve soldier who is seduced by the wiles of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', which has become one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertoire. During a brilliant student career at the Conservatoire de Paris, Bizet won many prizes, including the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1857. He was recognised as an outstanding pianist, though he chose not to capitalise on this skill and rarely performed in public. Returning to Paris after almost three years in Italy, he found that the main Parisian opera theatres preferred the established classical repertoire to the works of newcomers. His keyboard and orchestral compositions were likewise largely ignored; as a result, his career stalled, and he earned his living mainly by arranging and transcribing the music of others. Restless for success, he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Revue Des Deux Mondes
The ''Revue des deux Mondes'' (, ''Review of the Two Worlds'') is a monthly French-language literary, cultural and current affairs magazine that has been published in Paris since 1829. According to its website, "it is today the place for debates and dialogues between nations, disciplines and cultures, about the major subjects of our societies". The main shareholder is Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière's FIMALAC Group. History The ''Revue des deux Mondes'' was founded by Prosper Mauroy and Pierre de Ségur-Dupeyron, first appearing on 1 August 1829. It began when an anodyne periodical, ''Journal des voyages,'' was purchased by the young printer Auguste-Jean Auffray, who convinced his college roommate François Buloz to edit it. Its original emphasis on travel and foreign affairs soon shifted; according to its website, it was created to "establish a cultural, economic and political bridge between France and the United States", the Old World and the New. It was purchased in 1831 by Franço ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adolphe De Leuven
Adolphe de Leuven (30 September 1802 – 14 April 1884) was a French theatre director and a librettist. Also known as Grenvallet, and Count Adolph Ribbing. He was the illegitimate son of Adolph Ribbing, who was involved in the assassination of Gustav III of Sweden in 1792, and Jeanne-Claude Billard. He took his name as a variation of that of his paternal grandmother, Eva Löwen. He produced over 170 plays and librettos, with operatic settings by Adolphe Adam, Adam including ''Le postillon de Lonjumeau'', Clapisson, Félicien David (''Le Saphir'') and Ambroise Thomas, Thomas.Wright L A"Leuven, Adolphe de"in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', four volumes, edited by Stanley Sadie. London & New York, Macmillan, 1997. He was associated with the Opéra-Comique for fifty years and was director (with Eugène Ritt as administrator) from 1862 to 1870 and co-director with Camille du Locle from 1870-1874. He resigned in protest at the on-stage murder in ''Carmen''.Winston Dean, ''Bizet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach (, also , , ; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario of the Romantic period. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera ''The Tales of Hoffmann''. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss Jr. and Arthur Sullivan. His best-known works were continually revived during the 20th century, and many of his operettas continue to be staged in the 21st. ''The Tales of Hoffmann'' remains part of the standard opera repertory. Born in Cologne, the son of a synagogue cantor, Offenbach showed early musical talent. At the age of 14, he was accepted as a student at the Paris Conservatoire but found academic study unfulfilling and left after a year. From 1835 to 1855 he earned his living as a cellist, achieving international fame, and as a conductor. His ambition, however, was to compose comic pieces for the musical the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geneviève Halévy
Marie-Geneviève Raphaëlle Halévy-Bizet-Straus (26 February 1849 – 22 December 1926) was a French salonnière who was the wife of Georges Bizet. She inspired Marcel Proust as a model for the Duchesse de Guermantes and Odette de Crécy in ''À la recherche du temps perdu''. Life Geneviève Halévy was born in Paris as the youngest daughter of the composer Jacques-Fromental Halévy and his wife Léonie (née Rodrigues-Henriques), both Jewish. Geneviève Halévy's youth was sad: She lost her father when she was 13 years old, her elder sister when she was 15 years old, and her mother suffered from periods of mental instability. In 1869, she married Georges Bizet, a pupil of her father, and gave birth in 1871 to their son Jacques, who became a school friend of Marcel Proust. Bizet died suddenly of a heart attack in 1875. Shortly after his death, Geneviève and Élie-Miriam Delaborde, a close friend of both her and Bizet, signed a marriage contract. Despite this, they never went th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Le Docteur Miracle
''Le docteur Miracle'' (''Doctor Miracle'') is an opérette in one act by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto, by Léon Battu and Ludovic Halévy, is based on Sheridan's play ''Saint Patrick's Day''. Bizet wrote the work when he was just 18 years old for a competition organised by Jacques Offenbach. He shared first prize with Charles Lecocq. His reward was to have the piece performed 11 times at Offenbach's Bouffes-Parisiens theatre. The premiere took place on 9 April 1857 at Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens in Paris. Roles Plot The story takes place in Padua in the middle of the nineteenth century. The mayor and his wife Véronique are woken up very early one morning by what appears to be a noisy advertising campaign outside their house, shouting the talents of a Doctor Miracle. This is, in fact, a young officer, Silvio, who had thought up this ruse in order to be able to serenade the mayor's daughter Laurette, with whom he has fallen in love. The mayor, who has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Djamileh
''Djamileh'' is an ''opéra comique'' in one act by Georges Bizet to a libretto by Louis Gallet, based on an oriental tale, ''Namouna'', by Alfred de Musset. Composition history De Musset wrote ''Namouna'' in 1832, consisting of 147 verses in three 'chants' (only the last dozen or so deal with the tale of Namouna). In 1871 when Bizet was stalled on other projects for the stage, Camille du Locle, director of the Opéra-Comique suggested to him a piece written some years earlier by Louis Gallet based on ''Namouna''. After some hesitation, Bizet composed the work during the late summer of 1871 but the premiere production was delayed due to trouble in finding suitable singers.Dean W. ''Bizet''. London, J M Dent & Sons, 1978.Programme for Djamileh. Opéra de Lyon, 2007. The original production formed part of a trio of new short works at the Opéra-Comique that spring: Paladilhe's ''Le Passant'' in April, then ''Djamileh'', and '' La princesse jaune'' (also an orientalist work) by Sai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Jolie Fille De Perth
''La jolie fille de Perth'' (''The Fair Maid of Perth'') is an opera in four acts by Georges Bizet (1838–1875), from a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jules Adenis, after the 1828 novel ''The Fair Maid of Perth'' by Sir Walter Scott. Many writers have reserved severe criticism for the librettists for their stock devices and improbable events, while praising Bizet's advance on his earlier operas in construction of set pieces and his striking melodic and instrumental ideas. It was first performed at the Théâtre Lyrique (Théâtre-Lyrique Impérial du Châtelet), Paris, on 26 December 1867. Performance history Although commissioned by Léon Carvalho in 1866 and completed by Bizet by the end of that year (with the soprano lead intended for Christine Nilsson), the dress rehearsal took place in September 1867 and the first performance three months later.Hugh Macdonald: "''La jolie fille de Perth''". In: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', Macmillan, London an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Les Pêcheurs De Perles
' (''The Pearl Fishers'') is an opera in three acts by the French composer Georges Bizet, to a libretto by Eugène Cormon and Michel Carré. It was premiered on 30 September 1863 at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris, and was given 18 performances in its initial run. Set in ancient times on the island of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), the opera tells the story of how two men's vow of eternal friendship is threatened by their love for the same woman, whose own dilemma is the conflict between secular love and her sacred oath as a priestess. The friendship duet "", generally known as "The Pearl Fishers Duet", is one of the best-known in Western opera. At the time of the premiere, Bizet (born on 25 October 1838) was not yet 25 years old: he had yet to establish himself in the Parisian musical world. The commission to write ' arose from his standing as a former winner of the prestigious Prix de Rome. Despite a good reception by the public, press reactions to the work were generally hostile and dismiss ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Théâtre Lyrique
The Théâtre Lyrique was one of four opera companies performing in Paris during the middle of the 19th century (the other three being the Opéra, the Opéra-Comique, and the Théâtre-Italien). The company was founded in 1847 as the Opéra-National by the French composer Adolphe Adam and renamed Théâtre Lyrique in 1852. It used four different theatres in succession, the Cirque Olympique, the Théâtre Historique, the Salle du Théâtre-Lyrique (now the Théâtre de la Ville), and the Salle de l'Athénée, until it ceased operations in 1872.Charlton 1992, p. 871. The diverse repertoire of the company "cracked the strict organization of the Parisian operatic world by breaking away from the principle that institution and genre were of one substance." The company was generally most successful with revivals of foreign works translated into French, particularly operas by Gluck, Mozart, Weber, and Verdi, but probably is most remembered today for having given the first performan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
