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4. Carmen. Georges Bizet (1838–75) wrote Carmen as an opéra comique—not, of course, a comedy but a musical play with spoken dialogues—to match the gritty realism of the original novel by Prosper Mérimée (1803–70). Bizet died a few months after the lackluster premiere in 1875, believing that his final opera was a failure. After his death, his executors commissioned sung recitatives to replace the dialogues and made other adjustments that effectively changed the piece into grand opéra, a genre that relies very much on scale and spectacle. And in that form, Carmen soon became one of the most performed operas of all time. Recently, however, opera companies have sought to return to something closer to the original. We shall compare an outstanding example of each approach.

The script, videos, and images will be posted immediately after class.

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There are a lot of Carmens on YouTube, both complete and in excerpts. Richard Eyre's Met production is currently available complete with English titles, but that may not last. I have one clip from Calixto Bieito production in Barcelona that we saw (though a different section). But is also available in different reincarnations all over the world; I give a link to a performance from Paris with Garança and Alagna (the same couple as at the Met), though only with French titles. The same production was mounted in 2015 by the English National Opera, and sung in English; I give a link to the second half (the first does not seem to be available) and a wonderful trailer that sums up the sheer theatricality of Bieto's approach.

Finally, I offer two other complete versions: a very good traditional production from the Royal Opera House, London, and the terrific 1984 film starring Julia Migenes-Johnson and Plácido Domingo, both with English titles. Unfortunately the YouTube posting of the latter is very washed out, so I also include a better-quality clip of the habañera as sung by Migenes-Johnson, one of the most sensuous Carmens out there; she's worth watching! r.b.

RICHARD EYRE PRODUCTION
	Metropolitan Opera, 2010	Acts 1 and 2 (Garança/Alagna, with titles) Acts 3 and 4 (as above)

CALIXTO BIEITO PRODUCTION
	Barcelona, 2011	Seguidilla (Uria-Monzón/Alagna; no titles)
	Paris, 2017	Complete (Garança/Alagna, French titles)
	English National Opera, 2015	Trailer Acts 3 and 4 (Gringyte/Cutler, in English)

OTHER CARMENS
	Royal Opera, London, 2007	Acts 1 and 2 (Antonacci/Kaufmann, with titles) Acts 3 and 4 (as above)
	Francesco Rosi film, 1984	Complete (Migenes/Domingo, with titles) Habañera (Julia Migenes-Johnson, better video)


IMAGES
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