Georges Bizet: Carmen

This handbook explores Bizet's famous opera in a number of contexts, from its origin in Mérimée's short story to the film adaptations of the last thirty years.

Susan McClary (Author)

9780521398978, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 9 July 1992

176 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1 cm, 0.25 kg

"The book is a welcome resource for language teachers who wish to introduce the discussion of other art forms into the French literature class." Fred L. Toner, The French Review

Bizet's Carmen is probably the best known opera of the standard repertoire, yet its very familiarity often prevents us from approaching it with the seriousness it deserves. This handbook explores the opera in a number of contexts, bringing to the surface the controversies over gender, race, class and musical propriety that greeted its premiere and that have been rekindled by the recent spate of film versions. Beginning with a study of the Mérimée story by Peter Robinson and an examination of the social tensions in nineteenth-century France that inform both that story and the opera, the book traces the latter through its genesis and reception. The central core of the book presents a close reading of the opera that offers new interpretive possibilities. The handbook concludes with discussions of four films based on the opera: Carmen Jones and the versions of Carmen by Carlos Saura, Peter Brook, and Francesco Rosi. The volume contains a bibliography, music examples, and a synopsis.

List of illustrations
Acknowledgments
1. Mérimée's 'Carmen' Peter Robinson
2. The genesis of Bizet's Carmen
3. Images of race, class and gender in nineteenth-century French culture
4. The musical languages of Carmen
5. Synopsis and analysis
6. The reception of Carmen
7. Carmen on film
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Opera [AVGC9]